Ronn Tomassoni

Ronn Tomassoni
Biographical details
Born	March 1958; Eveleth, MN, US
Playing career
1976–1980	Rensselaer
Position(s)	Right Wing
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1982–1990	Harvard (assistant)
1990–1999	Harvard
Head coaching record
Overall	145-115-24 (.553)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	1992 ECAC Hockey Champion; 1993 ECAC Hockey Champion; 1994 ECAC Hockey Champion; 1994 ECAC Hockey Tournament Champion

Ronn Tomassoni is a retired American ice hockey player and coach. Tomassoni was part of the coaching staff at Harvard for 17 years in various capacities and helped the team with its only national title in 1989.

Career

Ronn Tomassoni played for Rensselaer in the late 1970s, posting average numbers over four seasons. After graduating in 1980 Tomassoni continued his involvement with hockey by becoming an assistant coach for Bill Cleary at Harvard in 1982.^[1] Tomassoni's arrival coincided with the Crimson's return to prominence as they began to make the NCAA Tournament annually. As time went on Cleary began to rely on Tomassoni more heavily, promoting him to associate status and effectively turning over the recruiting responsibilities to him.^[2] Tomassoni was part of Harvard's national title team in 1989 and was named as head coach when Cleary became athletic director after the 1989-90 season.^[3]

The early years under Tomassoni were very good in Cambridge as Harvard won three consecutive regular season titles, an ECAC title and made it to the 1994 Frozen Four. After 1994, however, Tomassoni could not get Harvard to produce a winning season. He shared Bill Cleary's disdain for developing NHL players, a fact which cost the Crimson many elite recruits, such as Chris Drury. Tomassoni exalted "poise" in players on opposing teams, even as he made his own players walk on eggshells. He went so far as to place a 1st team All-American on the 4th line in 1995. The extent of his coaching was to demoralize many of his players, and shuffle lines. In general, his players hated playing for him. During his tenure, "Harvard hockey" felt like it was a bunch of chickens running around at full speed with their heads cut off. He did little to develop any player who went there with the exception of one player from British Columbia who went on to be mediocre in the East Coast Hockey League. He even seemed to celebrate little failures of the players he did not like, and would use those failures, even if minor, to justify their lack of opportunity. It is inconceivable that this man actually coached hockey at the college level. See the notated stories below: he got the job through a phone call alone. He had a number of potential weapons in his toolshed; however, he simply did not coach players at all. He strategized poorly. He did not coach. Players got worse by coming to Harvard. They continued to come for the school, and in spite of him, which is a tragedy, and has to be considered the fault of Bill Cleary who allowed him the job. Since Cleary was athletic director, Tomassoni held onto the job for five seasons before "deciding to resign" after the 1998–99 season. Tomassoni returned to his native Minnesota afterwards, settling in Duluth.^[4]

Career statistics^[5]

			Regular season					Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1976–77	Rensselaer	ECAC Hockey	24	3	7	10	12	—	—	—	—	—
1977–78	Rensselaer	ECAC Hockey	27	7	11	18	8	—	—	—	—	—
1978–79	Rensselaer	ECAC Hockey	13	4	6	10	12	—	—	—	—	—
1979–80	Rensselaer	ECAC Hockey	27	3	7	10	8	—	—	—	—	—
NCAA totals			84	17	31	48	40	—	—	—	—	—

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Harvard Crimson (ECAC Hockey) (1990-91–1998-99)
1990-91	Harvard	19-12-1	14-8-0	3rd	ECAC Semifinals
1991-92	Harvard	14-7-6	13-3-6	1st	ECAC Quarterfinals
1992-93	Harvard	22-6-3	16-3-3	1st	NCAA East Regional Quarterfinals
1993-94	Harvard	24-5-4	16-2-4	1st	NCAA Frozen Four
1994-95	Harvard	14-14-2	12-9-1	t-3rd	ECAC Quarterfinals
1995-96	Harvard	13-20-1	9-12-1	6th	ECAC Runner-Up
1996-97	Harvard	11-18-3	9-11-2	7th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1997-98	Harvard	14-17-2	10-11-1	5th	ECAC Third Place Game (Win)
1998-99	Harvard	14-16-2	8-12-2	8th	ECAC First Round
Harvard:		145-115-24	107-71-20
Total:		145-115-24
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

^[6]

References

^ "Tomassoni Resigns Harvard Post". USCHO.com. 1999-05-15. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
^ "Tomassoni Resigns as Men's Hockey Head Coach". The Harvard University Gazette. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
^ "Harvard Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
^ "Denfeld's Tomassoni gets coaching at all levels". Denfeld Academy. 2010-02-12. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
^ "Ronn Tomassoni". Hockey DB. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
^ "2008-09 Harvard Crimson Media Guide" (PDF). Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2014-08-05.

External links

Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or The Internet Hockey Database

[1] "Tomassoni Resigns Harvard Post". USCHO.com. 1999-05-15. Retrieved 2014-07-22.

[2] "Tomassoni Resigns as Men's Hockey Head Coach". The Harvard University Gazette. Retrieved 2014-07-22.

[3] "Harvard Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-08-05.

[4] "Denfeld's Tomassoni gets coaching at all levels". Denfeld Academy. 2010-02-12. Retrieved 2014-08-05.

[5] "Ronn Tomassoni". Hockey DB. Retrieved 2014-08-05.

[media-6] "2008-09 Harvard Crimson Media Guide" (PDF). Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2014-08-05.

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v t e Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey
Venues	Franklin Park (1897–1904) Harvard Stadium Rink (1904–1911) Boston Arena (1911–1917, 1921–1956) Pavilion Rink (1919–1921) Donald C. Watson Rink (1956–1978) Walter Brown Arena (1978–1979) Bright Hockey Center (1979–present)
Coaches	no coach (1897–1903, 1918–19) Alfred Winsor (1903–17, 1923–24) William Henry Claflin Jr. (1919–23) Edward Bigelow (1924–27) Joseph Stubbs (1927–38) Clark Hodder (1938–42) John Chase (1942–43, 1945–50) Cooney Weiland (1950–71) Bill Cleary (1971–90) Ronn Tomassoni (1990–99) Mark Mazzoleni (1999–2004) Ted Donato (2004– )
Seasons	1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	Intercollegiate Hockey Association (1901–1911) Intercollegiate Hockey League (1912–1917) Triangular Hockey League (1919–1926) Pentagonal League (1933–1943, 1946–1955) ECAC Hockey (1961–Present)
Rivalries	Cornell Yale
Culture & lore	Beanpot Love Story
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Scott Fusco (240 Points) Lane MacDonald (111 Goals) Grant Blair (72 Wins)
Retired numbers	Bill Cleary (4)
National championships	1989
Frozen Four appearances	1955 1957 1958 1969 1971 1974 1975 1983 1986 1987 1989 1994 2017
NCAA Tournament appearances	1955 1957 1958 1969 1971 1974 1975 1982 1983 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1993 1994 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2015 2016 2017 2023
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC Hockey: 1963 1971 1983 1987 1994 2002 2004 2006 2015 2017
Hobey Baker winners	Mark Fusco (1983) Scott Fusco (1986) Lane MacDonald (1989) Jimmy Vesey (2016)
Harvard University Cambridge, MA

Career

Career statistics[5]

Head coaching record

References

External links

Career statistics^[5]