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Chris Bergeron

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Chris Bergeron
Born (1970-11-28) November 28, 1970 (age 53)
Wallaceburg, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Center
Shot Right
National team  Canada
NHL draft undrafted
Playing career 1993–2000
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamMiami
ConferenceNCHC
Record8–21–5 (.309)
Playing career
1989–1993Miami
Position(s)Center
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2000–2010Miami (assistant)
2010–2019Bowling Green
2019–presentMiami
Head coaching record
Overall171–154–44 (.523)
Tournaments0-1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1994 Riley Cup
1998 Ray Miron President's Cup

Chris Bergeron (born November 28, 1970) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey center who played for various minor league teams for 7 seasons between 1993 and 2000, with the most stints with the Toledo Storm and Cincinnati Cyclones. He is the current men's ice hockey head coach at Miami University.[1][2]

Playing career

NCAA hockey

Bergeron played with the Miami RedHawks of the CCHA (NCAA Division I).

In his freshman season with the RedHawks, Bergeron appeared in 36 games, registering 11 points. His best college season came in 1992–93 when Bergeron suited up for 41 games with the RedHawks recording 61 points and 54 penalty minutes, helping Miami (OH) to a CCHA Regular Season Championship and appearance in the 1993 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.[3]

International

Following his college career at Miami, Bergeron signed with the Toledo Storm of the ECHL for the 1993–94 season. during which he also played on Canada men's national ice hockey team, recording a goal in four games with Canada.[3]

Professional career

In Bergeron's first pro season with the Toledo Storm, he recorded 20 points in 18 games and 10 points in 5 playoff games on the Storms way to the league championship, the Kelly Cup.[3]

He spent one season, 1994 RHI season, during the summer of 1994 with Buffalo Stampede of Roller Hockey International. Bergeron played in 20 game recording 19 goals, 34 assists and 46 penalty minutes in his first and only season playing professional roller hockey. Bergeron was second on the team in points and tied for third in goals. That same season the Stampede won the RHI Championship.[3]

He returned to the ice for the 1994–95 season and spent the next 6 seasons between 6 different teams and leagues.[3]

Bergeron's best pro season came in 1997–98 with the Columbus Cottonmouths of the Central Hockey League. Bergeon netted 65 goals and added 54 assists for 119 points in 65 regular season games with the Cottonmouths on their way to a Levins Cup.[3]

Career statistics

Playing career

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1989–90 Miami University NCAA 36 5 6 11 18 — — — — —
1990–91 Miami University NCAA 26 9 3 12 26 — — — — —
1991–92 Miami University NCAA 40 13 23 36 22 — — — — —
1992–93 Miami University NCAA 41 21 40 61 54 — — — — —
1993–94 Toledo Storm ECHL 18 10 10 20 26 5 7 3 10 2
1993–94 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 41 6 5 11 37 1 0 0 0 0
1994–95 Birmingham Bulls ECHL 53 27 55 82 128 7 4 8 12 2
1994–95 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 14 1 3 4 2 2 0 0 0 0
1995–96 Birmingham Bulls ECHL 33 21 38 59 85 — — — — —
1995–96 Toledo Storm ECHL 6 3 2 5 2 10 3 8 11 4
1995–96 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 25 3 2 5 8 1 0 0 0 0
1995–96 Carolina Monarchs AHL 2 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
1996–97 Toledo Storm ECHL 9 6 9 15 8 — — — — —
1996–97 Las Vegas Thunder IHL 3 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
1996–97 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 62 7 18 25 68 1 0 1 1 0
1997–98 Columbus Cottonmouths CHL 65 65 54 119 97 12 6 5 11 14
1997–98 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 6 1 0 1 2 — — — — —
1998–99 Port Huron Border Cats UHL 53 26 43 69 18 7 3 1 4 4
1998–99 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 1 0 1 1 2 3 0 0 0 0
1999–00 Port Huron Border Cats UHL 13 6 6 12 14 6 2 4 6 2
NCAA Totals 143 48 72 120 120 — — — — —
ECHL Totals 119 67 114 181 249 22 14 19 33 8
IHL Totals 111 12 25 37 84 7 0 1 1 0
AHL Totals 43 6 6 12 39 1 0 0 0 0

Coaching career

In 2000, Bergeron retired from playing professional hockey and returned to his Alma Mater at Miami University.[4] He joined the RedHawks as an assistant coach for the 2000–01 season and spent the next 10 seasons with the RedHawks under head coach Enrico Blasi. During his time at Miami, Bergeron was part of eight 20-win seasons, including six NCAA Tournament appearances and a national championship game.[2] Bergeron worked with the forwards, as well as being heavily involved in recruiting, bringing in six players who would become All-Americans and another player who would go on to win the Hobey Baker Award at Miami (OH).[5]

In 2010, he was hired as head coach at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Bergeron replaced interim head coach Denis Williams,[6] who took over the struggling program in 2009 after Scott Paluch left to take a position with USA Hockey.[7][8]

In 2014-15, Bergeron led the Falcons to their first 20+ win season since 1995-96, finishing with a record of 23-11-5. They wrapped up that season just .0001 PairWise points on the outside of the national tournament, where they were left out in favor of the eventual national champions that year, the Providence Friars. It was a tough pill to swallow for a program that had not seen the national tournament since 1990.

In 2016-17, after high preseason expectations and sluggish start, he led Bowling Green as they rode a seven-game winning streak all the way to the program's first conference championship game appearance since the 1987-88 season. The Falcons fought valiantly before ultimately dropping the road contest in a hostile environment to the Michigan Tech Huskies in double overtime, 3-2. Yet again, the Falcons were so close to their goal of participating in the national tournament, and they were denied by the narrowest of margins.

In 2017-18, his Bowling Green Falcons won the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament. They triumphed over the Michigan Wolverines 6-4 in the semifinals, and they defeated the Michigan Tech Huskies 4-1 in the championship game, winning the event for the first time in program history. That year, they ultimately were eliminated in the WCHA semifinals in three games by the resurgent Northern Michigan Wildcats, marking the fourth time in five seasons that the Falcons were eliminated during the semifinal round of the WCHA playoffs.

In 2018-19, Bowling Green had a hot stretch to start the season, highlighted by an 8-2 victory over a top-10 Ohio State team in Columbus and culminating in finishing the first half of the season with a sweep of then-#3 Minnesota State to go into the Christmas break with a 13-3-3 record. Despite their struggles with consistency down the stretch to close the regular season, the Falcons swept their way through the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, defeating Michigan Tech at home and Northern Michigan on the road along the way en route to a WCHA Championship game in Mankato, MN on March 23, 2019, where the Falcons fell in overtime, 3-2. Despite the loss, they had officially done what no Bowling Green team had done since 1990 - earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. They were selected as the 15th seed, which was the last at-large bid to make it into the tournament. This was a monumental occasion, drawing a crowd of Falcon fans to a "watch party" for the selection show inside the Slater Family Ice Arena, as Bowling Green heard their name called for the first time in 29 years that night. In addition to the selection show, that day was also the 35th anniversary of the 1984 NCAA Championship, which saw the Falcons earn a 5-4 victory in four overtimes over the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, who would coincidentally end up being their first round opponent in the Midwest Regional out of Allentown, PA in the 2019 tournament. Unfortunately for the Falcons, they would drop the contest 2-1 in overtime, and their season would come to a close with a record of 25-11-5 for the year, their most wins in a single season since they earned 26 victories in the 1995-96 season.

On April 5, 2019, Bergeron was named the head hockey coach at Miami University, his alma mater. He left Bowling Green as the 2nd-winningest coach in program history, with 171 wins.

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