Dennis Desrosiers

Dennis Desrosiers (born March 28, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach. He played 13 professional seasons, mostly in the International Hockey League (IHL) where he played 532 games, scoring 312 goals and 277 points for 589 points, and earning 1690 penalty minutes. Following his retirement as a player, Desrosiers spent the next 18 seasons as a head coach in the IHL, ECHL, UHL and OHL. He was then Saginaw Spirit's radio colour commentator from 2004-2012.

Playing career Desrosiers began his professional career in 1970 with the Clinton Comets of the Eastern Hockey League where he played two seasons before joining the Saginaw Gears of the International Hockey League (IHL) for their inaugural 1972-73 season. With the exception of 28 games played in the American Hockey League with the New Haven Nighthawks during the 1973–74 season, Desrosiers remained with the Gears until the 1981–82 season when he joined the Flint Generals, first as a player and then, beginning with the 1983–84 season, as Flint's head coach.

Coaching career After two seasons as the head coach for the Flint Generals, Desrosiers was hired as the head coach for the Saginaw Generals starting with the 1985–86 season, leaving after two seasons to become the head coach for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the IHL. He continued as a head coach with the Birmingham Bulls (1996-2000) and the Kalamazoo Wings (2000-2002), before returning to Saginaw in 2002 to be named as the first head coach for the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League.

Broadcasting career In 2004, after two seasons as the Spirit's head coach, Desrosiers joined the Saginaw Spirit radio broadcast team as the colour commentator, a position he held until 2012 when he left the team to relocate to North Carolina. He returned in 2014 to the radio booth after a two-year absence.

Awards and honours In 2006, Desrosiers was inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame.

Career statistics Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1970–71 Clinton Comets EHL-Sr. 74 26 29 55 201 5 2 2 4 2 1971–72 Clinton Comets EHL-Sr. 75 41 35 76 267 5 4 2 6 2 1972–73 Saginaw Gears IHL 70 60 37 97 186 — — — — — 1973–74 Saginaw Gears IHL 39 18 17 35 43 13 5 6 11 52 1973–74 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 28 4 12 16 38 — — — — — 1974–75 Saginaw Gears IHL 67 44 36 80 225 19 23 15 38 52 1975–76 Saginaw Gears IHL 69 40 41 81 254 12 3 8 11 58 1976–77 Saginaw Gears IHL 75 46 50 96 255 19 12 11 23 67 1977–78 Saginaw Gears IHL 78 51 44 95 288 5 0 2 2 14 1978–79 Saginaw Gears IHL 36 14 13 27 170 — — — — — 1979–80 Saginaw Gears IHL 12 2 8 10 53 7 3 2 5 33 1980–81 Saginaw Gears IHL 2 0 0 0 5 — — — — — 1981–82 Saginaw Gears IHL 2 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 1982–83 Flint Generals IHL 18 11 10 21 41 4 3 3 6 4 1982–83 Flint Generals IHL 64 26 20 46 170 2 1 0 1 20 IHL totals 532 312 277 589 1,690 81 50 47 97 300