Dennis "Red" Gendron, associate head coach at Yale the past two seasons, was announced at the next head coach at Maine. He replaces Tim Whitehead, fired in April after 12 seasons on the job.

Fresh off a national championship at Yale, Gendron returns to the place where he began his coaching career 23 years earlier. Maine, with Gendron as an assistant, won its first national championship in 1993.

Though he spent only two seasons as Keith Allain’s top hockey assistant, his impact is clear.

“To me, Red is a great teacher of the game and his presence in our building every single day made our kids better,” Allain said. “We don’t win a national championship without Red on our staff.”

Gendron arrived from UMass in 2011, where he spent six seasons as an assistant, with a sterling reputation as both a mentor and a winner. His friendship with Allain dates back to the early 1980s and USA Hockey camps in Colorado Springs. Allain was an assistant to Tim Taylor at Yale and Gendron was a high school coach in Vermont.

"Tim was active in that relationship," Allain said. "Red was a huge admirer of Tim's, and obviously I worked with Tim at the time. Since then. I've been an assistant of his on the U-17 select team and he was my assistant on some World Junior teams. To me, he's way more than an assistant. He's been a true friend for over 30 years."

Respected and loved by his players, he also brought an impressive list of championships. In addition to his title at Maine, he was part of three Stanley Cup winners as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils.

Gendron spent much of Saturday morning in front of his computer, trying to convey his feelings for Yale and its players in a letter he emailed to the team.

“It’s a two-way street,” Allain said of Gendron’s relationship with his players. “He cares so deeply for each of the players he coaches, and they know that instantly. You’re not going to find a coach that takes a personal interest in a player as much as Red does.”

Gendron’s challenge at Maine is to restore a once-proud tradition. A Frozen Four fixture from the early 1990s through 2007, Maine has missed the NCAA tournament five times in the past six seasons.

Whitehead led the Black Bears to the Frozen Four four times in his first six seasons, twice reaching the national championship game, but combined to go 96-102-28 since 2007. Attendance has also dropped at Maine’s Alfond Arena.

"He's absolutely perfect for that job," Allain said of Gendron. "He knows Maine and the hockey culture up there. And he knows how to win. He told me (Friday) his dream now is for Maine to play Yale at the Frozen Four."

Subject to change

October
19: Univ. of Ontario Institute of Technology (scrimmage)
25-26: Ivy Shootout with Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton at Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.

November
1: St. Lawrence
2: Clarkson
8: at Princeton
9: at Quinnipiac
16: Sacred Heart
22: at Colgate
23: at Cornell
30: Merrimack

December
6: Dartmouth
7: Harvard
27: Russian Red Stars (exhibition)
29: Holy Cross

January
4: at Vermont
11: Harvard at Madison Square Garden
17: at Clarkson
18: at St. Lawrence
24: at Brown
25: Brown
31: Cornell

February
1: Colgate
7: at RPI
8: at Union
14: Quinnipiac
15: Princeton
21: at Harvard
22: at Dartmouth
28: Union

March
1: RPI

Yale and Harvard will take their ancient rivalry to the bright lights of The Big Apple next season.
The schools have signed a deal to play each other at New York's Madison Square Garden on Jan. 11, the Register has learned. The time has yet to be determined, as have the television rights, but the game is expected to be broadcast nationally.

Yale and Harvard will play their ECAC Hockey conference games on Dec. 7 at Ingalls Rink and on Feb. 21 at Harvard's Bright Hockey Center. The Madison Square Garden game will count as part of the non-conference schedule for both schools. It's part of a two-year contract, both schools hopeful they can play there again during the 2014-15 season.

Cornell has played to capacity crowds at Madison Square Garden in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012, with an upcoming game against Boston University there scheduled for Nov. 30.

Yale and Harvard could sell out the building's 18,200 seats. The schools have met before at Madison Square Garden, the last coming on Dec. 21, 1970.

Yale is becoming quite familiar with NHL arenas. The Bulldogs won the national championship at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center last month, and will open next season as part of the field at the Ivy Shootout, scheduled for the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Oct. 25-26. Brown, Dartmouth and Princeton will also compete.

The rest of Yale's non-conference schedule includes games at Ingalls Rink against Sacred Heart (Nov. 16), Merrimack (Nov. 30) and Holy Cross (Dec. 29). Yale plays at Vermont on Jan. 4. There is also a scrimmage against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology on Oct. 19 and an exhibition game with the Russian Red Stars on Dec. 27, both at Ingalls Rink. 

Yale held its vote tonight, and the verdict is in: Jesse Root is the 119th captain in program history. And the first for a defending national champion. Root, a Pittsburgh native, was one of the keys to Yale's title run in his home city, scoring both game-winning goals in the NCAA West Regional to beat Minnesota and North Dakota. He had 12 goals, 11 assists and 23 points for the season.

Quinnipiac announced yesterday that Cory Hibbeler was voted captain for next year, with twins Kellen and Connor Jones as the assistants. Hibbeler had 11 points in 36 games this winter, a hard-worker and a clear leader.