Former NCAA champion Rick Bennett (Providence) is back in college hockey and in ECAC Hockey. Bennett, 57, has been hired as an assistant coach at Quinnipiac University.
Bennett, who led Union College to the 2014 NCAA championship, the first in school history, compiled a 195-134-45 record in nine-plus seasons in charge of the Dutchmen, including six seasons of 20 or more wins, before resigning in early 2022. He also guided Union to eight ECAC Hockey regular-season or postseason titles in his tenure in Schenectady. He spent the past two season coaching the ECHL's expansion Savannah Ghost Pirates, where he fashioned an overall 58-68-0 regular-season record.
A native of Springfield, Mass., and a 1990 graduate of Providence College where he recorded 50 goals and 134 points in 128 outings at forward for the Friars, Bennett played nine years professionally in the NHL, AHL, IHL and ECHL, and actually began his coaching career as a player-assistant coach in the ECHL in 1995-96. After four seasons he returned to the college ranks at his alma mater as an assistant coach for five seasons, before moving on to Union in 2005. He then served as an assistant for two years with the Dutchmen, and as associate coach for five campaigns more before taking the head coaching reins in 2011.
