HANOVER — Bob Gaudet retired as Dartmouth College men’s hockey coach on Wednesday evening, ending a 23-year run in charge of his alma mater and a 32-year tenure behind the bench.
Gaudet made his decision known to his current players and coaches on Wednesday. The college announced his departure in a news release shortly before 7 p.m. His retirement is effective June 30.
A 1981 Dartmouth graduate and a goaltender on the last Big Green teams to play in the NCAA Tournament, Gaudet is the all-time leader in both coaching wins (331) and games coached (752) at Dartmouth. He became Dartmouth coach in 1997 after a nine-year run at Brown, replacing Roger Demment.
“I’ve been so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to interact with so many talented coaches, staff members, faculty, administrators, alumni and especially players over the better part of the last four decades,” Gaudet said in the release. “As a team, we always talk about leaving the jersey in a better place once you exit Thompson Arena, and I hope that I have successfully accomplished that mission.”
As a goalie, Gaudet teamed with Jim Jankowski to backstop Dartmouth to the NCAA Frozen Four in 1979 in Detroit and a year later in Providence, R.I. The Big Green lost to North Dakota in both semifinals before winning consolation games against New Hampshire in ’79 and Cornell in ’80.
After a brief stint in the Winnipeg Jets’ minor-league system, Gaudet joined the coaching ranks as an assistant at Dartmouth to his former coach, George Crowe, and later Brian Mason.
He left Hanover in 1988 for the opening at Brown, leading the Bears to their first NCAA appearance in 17 years and a pair of Ivy League titles.
Gaudet returned to town in 1997, posting a 331-340-81 record with the Big Green. Although he couldn’t get Dartmouth back to nationals despite several near misses, Gaudet did guide the 2005-06 team to a share of the ECAC regular-season crown and won the league’s coach of the year honor that season.
Six skaters from that squad ultimately played in the National Hockey League, one of whom (defenseman Ben Lovejoy) would win a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins a decade later. Gaudet sent a total of 10 players to NHL clubs.
Gaudet leaves the game with an overall head coaching record of 424-482-112. He passed the legendary Eddie Jeremiah to become Dartmouth’s winningest coach in a 3-2 defeat of Cornell on Nov. 30, 2018. He is a member of the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey and is one of about two dozen coaches in college hockey history with 400 career victories to his credit.
The Big Green went 13-14-4 last winter in Gaudet’s final season, dropping back-to-back overtime games to Princeton in the first round of the best-of-three ECAC Tournament.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.