Bruce Cassidy
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Bruce Cassidy(born May 20, 1965 in Ottawa, Ontario) is an ice hockey coach who is currently the head coach of the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League.
Cassidy was a defenseman who played in the Ontario Hockey League with the Ottawa 67's from 1982-1985, and he was selected by the Chicago Black Hawks 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 made his NHL debut with the Black Hawks in 1983-84, as he appeared in 1 game, going pointless.
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 would also play 36 games with Chicago during those years, scoring 4 goals and adding 13 assists for 17 points, along with 10 PIM.
Cassidy then signed with Alleghe HC in Italy, and played 2 years with the club (1990-91 and 1992-93)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.
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. Cassidy took over the team which started the year 6-12-2, and led them to a 15-25-10 record as the club finished with the 2nd worst record in the league.
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, however the club missed the playoffs again.
In 1998-99, Cassidy was promoted to head coach of the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL, where he spent alot of years ws a player, and 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 Trenton Titans of the ECHL, and he led them to a respectable 37-29-4 record, good for 4th place in the Northeast Division. After earning a bye for the opening round of the playoffs, the Titans made short work of the Richmond Renegades in the 2nd round, sweeping them 3 games to 0. In the 3rd 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 defeated the Milwaukee Admirals in 5 games before falling to the Orlando Solar Bears in 5 games in the 2nd round of the playoffs.
Cassidy returned to Grand Rapids for the 2001-02 season, leading them to a divsion 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 what Cassidy was doing in the minors and hired him to become the head coach of the club in 2002-03. The Capitals finished 2nd place in the South-East with a 39-29-8-6 record, 92 pts, 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.
Cassidy returned in 2003-04, but the club started off horribly and he was fired 25 games into the season with a 8-16-1 record. The club would go on and finish with the 2nd worst record in the league (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. He was hired by the Kingston Frontenacs on July 12th, 2006.
{http://hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid%5B%5D=857P Profile at HockeyDB]
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