Dennis "Red" Gendron (November 27, 1957 – April 9, 2021) was an ice hockey coach, most recently for the University of Maine men's ice hockey team. Gendron previously served as head coach for the

Albany River Rats The Albany River Rats were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Albany, New York at the Times Union Center. History Before the formation of the franchise Without a viable indoor arena with ...

and

Indiana Ice The Indiana Ice was a Tier I junior ice hockey team and member club of the United States Hockey League (USHL) that was formed in 2004 when the Danville Wings were purchased and moved from their location in Danville, Illinois, to Indianapolis, ...

and held multiple positions for the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the Public university, public university system of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts Lowell ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

Coaching career

High school

Gendron's first coaching position was as assistant coach to Albie Brodeur for two seasons, from 1979 to 1981 at his alma mater, Berlin High School in

Berlin, New Hampshire Berlin ( ) is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coös County, New Hampshire, Coös County in northern New Hampshire, United States. It is the northernmost city in New Hampshire and the only city in Coös County. The population was 9,425 at ...

. In 1981, he accepted his first head coaching position at Bellows Free Academy, in

St. Albans, Vermont St. Albans, Vermont may refer to: *St. Albans (town), Vermont, established 1763, a town in Franklin County, Vermont, U.S. * St. Albans (city), Vermont, established 1902, a city in Franklin County, Vermont, U.S. See also * St. Albans Bay, Vermont, ...

. During his nine years at BFA, Gendron led the Bobwhites to four state championships (1982, 1983, 1987 and 1988) and was twice named Vermont coach of the year. While at BFA he coached future

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

All-Star

John LeClair John Clark LeClair (born July 5, 1969) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins from 1991 to 2006. W ...

, coached

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and taught history.

University of Maine (1990–93)

Gendron's entered the collegiate coaching ranks in 1990 as an assistant coach for Shawn Walsh at the

men's hockey team. In his third season as an assistant at Maine, Gendron helped guide the Black Bears to the 1993 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship and an overall record of 42–1–2. During his two seasons as assistant coach at Maine, Gendron coached two

Hobey Baker Award The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player. It has been awarded 44 times. It is named for Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton Universit ...

winners, Scott Pellerin in 1991–92 and Paul Kariya in 1992–93.

New Jersey Devils/Albany River Rats

In the summer of 1993 the

hired Gendron to serve as a technological specialist for the 1993–94 season. The following season, 1994–95, Gendron was promoted to assistant coach serving under head coach

Jacques Lemaire Jacques Gérard Lemaire (born September 7, 1945) is a Canadian former ice hockey forward and head coach who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984. He spent his entire twelve-year National Hockey League (NHL) playing career with the ...

and alongside fellow assistant coach

Larry Robinson Larry Clark Robinson (born June 2, 1951) is a Canadian former ice hockey coach, executive and player. His coaching career includes head coaching positions with the New Jersey Devils (which he held on two occasions), as well as the Los Angeles Ki ...

. That season the Devils would go on to defeat the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

to capture the team's first

Stanley Cup championship The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, ) is the annual championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL). The winner is awarded the Stanley Cup, North America's oldest professional spo ...

. For the 1996–97 season, Gendron was named assistant coach of the

AHL affiliate

, a position he remained in until the 1999–00 season. During the 2000–01 and 2001–02 season Gendron served as a scout for the Devils. Gendron became head coach of the Albany River Rats for the 2002–03 season. He was replaced during the 2003–04 AHL season by

Robbie Ftorek Robert Brian Ftorek (born January 2, 1952) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He played over 300 games in both the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association. In the 1976-77 season, he scored 46 goals and re ...

. During Gendron's tenure as a member of the New Jersey Devils organization the team won three Stanley Cup Championships

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and finished runner-up in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. His name was engraved on the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

in 1995 and 2000.

Indiana Ice

On June 17, 2004, the USHL's

named Gendron head coach.

University of Massachusetts

In July 2005 Gendron was hired by Don "Toot" Cahoon to serve as assistant coach for the

men's hockey team, a position he held for six seasons. While at UMass, he helped the Minutemen reach the 2007 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament where they eventually lost in the regional final to the

. That postseason appearance represented the first NCAA Division 1 tournament appearance for the Minutemen since the program rejoined Division 1 for the 1993–94 season.

Yale University

In 2011, Gendron was named associate head coach at

, a position he would remain in for two seasons. In his second season as an associate head coach of the Bulldogs, Gendron helped guide the team to the first national championship in school history in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

University of Maine (2013–2021)

On May 17, 2013, Gendron was named the fifth head coach in the history of the University of Maine men's hockey.

International

Gendron served as an assistant coach for 1993, 2001, and 2002 World Junior Championships for Team USA and also has worked several U.S. Select 16 and 17 teams.

Author

Gendron's book ''Coaching Hockey Successfully'', published in 2002, is used by

USA Hockey USA Hockey is a national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United S ...

as the advanced-level manual for its coaching education program.

Personal life

Gendron grew up in

, graduated from Berlin High School in 1975, and played on the state championship hockey team his senior year. Gendron attended

New England College New England College (NEC) is a private liberal arts college in Henniker, New Hampshire. It is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. As of fall 2020, the college enrolled 4,327 students (1,776 undergraduate and 2,551 grad ...

Henniker, New Hampshire Henniker is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, the reported total population of the town was 6,185, although the figure, 27.9% greater than the 2010 population, has been questioned by local official ...

where he studied History and Secondary Education, played on the baseball team, and played defenseman and served as a three-year captain for the hockey team. He and his wife, Janet, had two daughters, Katelyn and Allison. Gendron was fluent in both French and English, and spoke some Russian. Gendron died after a medical event while golfing on April 9, 2021.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Official Biography, Maine Black Bears
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gendron, Red 1957 births 2021 deaths Albany River Rats coaches High school ice hockey coaches in the United States Maine Black Bears men's ice hockey coaches New Jersey Devils coaches New Jersey Devils scouts Ice hockey people from Boston Stanley Cup champions UMass Minutemen ice hockey coaches Yale Bulldogs men's ice hockey coaches