Bruce Cassidy

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Bruce Cassidy (born May 20, 1965 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a retired hockey defencemen and the former ice hockey coach of the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League. Cassidy was also former head coach of the Washington Capitals.

[edit] Playing career

Cassidy was a defenceman who played in the Ontario Hockey League with the Ottawa 67's from 1982–1985, and he was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, selected in the 1st round, 18th overall. Cassidy's best OHL season was in 1982–83, when he registered 25 goals and 86 assists for 111 points. He won the Memorial Cup under coach Brian Kilrea in 1984 scoring 12 points. At the age of 19, he made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks in March 1984. During the years of 1984-1988, he had 3 knee surgeries, including major reconstruction of his ACL.

Between 1985–1990, Cassidy would spend most of his time in the Hawks minor league system, playing with the Nova Scotia Oilers of the American Hockey League, the Saginaw Generals of the International Hockey League, the Saginaw Hawks of the IHL and the Indianapolis Ice, also in the IHL. Cassidy's NHL playing career was limited due to his knee surgies. Yet, Cassidy would also play 36 games with Chicago during those years, scoring 4 goals and adding 13 assists for 17 points, along with 10 PIM.

After winning the Turner Cup in the IHL, Cassidy then signed with Alleghe HC in Italy, and played 2 years with the club 1990-1992 and 1992-1993 in the Italian Ice Hockey League, appearing in 51 games, while getting 117 points (35G-82A).

After his stint in Italy, Cassidy then spent the 1993–94 season with Kaufbeuren of the German Hockey League, getting 17 points (8G-9A) in 35 games.

[edit] Career statistics

                                            --- Regular Season ---  ---- Playoffs ----
Season   Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1982-83  Ottawa 67's                 OHL    70   25   86  111   33   9   3   9  12  10
1983-84  Ottawa 67's                 OHL    67   27   68   95   58  13   6  16  22   6
1983-84  Chicago Blackhawks          NHL     1    0    0    0    0  --  --  --  --  --
1984-85  Ottawa 67's                 OHL    28   13   27   40   15  --  --  --  --  --
1985-86  Nova-Scotia Oilers          AHL     4    0    0    0    0  --  --  --  --  --
1985-86  Chicago Blackhawks          NHL     1    0    0    0    0  --  --  --  --  --
1986-87  Canadian National Team      Intl   12    3    6    9    4
1986-87  Saginaw Generals            IHL    10    2   13   15    6   2   1   1   2   0
1986-87  Nova-Scotia Oilers          AHL    19    2    8   10    4  --  --  --  --  --
1986-87  Chicago Blackhawks          NHL     2    0    0    0    0  --  --  --  --  --
1987-88  Saginaw Hawks               IHL    60    9   37   46   59  10   2   3   5  19
1987-88  Chicago Blackhawks          NHL    21    3   10   13    6  --  --  --  --  --
1988-89  Saginaw Hawks               IHL    72   16   64   80   80   6   0   2   2   6
1988-89  Chicago Blackhawks          NHL     9    0    2    2    4   1   0   0   0   0
1989-90  Indianapolis Ice            IHL    75   11   46   57   56  14   1  10  11  20
1989-90  Chicago Blackhawks          NHL     2    1    1    2    0  --  --  --  --  --
1990-91  Alleghe HC                  Italy  36   23   52   75   20
1992-93  Alleghe HC                  Italy  25   12   30   42   10
1993-94  Kaufbeuren ESV              1.GBu  33    8    9   17   12
1994-95  Indianapolis Ice            IHL    29    2   13   15   16  --  --  --  --  --
1995-96  Indianapolis Ice            IHL    56    5   16   21   46   5   1   0   1   4
1996-97  Indianapolis Ice            IHL    10    0    4    4   11  --  --  --  --  --
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         NHL Totals                         36    4   13   17   10   1   0   0   0   0

[edit] Coaching career

Cassidy then returned to the Blackhawks organization with the Indianapolis Ice from 1994–97 before retiring as a player 10 games into the 96–97 season to take a head coaching job with the Jacksonville Lizard Kings of the ECHL in midseason. Cassidy took over the team which started the year 6–12–2, and led them to a 15–25–10 record.

The Lizard Kings greatly improved in Cassidy's 2nd year with the team, as they finished with a record of 35-29-6, with 76 points.

In 1998-99, Cassidy was promoted to head coach of the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL, the club finished the year at 33-37-12=78 points and qualified for the playoffs. In the first round, they played the heavily favoured Cincinnati Cyclones in a best of 3 series, and the Cyclones won the opening game 4-2. The Ice came back and won the 2nd game 4-3 in OT, and then took the series by winning 1-0 in game 3 in Cincinnati. In the 2nd round, the Ice fell 3 games to 1 to the Detroit Vipers and were eliminated from the playoffs.

As the Ice folded after the 98-99 season, Cassidy took the head coaching job with the expansion Trenton Titans of the ECHL, and led them to a 37-29-4 record, good for 4th place in the Northeast Division. The Titans made short work of the Richmond Renegades in the 1st round, sweeping them 3 games to 0. In the 2nd round, they faced off against the Hampton Roads Admirals, and beat them 3 games to 2. The Titans would then fall 4 games to 2 to the Peoria Rivermen, in the semi-finals.

Cassidy then moved to the Ottawa Senators organization, and became head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins of the IHL. The club finished with the best record in the league (53–22–7, 113 points), and they swept the Cleveland Lumberjacks in 4 games before falling to the Orlando Solar Bears in 6 games in the semi-finals.

Cassidy returned to Grand Rapids for the 2001–02 season, leading them to another division title with a 42–27–11=95 pts record, but the team lost in the first round to the Chicago Wolves in 5 games.

The Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League took notice of Cassidy's success in the minors and hired him to become the head coach of the club in 2002–03. The Capitals finished 2nd place in the Southeast with a 39–29–8–6=92 pts record, and took on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round of the playoffs. The Capitals won the first 2 games in Tampa Bay, however, the Lightning rebounded and won 4 in a row to eliminate the Capitals from the Stanley Cup playoffs, thanks to a triple-overtime goal by Martin St. Louis, which allowed the Lightning to win a playoff series for the first time in their history. The Tampa Bay Lightning then won the Stanley Cup in 2004.

Cassidy returned in 2003–04, he was 25 games into the season with an 8–16–1 record when he was let go from the Washington Capitals and replaced by assistant coach Glen Hanlon. The club would go on and finish with the 2nd worst record in the league under Glen Hanlon (23-46-10-3=59 pts), but won the 1st overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and chose Alexander Ovechkin.

Cassidy signed on as an assistant coach with the Blackhawks in June of 2004, but his contract was not renewed for the 2006–07 season given his better fit as a head coach. He was hired by the Kingston Frontenacs on July 12th, 2006. On September 10th, 2006, in a pre-season exhibition game between Kingston and Ottawa, Cassidy got the chance to coach against his former coach and mentor Kilrea; the Frontenacs lost 4–3, thanks to Ottawa's 3-point men Matt Lahey and Thomas Kiriakou, who each had two goals and an assist. During the regular season, Cassidy quickly rebounded in the home opener and beat his former proud mentor by 9–5.

During his first season as head coach, the Frontenacs would finish with a 31–30–7 record, earning them 69 points and 5th place in the Eastern Conference. The Fronts would face the Oshawa Generals in the first round of the playoffs, and would be eliminated in 5 games.

Cassidy returned to Kingston to begin the 2007–08 season, however, after a rough 2–9–1 start to the season, he was let go from the Frontenacs and replaced by Larry Mavety. Cassidy finished with a 33–39–8 record with the club.

[edit] Coaching statistics

[edit] See also

• List of NHL seasons
• List of IHL seasons
• List of OHL seasons
• List of AHL seasons
• List of NHL players

[edit] External links

• Bruce Cassidy's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database