Dufresne, Riendeau Complete Bulldogs Coaching Staff
June 20, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hamilton Bulldogs News Release
MONTREAL, QC - Montreal Canadiens Executive Vice President and General Manager Marc Bergevin announced today the appointment of Donald Dufresne as assistant coach and Vincent Riendeau as goaltending consultant with the Hamilton Bulldogs. They will join Head Coach Sylvain Lefebvre and Assistant Coach Ron Wilson behind the 'Dogs bench.
Dufresne, 45, played 268 games over nine seasons in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Edmonton Oilers. He totalled 42 points (six goals, 36 assists) over his career while winning the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993. The Quebec City native was originally drafted by Montreal in the sixth round, 117th overall in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. He played various seasons in the American Hockey League during his professional career with the Sherbrooke Canadiens, Fredericton Canadiens and the Worcester IceCats while playing one season with the Quebec Rafales of the International Hockey League. In 186 regular season games over six seasons in the AHL, he notched 61 points (13 goals, 48 assists). Dufresne played for the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs and the Longueuil Chevaliers over four seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League during his junior career. Dufresne's coaching career began with the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL during the 2000-2001 season as an assistant coach before becoming an assistant coach with the Quebec Citadelles of the AHL in 2001-2002. He returned as assistant coach with the Oceanic in 2002-2003 and helped lead them to a league championship in 2004-2005 as head coach. After a few years away from the team, Dufresne returned to the Oceanic as assistant coach in 2008-2009 as well has handling the duties of assistant general manager over the past four seasons.
Riendeau, 46, played 184 games over eight seasons in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins and recorded 5 wins, 65 losses, 20 ties and five shutouts. He also spent parts of five seasons in the AHL playing in 98 games and recording 61 wins, 31 losses, three ties and six shutouts. Riendeau continued his career in Europe playing in Germany, Switzerland and Great Britain before becoming the first North American-born netminder to play with a Russian Superleague team when he suited up with the HC Lada Togliatti. He joined the Toronto Maple Leafs after his retirement in 2001 as a goaltending consultant and then spent the 2004-2005 season with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the QMJHL as the goaltending coach. Since 2005, Riendeau has been working with several different European league teams on a consulting basis, including the Adler Mannheim, Germany (2005-2007), HC Fribourg-Gotteron, Switzerland (2007), Huskies Kassel (2008-2009) and Hamburg Freeze, Germany (2010-2012). The native of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec owns a goaltending school with summer camps in several Quebec areas, and runs the Vincent Riendeau Hockey School at the North American Hockey Academy, in Vermont.
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