News that Bruce Cassidy was fired as head coach of the Boston Bruins reverberated across New England and the hockey world Monday evening.
While Cassidy’s ouster has a clear and present meaning to the organization that calls Causeway Street home, the opening could impact college hockey programs throughout New England.
As has been the case for a few years now, Providence head coach Nate Leaman’s name comes up often in the search for new head coaches in the NHL. Leaman, 49, has helped revitalize the PC hockey program, and guided the Friars to the school’s first national championship in 2015. He’s won gold for USA Hockey at the World Junior Championship and has overseen the development of a number of Friars who have advanced to the NHL.
Whether Leaman or the Bruins are interested in the courtship remains to be seen. Leaman received a contract extension and bump in salary earlier this offseason after it was rumored he could head to Boston College to replace Jerry York. He reportedly turned down an offer to be head coach of the Providence Bruins a few years ago, which could be seen as a negative by Bruins brass.
Still, Leaman’s name has and will come up, due to the success he’s had at a program not as used to perennially winning as Boston College and Boston University. Leaman isn’t the only coach with ties to New England colleges who could be in the mix to replace Cassidy.
There's also ex-Boston University head coach David Quinn, who served as bench boss of the New York Rangers for three seasons following his run behind the Terriers’ bench. The Cranston, R.I., native has plenty of experience in pro hockey and has also been a strong developer of talent in the AHL, with the NTDP and in college. That could be seen as a bonus by a Bruins organization that could see the writing on the wall that a rebuild is necessary. The 55-year-old was the head coach for the U.S. at the Olympics and World Championships this season.
Another possibility is Harvard head coach Ted Donato, who played parts of nine seasons in the Bruins organization. The 1988 NCAA champion hails from the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston and has been the leader of the Crimson since 2004. His teams have enjoyed varying degrees of success, but a lot of pro players have come through Bright-Landry Hockey Center during that time.
Podcast: David Quinn on what he'll do next
Bowdoin searching for new head coach
After five seasons as head coach at Bowdoin, Jamie Dumont stepped down recently. The 1998 graduate of SUNY-Oswego failed to finish above .500 since he went behind the Polar Bears’ bench in 2016. Admittedly, he was following in the footsteps of legendary coach Terry Meagher, who only had three sub-500 seasons in 33 as head coach in Brunswick.
Bowdoin is one of the premier jobs in Division 3. Competing in the NESCAC with a solid facility, the next head coach has a chance to restore prestige to the program. There are a number of candidates who seem obvious to consider.
Colby assistant coach Tyler Walsh, Trinity head coach Matt Greason, Cushing head coach Paul Pearl, Kimball Union head coach Tim Whitehead, Maine Mariners head coach Ben Guite, and University of New England head coach Kevin Swallow all could be in the mix.
Walsh is the best choice for athletic director Tim Ryan. The Bangor native is a 2013 graduate of the University of Maine, where he served as a student assistant coach. Since then, he’s been on staff at Canisius, the NTDP and North Yarmouth Academy before his current stint at Colby. He’s been Blaise MacDonald’s right-hand man in Waterville since 2018. Walsh has done a great job on the recruiting trail. In part due to his efforts, Colby is coming off a first-place finish in the NESCAC.
One of the best up-and-coming coaches in the game, he’s qualified and motivated to take over the Bowdoin program. Walsh also has quite the pedigree, as his father was legendary Maine head coach Shawn Walsh and his grandfather, Ron Mason, is one of college hockey’s winningest coaches of all-time at Michigan State, Bowling Green and Lake Superior.
Greason is a native of nearby North Bridgton, Maine. He has played and coached in the NESCAC at Trinity, so he certainly knows what it takes to win in this league. He’s been extremely successful as head coach of Trinity since 2011. Outside of his first season in Hartford, the Bantams have never finished below .500. Under his watch, Trinity has won one national championship, appeared in five NCAA Tournaments, and won four NESCAC titles.
Pearl’s son, Bobby, is a junior at Bowdoin, playing on the hockey and baseball teams. The elder Pearl, from Winthrop, Mass., has never coached at the Division 3 level, but he played and coached at Holy Cross, which is similar in being a small school with a priority on academics. He’s also served as an assistant coach at Brown, Harvard and Boston University. Currently head coach at Cushing, Pearl would certainly be a splash hire.
Whitehead, the Maine head coach who's now head coach at KUA in prep hockey, and Guite, a former Maine star and assistant coach, NHL player, and current ECHL bench boss, would seem like viable candidates as well. Guite’s hockey resume speaks for itself, but he’s limited in terms of his knowledge of Division 3. Whitehead played in the NESCAC at Hamilton and coached at UMass Lowell and Maine. His son, Zach, is heading to the NESCAC at Middlebury.
Swallow is an outside candidate, who might or might not be interested. The former Black Bear is head coach at University of New England, where he’s been highly successful. He helped the Nor'easters to the 2022 Division 3 Frozen Four.
