MIKE ADDESA

Coach Addesa was born on January 8, 1945 in Boston, Mass., the second of Mike and Irene Addesa’s two children. He attended Boston English High School, where he excelled in football, hockey and baseball under the late Coach Bill Stewart. He graduated from English in 1962. An athletic scholarship to Holy Cross led him to Worcester, where he participated in football, hockey and baseball, and was accorded many "All" honors for his play on the gridiron.

Mike began his teaching and coaching career at Stoneham High School, where he served as an assistant coach in football and hockey. His first head-coaching job came a year later, in 1967, when he took over the hockey program at St. Mary's of Lynn. After a dramatic turnaround in the St. Mary's program, Mike became the first Head Hockey Coach at Randolph High School, where he guided the Blue Devils to a record of 72 wins, 7 losses and 1 tie in five years. It was during his tenure at Randolph that Mike organized a meeting of six coaches that founded the Massachusetts High School Hockey Coaches Association.

After a year of rebuilding a sagging program at Wellesley High School, Mike moved to Holy Cross College and elevated their program to the top level of what was a crowded Division II. In his last year at Holy Cross his team established many records before being defeated in the playoff finals to Merrimack College.

The next plateau was reached in his tenure as Head Hockey Coach at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Division I program in Troy, N.Y. Mike took over a program that was struggling at the bottom of the ECAC, a condition that was to change radically over Mike’s ten years on the bench. In the "Addesa Decade," RPI won two Eastern Crowns, and in 1985 won the NCAA National Championship. To this day, Mike’s RPI teams hold over 95% of the NCAA Division I records.

Professional hockey came to NY's Capital District in 1988 when Addesa founded the Minor Pro team known today as the Albany River Rats; in 1989 he took over as A.D./G.M./ Coach of the Wilcox, Saskatchewan Notre Dame Hounds, where they enjoyed one of their most successful seasons. Addesa was recruited away from the Hounds by the Detroit Red Wings, serving the next five years as Northeast Regional scout.

In 1995 the Boston Bulldogs Junior Hockey Club was born. With his extensive background in the hockey fraternity Addesa had no trouble attracting players and developing an extremely challenging and fun schedule, slated to play teams in Canadian Junior leagues, the USHL, prep schools and advanced Midget programs. In the first year the Bulldogs amassed an impressive 55-14-6 record. Today the Bulldogs continue to play a rigorous schedule with regular trips to the Canadian Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, Detroit and the American Midwest.

A dedicated family man, when not in a rink, Mike can be found with his wife Mary, his daughter Kim, or his four sons, Mike, Chris, Brian and Matt.