![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cdn.c.photoshelter.com\/img-get\/I0000CDkgo3N.icM\/s\/300\/I0000CDkgo3N.icM.jpg\")
Thus, in the wake of last year’s 11-19-8 mark, just the third losing season in Whitehead’s term, the school’s first open search for a head coach since 1984, which netted it the legendary late Shawn Walsh, was set in motion.<\/p>\n
Gendron, who was hired after an extensive search, said he is well aware of what the Black Bears mean to the hockey-mad Pine Tree State.<\/p>\n
“There’s no place in the East,” he said, “where a whole state is as passionate about a program as the folks in Maine. That’s something that ‘Walshie’ created while he was here. He made it ‘Maine’s Team.’ I understand that. I came into that with eyes wide open.”<\/p>\n
Then again, he’s seen that all that passion firsthand.<\/p>\n
Plucked out of obscurity back in 1990 from behind a Vermont high school bench by Walsh, Gendron has tasted great success at both college and pro levels.<\/p>\n
That includes two national championships — including Maine’s 1993 title — and three Stanley Cup rings from his time as an assistant with the New Jersey Devils.<\/p>\n
Along the way, he’s coached in the AHL, the USHL and, before his recent two-year stint at Yale, spent six seasons as an assistant to former Massachusetts coach Don “Toot” Cahoon.<\/p>\n
Yet if you ask the Boston-born Gendron, all that success stems from Walsh’s willingness to take a chance on an unheralded high school coach whose desire far outweighed his resume.<\/p>\n
“Shawn Walsh always wanted to hire the best people he could find,” said Gendron, who earned his master’s degree during his three-year stay at Maine. “It didn’t matter who you were or what your background was. He just wanted hungry people. I owe him for that. And quite frankly, none of the other magnificent things that have happened to me [since then] would have been possible if I hadn’t parachuted into Orono 23 years ago.<\/p>\n
“The place and the people who were there meant a lot to me. My time at Maine [then] will pay huge dividends for what we will be doing [now].”<\/p>\n
Gendron’s vision for the Black Bears includes hanging some newly-won banners in the Alfond Arena rafters and producing alums who go on to NHL glory.<\/p>\n
In other words, a tap of the refresh button on Maine’s storied past, one that could include a return of semi-retired legendary assistant coach and ace recruiter Grant Standbrook.<\/p>\n
“If Grant wants to come back to Maine, Grant can come back to Maine,” Gendron said. “It’s up to him. It’s as simple as that. I will wait for him to decide what he wants to do.”<\/p>\n
In the process, Gendron vows, in time, to make the Black Bears well worth the watching, and perhaps even the toughest ticket in the state.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know how good we’re going to be as a program,” he said. “But we’re going to be long-term greedy and we’re going to build for the future. We’re going to play fast. We’re going to train to play fast. And that’s it. That’s not something that I invented, that’s for sure. We think it’s a fun way to play. I’ve seen it work. It’s going to be great.”<\/p>\n
And you can write that in “Red.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dennis “Red” Gendron’s vision for the Black Bears includes hanging some newly-won banners in the Alfond Arena rafters and producing alums who go on to NHL glory. Dan Hickling reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n