Dennis Williams, a gold medal-winning head coach for Canada on the 2023 World Junior Championship and present head coach of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, has been named head coach at Bowling Inexperienced.
Williams, the ninth head coach in Falcons hockey historical past, might be formally launched at a press convention on Thursday at 9 a.m.
He replaces Ty Eigner, who was not introduced again after the 2023-24 season.
Williams involves BGSU after spending seven years as the pinnacle coach of the Silvertips of the WHL, together with the final three as normal supervisor. Beneath Williams, Everett earned 4 U.S. Division titles, three convention regular-season titles and one Western Convention championship. Williams and the Silvertips begin the primary spherical of the WHL playoffs on Friday towards Vancouver.
He’ll coach the Silvertips by way of the conclusion of the playoffs. Williams will formally be a part of BGSU following the top of the Silvertips’ season.
“Dennis Williams is a gold medal-winning coach for Crew Canada, a type of most revered coaches within the Canadian hockey system, and one of many prime head coaches within the WHL,” mentioned BGSU director of athletics Derek van der Merwe in a press release. “Within the two weeks, I’ve realized that he’s extremely revered by his friends throughout this nation. He embodies the essence of instructional management, with a mentorship type that blends self-discipline, character, persistence, and a dedication to excellence. Wherever he has gone, successful has adopted. His true success lies within the growth of his gamers on and off the ice. We now have a storied hockey custom at Bowling Inexperienced State College and Dennis has values, data and respect within the trade to place the Falcons for CCHA and NCAA success.”
“Bowling Inexperienced State College is happy to welcome Dennis Williams as our head coach of males’s ice hockey,” added BGSU president Rodney Okay. Rogers. “He’s an achieved, gold medal-winning coach with intensive expertise and success in creating the expertise of athletes. I wish to thank Derek van der Merwe, director of athletics, for his management of this nationwide search. We are going to proceed to raise the wealthy historical past and legacy of BGSU hockey at our college and throughout the area, and I sit up for becoming a member of our college students, school, workers, alumni and group in supporting BGSU hockey within the Slater Household Ice Area.”
The native of Stratford, Ont., has served as a coach for Hockey Canada, together with head coach for the 2023 World Junior Championship (gold medal), an assistant coach for the 2022 World Junior Championship (gold), an assistant on the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and head coach for Crew Canada Black on the 2018 U17 World Hockey Problem.
Williams carries 17 years of head teaching expertise throughout junior and school ranges, boasting an total profession head teaching document of 544-267-14. His junior hockey profession head teaching successful share stands at .700 with a profession document of 505-217, whereas with the Silvertips he’s presently 283-120 (.702). Throughout his time with Everett, Williams was named Western Convention coach of the 12 months twice (2018, 2020) and U.S. Division coach of the 12 months (2022). He has boasted 11 NHL draftees since 2018 (second-most within the WHL) and 16 of his gamers have signed professional contracts on the NHL or AHL ranges.
Named the fifth head coach in Silvertips franchise historical past, Williams promptly launched into a year-long journey which broke the Silvertips document for wins by a first-year head coach (47), earned their third-most factors (99) in franchise historical past, set a brand new single-season franchise document for targets (246), had been second within the league for objective differential (-plus80), and earned eight targets or extra in a sport on 5 separate events. They broke single-game franchise information for many targets in a sport (11) and largest margin of victory (11) in an 11-0 victory at Vancouver, whereas goaltender Carter Hart earned his second CHL goaltender of the 12 months award, and 6 totally different Silvertips had been drafted by NHL golf equipment or signed to NHL or AHL contracts. Williams adopted with one other 47-win and 99-point season, the Silvertips’ fourth U.S. Division title in 5 seasons. Goaltender Dustin Wolf was named WHL Western Convention goaltender of the 12 months and CHL scholastic participant of the 12 months, whereas two extra Everett gamers had been chosen within the NHL Draft in defenseman Gianni Fairbrother (Montreal) and Wolf (Calgary).
The 2019-20 season was reduce quick by the COVID-19 pandemic, although Williams and the Silvertips secured one other exceptional marketing campaign, successful 46 video games with 96 standings factors for a second-place end within the division. Three Silvertips had been drafted to the NHL following the season: Gage Goncalves (Tampa Bay), Kasper Puutio (Florida) and Ronan Seeley (Carolina). He then guided the Silvertips to their eighth U.S. Division title within the shortened 2021 season, posting a 19-4 (38 factors) document and the second-highest factors share (.826) within the league. Defenseman Olen Zellweger was chosen within the NHL Draft thirty fourth total by the Anaheim Geese.
With a full slate of video games and followers returning to the world for the 2021-22 season, Williams and the Silvertips assembled one of many biggest seasons in franchise historical past. Everett clinched their ninth U.S. Division title with a 45-13-5-5 document, clinched the highest seed within the Western Convention for simply the fifth time in franchise historical past, eclipsed the 100-point mark for simply the third time and scored probably the most targets as a workforce in franchise historical past (280). The workforce additionally strung collectively the longest win streak to start out a season (six video games) and the longest level streak (18 video games) within the workforce’s 19-year historical past. Everett netted 79 power-play targets in 2021-22, probably the most of any WHL workforce and most in workforce historical past since 2006-07.
Regardless of an injury-riddled season, Williams helped lead the Silvertips again to the postseason in 2022-23 with a 33-32-2-1 workforce document, inserting because the sixth total seed within the Western Convention. Silvertips captain Jackson Berezowski broke each the profession targets document (130; earlier document 112) and single-season targets document (48; beforehand 47) throughout the season.
Along with his time with the Silvertips, Williams’ expertise contains the USHL’s Bloomington Thunder and NAHL’s Amarillo Bulls. After guiding Bloomington to a 29-24-7 document and fifth place within the Japanese Convention of their growth season of 2014-15, he led the Thunder in 2015-16 to a 36-18-6 document, an look within the Japanese Convention remaining, and a victory shy of reaching the league’s Clark Cup Finals. He led Amarillo to 3 consecutive 40-win seasons from 2011-14, amassing a profession document of 168-44-2-24 and a factors share of .756 throughout 4 years within the NAHL. He delivered three straight South Division titles, back-to-back and league main 46-win campaigns, and a Robertson Cup title to Amarillo in 2012-13.
Beneath Williams, the Bulls shattered a 35-year-old document with 99 factors in back-to-back seasons (2011-13) and he was named NAHL coach of the 12 months after the Bulls’ league championship. Williams’ groups in Amarillo led the league in targets from 2011-13 and completed second within the NAHL with 207 targets with a plus-87 objective differential in 2013-14.
Throughout his time in Amarillo and Bloomington, he helped 74 gamers advance to play within the NCAA Division I ranks and with the Bulls coached seven division all-conference alternatives, two all-NAHL first workforce members, one defenseman of the 12 months, and one division all-rookie honoree. With the Thunder, 12 alternatives had been both chosen within the NHL Draft or for rosters on the U17 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Event, U18 World Championships, and the Junior A World Problem. He assisted with group outreach efforts with each one in all his Bulls squads containing a group service award recipient, and his workforce in Bloomington was chosen as recipient of the 2016-17 Curt Hammer Neighborhood Service Award.
Williams has served Utica (2003-04) and Alabama-Huntsville (2007-08) as an assistant coach and began his head teaching profession on the NCAA stage with 4 seasons at Neumann.
Williams has not solely confirmed himself as a stable instructor of the sport of hockey, however he has additionally confirmed he has the potential to vary the course of a program on the school stage. Earlier than being an assistant coach for former Falcons assistant coach Danton Cole at Alabama-Huntsville in 2007-08, Williams was the pinnacle coach at Neumann from 2003 to 2006. In simply three quick years, Williams constructed the Knights right into a powerhouse, going from 3-21-1 the 12 months earlier than he arrived to 17-5-5 in his remaining season behind the bench. In his three seasons with the Knights, he racked up a 35-32-8 document, which included the varsity’s two finest seasons in program historical past.
A former proper winger for the Falcons, Williams obtained his bachelor of science diploma in sport administration from Bowling Inexperienced in 2001, graduating cum laude. He later earned a grasp’s diploma in schooling from BGSU in 2003. Throughout his BGSU profession, he appeared in 117 profession video games, notched 20 factors (12 targets, eight assists), and 198 penalty minutes for the Falcons, whereas additionally notching two-game successful targets. He was the Howard Brown Coaches Award recipient following the 2000-01 season, recognizing him as the one that finest exemplified skilled qualities each on and off the ice en path to main the Falcons to a CCHA semifinal look that season. He joined BGSU’s teaching workers as an assistant in 2008 and was named interim head coach for the 2009-10 season.
After his BGSU taking part in profession, he spent the 2001-02 hockey season with the Odessa Jackalopes, a New York Islanders affiliate within the Central Hockey League, and the Cambridge Hornets of OHA’s Main League Hockey, now Allan Cup Hockey.