Bob Gaudet - Men's Ice Hockey Coach - Dartmouth College Athletics

Photo by: Elise Washburn

Bob Gaudet

Title:
Head Coach
Alma Mater:
Dartmouth ’81
Email:
Robert.J.Gaudet@dartmouth.edu
Phone (603):
646-2469
At Dartmouth:
23rd Season

Koenig Family Head Coach of Men's Hockey
The Koenig family (Lauren and Brad ’80 and their children Austin ’13, Kyle, and Jessica) have endowed the Koenig Family Head Coach of Dartmouth Men's Hockey. Read more ...

2005-06 ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year (Dartmouth)
1995-96 ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year (Brown)
All-time Wins leader (331)
Games Coached Leader (752)
5 All-Americans
1 Hobey Baker Finalist
32 All-ECAC Hockey Honors
22 All-Ivy First Team honors
10 NHL Players
3 Ivy Players of the Year
2 ECAC & 4 Ivy Rookies of the Year
1 ECAC Best Defensive Forward
2007 Ivy League Champion
2006 ECAC Regular Season Champion
2018 New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame Inductee

The 2019-20 season was the 23rd season as head coach of the Dartmouth men's ice hockey program for Bob Gaudet who has has firmly established himself in the lore of this century-old program. A 1981 Dartmouth graduate and four-year member of the varsity hockey team, Gaudet has made the Big Green one of the most consistent teams in both ECAC Hockey and the Ivy League during his time behind the bench.

Gaudet several milestones during the 2018-19 season as he passed Eddie Jeremiah ’30 as the program's all-time leader in wins, surpassed 400 career wins for his entire career and became the all-time leader in games coached by an ECAC Hockey coach on either the men's or women's side.

The 400th career win came on Nov. 3, 2018 when he guided the Green to a 5-1 win over No. 15 Quinnipiac. The 309th win as Dartmouth's head coach came later in the month on Nov. 30, 2018 at home against No. 16 Cornell, pushing him ahead of the legendary Jeremiah, who had owned the record of 308 for more than 50 years.

Prior to the start of the 2018-19 season, Gaudet’s title officially became the Koenig Family Head Coach of Dartmouth Men’s Hockey. He was also enshrined in the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2018, being inducted in October.

During the 2017-18 campaign, Gaudet reached his 300th win at Dartmouth thanks to a 3-2 win over No. 7 Clarkson at home late in the year. In doing so, Gaudet joined Hockey Hall of Famer Eddie Jeremiah ’30 as the only other coach to reach the figure in program history.

Gaudet's Career Record
Year	Team	Record
1988-89	Brown	1-25-0
1989-90	Brown	10-16-3
1990-91	Brown	9-15-3
1991-92	Brown	11-15-4
1992-93	Brown	16-12-3
1993-94	Brown	15-13-4
1994-95	Brown	15-12-3
1995-96	Brown	9-15-8
1996-97	Brown	7-19-3
1997-98	Dartmouth	11-13-5
1998-99	Dartmouth	10-17-2
1999-00	Dartmouth	9-17-4
2000-01	Dartmouth	16-14-4
2001-02	Dartmouth	14-13-5
2002-03	Dartmouth	20-13-1
2003-04	Dartmouth	14-11-9
2004-05	Dartmouth	20-13-2
2005-06	Dartmouth	19-12-2*
2006-07	Dartmouth	18-12-3
2007-08	Dartmouth	12-16-4
2008-09	Dartmouth	14-14-3
2009-10	Dartmouth	10-19-3
2010-11	Dartmouth	19-12-3
2011-12	Dartmouth	13-16-4
2012-13	Dartmouth	15-14-5
2013-14	Dartmouth	10-20-4
2014-15	Dartmouth	17-12-4
2015-16	Dartmouth	18-16-1
2016-17	Dartmouth	10-18-3
2017-18	Dartmouth	16-17-2
2018-19	Dartmouth	13-17-4
2019-20	Dartmouth	13-14-4
Brown Totals (9)		93-142-31
Dartmouth Totals (23)		331-340-81
Overall Total (32)		424-482-112

In 32 seasons as a head coach, including the last 23 at Dartmouth, Gaudet has worked with and developed some of the nation's top talents. Eight former Dartmouth players suited up for NHL teams in 2010-11 alone and 11 total since he took over in 1997. Several more former student-athletes also played in other professional leagues in the last two years, including the KHL, AHL, ECHL and the CHL.

Gaudet coached in his 1,000th career as Dartmouth defeated Princeton, 4-3, on the road in overtime on Jan. 3, 2020. In doing so, he became just the seventh coach in NCAA hockey history to reach 1,000 games within one conference and the first in the ranks of ECAC Hockey to reach the milestone figure.

The 2015-16 season was special for Gaudet for both his current and former players. He guided the Big Green back to the ECAC Hockey semifinals for the seventh time, becoming the first team in conference history to reach the league's final weekend of competition without having a single player earn a spot on any of the three all-conference teams, demonstrating a team-first mentality.

Ben Lovejoy '06 also helped the Pittsburgh Penguins capture the fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history and, in the process, became the first Dartmouth player since Myles Lane '28 in 1929 to win the Stanley Cup. Lovejoy, the first New Hampshire-born player to win the Cup, brought the trophy back to Thompson Arena for public event where he was introduced to the crowd by Gaudet whom Lovejoy credited with "giving me a second chance at hockey."

After nine successful seasons behind the Brown bench from 1988-97, Gaudet returned to Hanover for the 1997-98 campaign.

In 2010-11, Gaudet and the Big Green made huge strides to return to national prominence. Dartmouth finished the season ranked No. 15 in the nation after posting 19 wins and winning the ECAC Hockey Consolation Game in Atlantic City, N.J.

At Dartmouth, Gaudet guided the Big Green to seven straight winning seasons from 2000-01 to 2006-07 and had 20-win seasons in 2002-03 and 2004-05. The 20-13-2 record in 2004-05 marked the team's fifth consecutive campaign above .500, the first time that had happened in school history. Gaudet has also led the Big Green to seven straight home playoff series, and in 2001, the program made its first trip to the ECAC semifinals in 20 years. He earned his 200th career win against St. Lawrence on Feb. 11, 2005.

The Big Green has won two titles under Gaudet. In 2007, Dartmouth captured a share of its first Ivy title since Gaudet was in net in 1980. The 2005-06 season gave Dartmouth its first-ever ECACHL title. Gaudet was also named ECAC Hockey's Coach of the Year, making him the second coach to earn the award with two separate teams. He was also a finalist for the Division I Coach of the Year award. Gaudet has now had two Ivy League Players of the Year, Mike Ouellette earned the honor in 2005-06 while David Jones was given the title in 2006-07. Jones was also an All-America, giving Gaudet four back-to-back players to earn that distinction.

Gaudet took over Brown's coaching reins in 1988 and immediately went about transforming the Bears from a perennial cellar-dweller into one of the ECAC's top programs. During his tenure, Brown steadily climbed in the league standings, from 12th in '89 to eighth in '90 and ‘91, fifth in '92, third in '93, fourth in '94 and all the way to second in '95. Since his return in 1997, Gaudet began the same process at Dartmouth. The Big Green finished 11th his first two years, eighth in 2000, fifth in ’01, third in ’05 and was tied for first in 2006-07.

During Gaudet's time at Brown, the Bears were crowned Ivy League champion twice (1991 and 1995) and, in 1993, made the school's first NCAA appearance since 1976. In both 1993 and 1995, he was a finalist for Division I Coach of the Year. He was named ECAC Coach of the Year in 1995 after leading Brown to a second-place finish in the league, just one-and-a-half games behind first-place Clarkson. The Bears also spent much of the year in and out of the top 10 in the national polls.

Gaudet became head coach of the Bears in 1988 following a five-year tenure as an assistant coach with the Big Green. He assisted in all aspects at Dartmouth under head coaches George Crowe and Brian Mason, while coordinating recruiting efforts and serving as varsity goaltender coach. In addition, he directed the junior varsity program his first season in Hanover.

Gaudet graduated in 1981 with a degree in visual arts after four productive seasons for the Big Green hockey team. In 1979 and 1980, Gaudet led the team to Ivy League titles and appearances in the NCAA Frozen Four. As a senior, he served as co-captain and was a recipient of the Philip D. McInnis Award for spirit, loyalty and dedication to Dartmouth ice hockey. In 76 career games, he made a school-record 2,129 saves, while allowing only 299 goals for a 4.00 career goals-against average and an .877 save percentage. He had his most successful campaign as a sophomore when he recorded two of his four-career shutouts to go along with a 3.03 goals-against average. He was First Team All-Ivy in 1978-79 and 1979-80, and was a two-time recipient of the Canterbury Society Award for the best Ivy League goalie.

Following graduation, Gaudet signed a free-agent contract with the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. He played for minor-league affiliates of Winnipeg in the CHL and IHL for one year before a knee injury cut short his promising career.

In the summer of 1990, Gaudet served as the assistant coach of the East Team in the Olympic Sports Festival, held in Minneapolis. In 1994, he served again as head coach of the East Team, and also coached the East All-Star Team in the East-West Shrine College Hockey Classic. Gaudet spent the summer of 1998 behind the bench of the New England Select 16-Team at USA Hockey's Summer Festival in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Gaudet and his wife Lynne, also a 1981 Dartmouth graduate, reside in Etna, N.H., and have three children: sons Joe ’10 and Jim ’12 and daughter Kelly ’17. Eldest son Joe graduated from Dartmouth in 2010, while Jim earned his degree from the College in 2012. Both Joe and Jim played four seasons with the Big Green with each serving as an alternate captain in their final seasons with the team. Like her father, Kelly was a goaltender as well as co-captain of the girl's ice hockey team while at Hanover High School.