Bowling Green State University Athletics
Hockey's Todd Reirden Named Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's New Assistant Coach
August 18, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Aug. 18, 2008
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - For the second time in the last three months, the Bowling Green State University hockey program will be faced with finding a replacement for an assistant coach, as former assistant coach Todd Reirden has been named an assistant coach for the American Hockey League's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, as announced on Monday by the Pittsburgh Penguins' organization. Reirden, who spent one season with the Falcons, will join new head coach and former Falcon teammate, Dan Bylsma's (1988-92) coaching staff for the upcoming 2008-09 season.
Reirden's departure is the second amongst Falcon hockey assistants in the past three months, as earlier in the summer, former assistant coach Doug Schueller was named the new head coach at Division III Saint John's University in Minnesota back on May 16th. Former Falcon Dennis Williams replaced Schueller on the BG coaching staff back on July 3rd.
"I would like to thank Coach [Scott] Paluch, the BGSU athletic department and Greg Christopher the A.D. for allowing me to come back to my alma mater and start my coaching career," said Reirden. "I'm extremely thankful for the opportunity I was given as a first-year coach to start at this level and the experience and knowledge I gained in my one year with the program will only serve as a solid foundation for me as I move on in my coaching career. Me and my family were very honored to call Bowling Green home this past year and I look forward to following this program as it continues to make great strides forward."
"Often times in the game of hockey, you are given great opportunities for advancement in your career and this is certainly one of those times for me. Getting the opportunity to work with a former Falcon like Dan [Bylsma], at the professional level, is a great challenge and opportunity I'm looking forward to."
Bylsma was named Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's coach on Aug. 4, after serving as an assistant coach under out-going head coach Todd Richards for two seasons. He and Reirden played on the 1990-91 and 1991-92 Falcon squads under former BGSU head coach Jerry York.
The reunion of the two Falcons will form the third-current professional or college coaching staff where there is a former BGSU player serving as a head coach and assistant coach. The other two staffs include coach Paluch (1984-88) and new assistant Dennis Williams (1997-2001) at BGSU and RIT [Rochester Institute of Technology] head coach Wayne Wilson (1980-84) and his assistant Brian Hills (1979-83).
In Reirden's one season with the Falcons, BG won 18 games - the most by any Falcon team in 13 years - as they hosted their second home playoff series in the past four seasons. The 18 wins marked an 11-game turnaround from 2006-07 where the Falcons finished the season with just seven wins. It was a turnaround good enough to tie for the second-best single-season turnaround in program history, second only to the 14-game turnaround between the 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons.
The Deerfield, Illinois native and former NHL defenseman, came to BG after a 13-year professional career that saw him play in 183 career NHL contests.
That professional career came after a four-year stint at BG (1990-94), where Reirden played in 140 career games, scoring 76 career points on 24 goals and 52 assists.
For more information, please see the official Pittsburgh release below.
Todd Reirden NAMED ASSISTANT COACH
Courtesy of Brian Coe, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Director of Communications
WILKES-BARRE, PA -Todd Reirden has been named assistant coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, it was announced on Monday by Pittsburgh Penguins Assistant General Manager Chuck Fletcher. Reirden, 37, spent last season as an assistant coach with the Bowling Green Falcons (CCHA).
A defenseman with more than 180 games of National Hockey League experience, Reirden was a teammate of Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma during the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons at Bowling Green.
Selected by New Jersey in the 12th round (242nd overall) of the 1990 NHL Draft, Reirden played professionally for 13 seasons, retiring after the 2006-07 campaign with Graz EC of the Austrian Hockey League.
Reirden appeared in 183 NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Atlanta Thrashers and Phoenix Coytoes between 1998 and 2004, recording 46 points (11+35) and 181 penalty minutes. The Deerfield, Illinois native has also appeared in an additional 533 games combined in the AHL, IHL, ECHL during his career. He made his professional debut with the Raleigh Icecaps (ECHL) in 1994-95, and appeared in his first AHL game that season with the Albany River Rats.
Reirden and his wife Shelby have a six-year-old son, Travis.
