Mike Addesa

Mike Addesa
Biographical details
Born	January 8, 1945; West Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	November 29, 2022 (aged 77)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1966–1967	Stoneham HS (asst.)
1967–1968	St. Mary's HS
1968–1973	Randolph HS
1973–1974	Wellesley HS
1974–1976	Holy Cross (asst.)
1976–1979	Holy Cross
1979–1989	Rensselaer
1989–1990	Notre Dame Hounds (GM)
1990–1995	Detroit Red Wings (scout)
1995–2012	Boston Bulldogs (HC/GM/Owner)
2011–2013	Calgary Flames (scout)
2015–2017	Vancouver Canucks (scout)
2015–2017	Seacoast Spartans (GM)
Head coaching record
Overall	236–155–9 (.601) [College]
Tournaments	3–2–1 (.583)
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
	First-team All-East (1965);

Michael John Addesa, Jr. (January 8, 1945 – November 29, 2022) was an American ice hockey coach and football player. Addesa was the head coach of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute men's ice hockey team from 1979 to 1989.^[1] Addesa played collegiate football at Holy Cross.^[2]

Coaching career

In 1974, Addesa became an assistant ice hockey coach at Holy Cross. He was elevated to head coach in 1976 and stayed in that position until the end of the 1978–1979 season, when he was hired by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.^[3]

Addesa was hired by RPI to replace Jim Salfi who had coached the team from 1972 to 1979.

In his 10 years with RPI, Mike Addesa won one NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship in 1985 and two ECAC Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championships in 1984 and 1985.^[4]

Addesa was forced to resign as head coach at RPI in 1989 due to philosophical differences, stemming from the controversy over accusations of making racist comments towards one of two black players on his team, one of whom was future NHL player Graeme Townshend: "If you don’t put forth a greater effort, the world will only see you as a stereotypical nigger.” He has apologized for the comments. Townshend accepted the apology, and has voiced 100% support for Addesa from the beginning. Townshend has stated that his relationship with Addesa was unlike any player/coach relationship he had ever experienced, and that Addesa went above and beyond the job of just being a coach. Townshend viewed their relationship as being closer to a father/son thing. "I loved the guy.”^[5] Addesa would later go on to say that he had not meant the comments "racially" ^[6] and to describe his firing from RPI as a "scam" which had made it impossible for him to continue coaching.^[7]

Scouting career

Addesa worked as a scout for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League from 1990 to 1995 and the Calgary Flames from 2011 to 2013.^[8] On August 4, 2015, Addesa was named as a scout for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League.^[9]

Personal life and death

Addesa died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, on November 29, 2022, at the age of 77 from natural causes.^[10]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Holy Cross Crusaders (ECAC 2) (1976–1979)
1976–77	Holy Cross	15–12–0	10–12–0	16th
1977–78	Holy Cross	17–9–0	14–7–0	T–8th	ECAC 2 East Quarterfinals
1978–79	Holy Cross	18–10–0	14–9–0	10th	ECAC 2 East Quarterfinals
Holy Cross:		50–31–0	38–28–0
Rensselaer Engineers (ECAC Hockey) (1979–1989)
1979–80	Rensselaer	16–11–0	14–8–0	6th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1980–81	Rensselaer	16–13–0	10–11–0	t–10th
1981–82	Rensselaer	9–18–2	6–12–2	14th
1982–83	Rensselaer	18–11–0	13–7–0	7th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1983–84	Rensselaer	32–6–0	17–3–0	1st	NCAA Quarterfinals
1984–85	Rensselaer	35–2–1	20–1–0	1st	NCAA Champion
1985–86	Rensselaer	20–11–1	13–7–1	4th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1986–87	Rensselaer	13–18–2	9–13–0	T-7th	ECAC Third Place Game (Tie)
1987–88	Rensselaer	15–17–0	9–13–0	8th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1988–89	Rensselaer	12–17–3	8–12–2	8th	ECAC Quarterfinals
Rensselaer:		186–124–9	119–87–5
Total:		236–155–9
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

References

^ "MHKY All-Time Coaching Records". RPI Athletics Website. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
^ "All-Time Letterwinners" (PDF). College of the Holy Cross, Department of Athletics. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
^ "Mike Addesa". Internet Hockey Database. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
^ Wallace, William N. (February 1986). "R.P.I. Hockey Mixes Class and Classes". New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
^ "Mike Addesa and the State of Racism in the NHL - OneCanuck". onecanuck.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2015.
^ HighBeam
^ "The Daily Gazette - Google News Archive Search".
^ "Elite Prospects Hockey: Mike Addesa".
^ "Canucks name Weisbrod assistant general manager". Sportsnet. August 4, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
^ "Former RPI Coach Mike Addesa Dies". College Hockey News. November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.

External links

Mike Addesa career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database

[RPIcoachBio-1] "MHKY All-Time Coaching Records". RPI Athletics Website. Retrieved October 14, 2014.

[HCfootball-2] "All-Time Letterwinners" (PDF). College of the Holy Cross, Department of Athletics. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2014.

[ihdprof-3] "Mike Addesa". Internet Hockey Database. Retrieved October 14, 2014.

[RPIrecord-4] Wallace, William N. (February 1986). "R.P.I. Hockey Mixes Class and Classes". New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2014.

[5] "Mike Addesa and the State of Racism in the NHL - OneCanuck". onecanuck.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2015.

[6] HighBeam

[7] "The Daily Gazette - Google News Archive Search".

[8] "Elite Prospects Hockey: Mike Addesa".

[9] "Canucks name Weisbrod assistant general manager". Sportsnet. August 4, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2015.

[10] "Former RPI Coach Mike Addesa Dies". College Hockey News. November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.

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v t e Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey
Playing venues	Hart Center (1975–present)
Head coaches	Bill Kane (1966–1976) Mike Addesa (1976–1979) Peter Van Buskirk (1979–1988, 1996–1997) Bill Bellerose (1988–1994) Paul Pearl (1994–1996, 1997–2014) David Berard (2014–2021) Bill Riga (2021–Present)
Seasons	1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	ECAC 2 (1967–1984) ECAC East (1984–1998) MAAC (1998–2003) Atlantic Hockey (2003–present)
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Joe Lunny (219 Points) Larry Murphy (119 Goals) Tony Quesada (61 Wins)
NCAA Tournament appearances	2004 2006
Conference Tournament titles	MAAC: 1999 Atlantic Hockey: 2004 2006
College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA

v t e RPI Engineers men's ice hockey
Formerly the RPI Bachelors
Playing venues	Houston Field House (1949–present)
Head coaches	Leroy Clark (1917–1923) W. J. Cook (1924–1925) Marvin Callan (1925–1931, 1936–1937) Ned Harkness (1949–1963) Rube Bjorkman (1963–1964) Garry Kearns (1964–1969) Leon Abbott (1969–1972) Jim Salfi (1972–1979) Mike Addesa (1979–1989) Buddy Powers (1989–1994) Dan Fridgen (1994–2006) Seth Appert (2006–2017) Dave Smith (2017– )
Seasons	1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1936–37 1937–38 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Conference affiliations	Tri-State League (1950–1972) ECAC Hockey (1961–present)
Rivalries	Union Dutchmen Clarkson Golden Knights
Culture & lore	Rensselaer Holiday Tournament
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Frank Chiarelli (265 Points) Frank Chiarelli (155 Goals) Neil Little (58 Wins)
National championships	1954 1985
Frozen Four appearances	1953 1954 1961 1964 1985
NCAA Tournament appearances	1953 1954 1961 1964 1984 1985 1994 1995 2011
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC: 1984 1985 1995
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY