As first reported Friday afternoon by Brian Sullivan from WABI Channel 5 Sports, University of Maine men’s ice hockey head coach Dennis “Red” Gendron passed away suddenly from an unexpected medical condition at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono. He was 63 years old.
Gendron has been the bench boss in Orono since 2013. He served under Shawn Walsh as an assistant coach from 1990-93, culminating in the Black Bears first national championship in 1993. He then went on for a career that included a stint with the New Jersey Devils orginazation, where he won a Stanley Cup as an assistant with the NHL club in 1995. He was an assistant with the Albany River Rats of the AHL in 1996-97, a scout for the Devils from 2000-2002, before being named head coach in Albany for the 2002-2003 season. He was head coach with the Indiana Ice of the USHL in 2004, an assistant under Don “Toot” Cahoon at the University of Massachusetts from 2005-2011, and then the associate head coach at Yale later in 2011. He helped guide the Bulldogs to their first national championship in school history in 2013. Gendron has his name etched on the Stanley Cup from the Devils championship seasons of 1995 and 2000. With UMaine he had a record of 103-137-33. The best season came in 2019-2020 where the Bears went 18-11-5 and were scheduled to play a home playoff quarterfinal series, before the season was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are shocked and deeply saddened by Red’s sudden death,” says UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. “He was a force in UMaine Athletics and in the legacy of our men’s ice hockey program. We mourn his passing and remember his many contributions to the generations of players he mentored and to the program that lit up Black Bear Nation and the state of Maine. Our thoughts are with his wife Janet, daughters Katelyn and Allison, his coaching staff and players. They have our support and respect for their privacy during this difficult time.”
Words cannot express our deep sadness from the tragic, sudden loss of Red Gendron,” says UMaine Director of Athletics Ken Ralph. “Our community and the entire UMaine Athletics family mourn the loss of Coach Gendron and we ask you all to keep him, his family, his friends, and our hockey staff and student-athletes in your thoughts through this agonizing time.”
Gendron is survived by his wife Janet, and their two daughters Katelyn and Allison.
