Tyler Helton will be the new assistant coach on Mike Cavanaugh's staff with the University of Connecticut men's hockey program, according to multiple sources. Helton, a 2016 graduate of UConn, played one season for the Huskies before becoming a student-assistant coach. He has also been involved with the Yale Midget Hockey organization, which is run...
Tyler Helton will be the new assistant coach on Mike Cavanaugh's staff with the University of Connecticut men's hockey program, according to multiple sources.
Helton, a 2016 graduate of UConn, played one season for the Huskies before becoming a student-assistant coach. He has also been involved with the Yale Midget Hockey organization, which is run by Steve Novodor and Jon Bellonio.
The Colorado Springs, Colo., native replaces Brendan Buckley, who left the school after three seasons to become an assistant coach at Boston College, his alma mater. In addition to Cavanaugh, Helton joins fellow assistant coach Joe Pereira, a West Haven, Conn., native who played at Boston University from 2007-2011, on the UConn staff.
In other college hockey personnel news around New England, Neil McKenney has left his post as the Director of Hockey Operations at Quinnipiac to assume a role as an amateur scout with the San Jose Sharks.
Meanwhile, former Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy (Dorchester, Mass.) has been hired as the head coach of the Binghamton Devils, the AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils. This move comes just two months after being named the head coach of the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers, an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Dennehy, in fact, never coached a single game for the Nailers.
In March, Dennehy was fired at Merrimack after 13 seasons as the bench boss in North Andover, Mass.. The move was largely unpopular around hockey circles.
Two other updates:
- Assistant coaching positions remain open at UMass Lowell and Holy Cross.
- Merrimack is still looking to fill a director of hockey operations slot.
