Ron Henry Anderson

Not to be confused with Ron Anderson (b. 1945) who played for four NHL teams and a WHA team, and Ron Anderson (b. 1948) who played for two WHA teams.

Ron Anderson
Born	(1950-01-21)January 21, 1950, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Height Weight	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 165 lb (75 kg; 11 st 11 lb)
Position	Right Wing
Shoots	Right
Pro clubs	Washington Capitals
NHL Draft	Undrafted
Playing career	1970–1978

Current position
Title	Dir. of Player Recruitment
Team	Chicago Blackhawks
Playing career
Position(s)	Forward
Coaching career (HC unless noted) 1978–1979 Welland Steelers 1980–1983 Merrimack (assistant) 1983–1998 Merrimack 1999–2008 Chicago Blackhawks (scout) 2008–present Chicago Blackhawks (Dir. of Player Recruitment)
Head coaching record
Overall	254–253–24 (college)
Accomplishments and honors Championships 1987 ECAC East regular season 1987 ECAC East Tournament 1988 ECAC East Regular Season 1988 ECAC East Tournament 1989 ECAC East Regular Season 1989 ECAC East Tournament

Ronald Henry Anderson (born January 21, 1950) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played one season in the National Hockey League for the Washington Capitals and four seasons in the American Hockey League for the Boston Braves, Richmond Robins and New Haven Nighthawks.

Playing career

Anderson played collegiate hockey for two years at Boston University where he registered 87 points in 62 games for the Terriers. Anderson's scoring touch with BU didn't go unnoticed by the Boston Bruins who signed him as a free agent in 1972. He would play 2 seasons with their AHL affiliate the Boston Braves in 1972–73 and 1973–74. The NHL expanded by two teams in 1974–75, adding teams in Kansas City, Missouri and Washington, D.C. The expansion Washington Capitals selected him 34th from the Boston Bruins in the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft. He played 28 games during their inaugural season, tallying 9 goals and 7 assists for 16 points. He also spent time that year with the Richmond Robins, the AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers. After one more season in the minors Anderson headed to Europe and won a 2nd league title with Villacher SV followed by one more season on Wiener EV before retiring as a player in 1978.

Coaching

Anderson continued his hockey career, turning almost immediately to coaching when he became a mid-season replacement for the Welland Steelers. In 1980–81 he joined the staff at Merrimack as an assistant and was picked as the replacement for Bruce Parker on the eve of the Warriors' return to Division I. After finishing as runner-up in the last Division II championship for 8 years, Anderson led Merrimack as a concurrent D-I independent and ECAC East member for the next five years as it tried to find a permanent home. Despite the difficulties of not being in a major conference the Warriors steadily improved until they compiled a magnificent 34-win season in 1987–88, the best in the history of the school (as of 2016). Their performance couldn't have come at a better time because the NCAA expanded the playoff and Anderson's team became the first independent squad invited to the postseason since 1960. Not satisfied with simply making the cut, Merrimack dropped the first game to Hockey East champion Northeastern before routing them in the second game to take the opening series 10-8 on aggregate. In the quarterfinals they defeated eventual champion Lake Superior State 4-3 in the first game before their luck ran out and the Warriors were drubbed 5-0 to lose the series.

After another stellar season Merrimack was finally accepted into a major conference, joining Hockey East for the 1989–90 season. Their winning ways, however, didn't continue with their new, full-Division-I schedule. Anderson's team won only 10 games that campaign and would improve only marginally over the next few years. For their first nine seasons in Hockey East the Warriors would come close but never achieve a winning season. Between 1990 and 1997 Anderson was unable to get a single postseason series victory, going 1-9 in the Hockey East tournament. In 1998, however, they shocked the conference by defeating his top-ranked alma mater Boston University twice to reach the semifinals. Before the second round began Anderson was told that his contract would not be renewed and the 7-2 loss to Boston College turned out to be his last game behind the bench.

Management

Anderson accepted a position as an amateur scout for the Chicago Blackhawks in 1999 and served in that capacity for 9 seasons before being named Director of Player Recruitment in 2008. Anderson continues to serve in that capacity as of 2017 and has seen his name etched on the Stanley Cup three times as a result (2010, 2013 and 2015).

Awards and achievements

• 1972–73 – Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award (AHL Rookie of the year)
• 1972–73 – AHL Second Team All-Star
• 2010 Stanley Cup (Chicago Blackhawks)
• 2013 Stanley Cup (Chicago Blackhawks)
• 2015 Stanley Cup (Chicago Blackhawks)

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1970–71	Boston University Terriers	ECAC		31	20	21	41	17		–	–	–	–	–
1971–72	Boston University Terriers	ECAC		31	19	27	46	26		–	–	–	–	–
1972–73	Boston Braves	AHL		73	41	29	70	53		–	–	–	–	–
1973–74	Boston Braves	AHL		75	24	31	55	28		–	–	–	–	–
1974–75	Washington Capitals	NHL		28	9	7	16	8		–	–	–	–	–
1974–75	Richmond Robins	AHL		38	20	19	39	19		–	–	–	–	–
1975–76	Richmond Robins	AHL		20	2	3	5	6		–	–	–	–	–
1975–76	New Haven Nighthawks	AHL		17	1	3	4	8		3	0	0	0	0
1976–77	Villacher SV	ENL		24	26	14	40	–		–	–	–	–	–
1977–78	Wiener EV	EHL		26	28	8	36	14		–	–	–	–	–
NHL totals				28	9	7	16	8		–	–	–	–	–

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Merrimack Warriors (ECAC 2) (1983–1984)
1983–84	Merrimack	13–19–0	10-11-0		NCAA Runner-Up
Merrimack:		13–19–0	10-11-0
Merrimack Warriors (ECAC East) (1984–1989)
1984–85	Merrimack	16–16–3	13–7–3	3rd	ECAC East Quarterfinals
1985–86	Merrimack	19–12–2	17–5–1	2nd	ECAC East Semifinals
1986–87	Merrimack	29–7–0	25–2–0	1st	ECAC East Champion
1987–88	Merrimack	34–6–0	25–0–0	1st	NCAA Quarterfinals
1988–89	Merrimack	27–7–0	16–2–0	1st	ECAC East Champion
Merrimack:		125–48–5	96–16–4
Merrimack Warriors (Hockey East) (1989–1998)
1989–90	Merrimack	10–25–1	3–18–0	8th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
1990–91	Merrimack	13–19–1	7–14–0	6th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
1991–92	Merrimack	13–21–0	4–17–0	8th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
1992–93	Merrimack	14–20–2	8–16–0	6th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
1993–94	Merrimack	16–19–2^	10–14–2^	7th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
1994–95	Merrimack	14–18–5	7–12–5–3	5th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
1995–96	Merrimack	10–19–5	4–18–2–0	9th
1996–97	Merrimack	15–19–2	11–11–2	5th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
1997–98	Merrimack	11–26–1	4–20–0	t-8th	Hockey East Semifinals
Merrimack:		116–186–19	58–140–11
Total:		254–253–24
National Champion         Conference Regular Season Champion         Conference Tournament Champion       Conference Regular Season & Conference Tournament Champion       Conference Division Champion

^ Maine was required to retroactively forfeit two victories against Merrimack which are reflected here.

Transactions

• Signed as a free agent by the Boston Bruins, June, 1972.
• Claimed from the Boston Bruins by the Washington Capitals in the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft, June 12, 1974.
• Traded by the Washington Capitals with Bob Gryp to the New Haven Nighthawks (AHL) for Rich Nantais and Alain Langlais, February 23, 1976.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or ESPN.com, or Eurohockey.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database