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Bollig, Dent join list of Saints on Stanley Cup

Posted 7/15/13

The St. Lawrence University men's hockey program couldn't lose when it came to the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals. Either former Saint captain Rich Peverley was going to have his name etched on the Stanley …

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Bollig, Dent join list of Saints on Stanley Cup

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The St. Lawrence University men's hockey program couldn't lose when it came to the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals.

Either former Saint captain Rich Peverley was going to have his name etched on the Stanley Cup for the second time in his career as a Boston Bruin, or wing Brandon Bollig was going to become the second Saint to have his name on the cup as a player and former Saint center Teddy Dent '92 would have his name on the cup for the second time as a coach for the Chicago Blackhawks.

As things turned out, Bollig and Dent's Blackhawks prevailed in a stirring series, winning the championship on a late-game flurry in game six, 3-2 with two goals in 17 seconds.

Peverley, since traded to the Dallas Stars, had a pair of goals in 21 post-season games including one in the finals series while Bollig played in five playoff games and did not score with appearances in games one and two of the Stanley Cup finals.

Bollig played in a total of 25 games for the Blackhawks in the 2012-13 regular season. He played two seasons for the Saints, turning professional at the end of the 2009-10 season when he signed with Chicago and was assigned to the Rockford Ice Hogs. He made his first NHL appearance with Chicago in 2011-12 and this past season played in 35 games with five goals and four assists for Dent's Rockford club.

Dent joins Bill Torrey, Ron Waske and Ray Shero as former Saint players who have their name on the cup more than once. He has been coaching in the Chicago organization for seven seasons and also earned a Stanley Cup ring in Chicago's 2010 championship season. He is in his second season as head coach at Rockford, Chicago's top farm club.

Dent played in 194 professional games following his graduation, most in the ECHL, and had 198 points. He began his front office career as the video coordinator for the Washington Capitals in 1999 and began his coaching career as an assistant with the Trenton Titans of the ECHL in 2004-05. He was head coach of the Columbia Inferno in the ECHL in 2005-06 and joined the Chicago staff as an assistant in Norfolk of the AHL in 2006=07, moving to Rockford when the Blackhawks changed AHL affiliations in 2007-08. He was named head coach at Rockford in 2011 and has a 77-63 record, just missing the playoffs in each of his two seasons as head coach at Rockford.

A strong finish had his 2013 club on the verge of the playoffs, finishing two points out of eighth in the AHL and becoming the first AHL team with 42 wins to not make the playoffs, but Dent said that the playoffs were not the primary goal in Rockford. "We're following the development side model," he said. "Our aim is to get young guys ice time and exposed to the pro game. We are built to get our prospects ready to play for the big club."

Nine or ten of Dent's Rockford players have gone on to play for the Blackhawks including Bollig. "The Cup is the goal," Dent said. "It is nice to have had a small part in two of them, trying to help guys make the jump to the NHL and step up and make the Stanley Cup teams."

Dent has also been impressed with Bollig's development as a player. "Brandon came in as a mature guy and a year or two older than a lot of the players we get. He is a hard worker with a good attitude and is committed to being a professional hockey player. He has evolved from being a fourth-line energy type player for us to earning more and more ice time. We have gotten him involved in the penalty kill and have used him in shootouts. He is seeing more ice time and has a great release, all of which eventually got him his chance in Chicago."