“My vision for this program is one that will compete for championships every season. It is a sold out Alfond Arena every time we play. It is trips to the TD Garden to compete for Hockey East Championships […] and trips to the NCAA tournament,” said new University of Maine men’s hockey coach Dennis “Red” Gendron during an introductory press conference held Tuesday afternoon in the Alfond Arena.

Gendron, who signed a four-year contract worth $205,000 per year on May 27, spent three seasons as an assistant coach under the late Shawn Walsh for three years, including the 1992-93 NCAA championship season. He expressed his excitement to return to UMaine, saying, “For me, this is a dream job, mostly because of the time I spent here in the ‘90s [and] the wonderful relationships formed here that endure to this day.”

“All the wonderful coaching experiences I’ve had […] would not be possible without Maine,” Gendron said.

Gendron established that his main goal was to return UMaine’s hockey program to its former glory, which he hopes to do be recruiting quality staff and players, and holding them to a high standard.

“I want this generation of Maine men to experience what the ’93 and ’99 teams did,” Gendron said. “How will we do it? Well first, we’ll hire the best coaches and recruiters available. We’ll want to recruit men who want to win championships and men who want to become professional hockey players. We want men of character, who love hockey as we do, who appreciate what it takes to win, but also want to be great students and great citizens.”

Gendron said two of his main focuses will be on hard work and unselfishness within the team, with progress being the ultimate goal.

“Two questions will be asked and answered daily: ‘Did Maine hockey get better today? Did I get better today?’” Gendron said.

Also speaking were Director of Athletics Steve Abbott, University of Maine President Paul Ferguson and UMaine Professor Emeritus and men’s hockey coach search committee chair Dr. George Jacobson.

Ferguson said he “look[s] forward to [Gendron’s] pedigree [and] his passion [for] Black Bear hockey.”

“What we think about [is how often] would you find a coach who not only combines the best of collegiate hockey at the championship hockey at the championship level, the best of professional hockey at the championship level and bleeds blue as a Black Bear? Not very often.”

Abbott praised the men’s hockey team and how they have handled the coaching change, which he described as a “difficult experience.” He also lauded the loyalty of former UMaine players and coaches, saying they were a big help in the search for and hiring of the new men’s hockey coach, specifically mentioning volunteer assistant coach Grant Standbrook and New York Islanders general manager Garth Snow, who “taught [him] a lot about how to hire a hockey coach.”

Jacobson discussed how well the search committee worked together to find quality candidates for the head coach position.

“We spent a lot of time evaluating the candidates who applied themselves, and we spent at least as much time trying to generate interest in possible names of candidates from beyond [the applicants] so we could find the strongest slate of possible coaching candidates,” Jacobson said.

“I will say that there were several candidates […] who were very, very strong candidates and would have been able to do an excellent job, so we really felt very happy to have such a strong pool and therefore, a very strong selection,” he added.