Donald Dufresne and Vincent Riendeau join Bulldogs coaching staff
Ethan Moreau hired as professional scout
Montreal Canadiens’ Press Release
MONTREAL – Montreal Canadiens Executive vice president and general manager, Marc Bergevin, announced Wednesday the appointment of Donald Dufresne as assistant coach and Vincent Riendeau as goaltending consultant with the Montreal Canadiens AHL affiliate team in Hamilton. The Club also confirmed the hiring of Ethan Moreau as part time professional scout (Western Conference).
A native of Quebec City, Donald Dufresne was selected 117th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. Following his junior career in the QMJHL with the Trois-Rivières Draveurs and Longueuil Chevaliers, Dufresne, now 45, began his professional hockey career with the Canadiens AHL affiliate team in Sherbrooke. After five seasons with the Montreal organization, he went on to play with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Edmonton Oilers. In nine seasons, Dufresne played 268 NHL games recording 42 points (6 goals and 36 assists) and etched his name on the Stanley Cup in 1993 as a member of the Canadiens. Following his active playing career in 1998, Donald Dufresne settled in Rimouski where he joined the Oceanic coaching staff as an assistant for the 2000-01 season. He held a similar position with the Quebec Citadelles the following season before returning to Rimouski as head coach from 2003 to 2005 and taking his team to the league championship in 2005. After a few years away from the team, Dufresne returned to the Oceanic as an assistant coach in 2008-09 along with the duties of assistant general manager over three of the past four seasons.
Vincent Riendeau began his professional hockey career with the Canadiens minor league affiliate, the Sherbrooke Canadiens, after signing as a free agent in the fall of 1986. In his first AHL season in Sherbrooke, he was awarded the Hap Holmes Trophy after leading the league for the fewest goals allowed. After two seasons with the farm team, he moved on to St. Louis, playing with the Blues from 1988 to 1992, the Detroit Red Wings and the Boston Bruins. Over his NHL career, he recorded 85 wins, including 5 shutouts, 65 losses and 20 ties in 184 games. In 1995-96, Riendeau resumed his career in Europe playing successively in Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain before becoming the first North-American born netminder to play with a Russian Superleague team when he suited up with the HC Lada Togliatti. Following his retirement in 2001, he embraced a new career as a goaltending consultant in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ organization. In 2004-05, he joined the QMJHL Cape Breton Screaming Eagles as goaltender coach. Since 2005, he has been working with various European league teams on a consulting basis, including the Adler Mannheim, Germany (2005-07), HC Fribourg-Gotteron, Switzerland (2007), Huskies Kassel (2008-09) and Hamburg Freeze, Germany (2010-2012). Now 46, Riendeau owns a goaltending school with summer camps in several Quebec areas, and runs the Vincent Riendeau Hockey School at the North American Hockey Academy, in Vermont.
Selected in the first round, 14th overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, Ethan Moreau played 928 regular season games in the NHL with Chicago, Edmonton, Columbus and Los Angeles. Moreau was awarded the King Clancy Trophy in 2008-09 as the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made as noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.