APPLETON, Wis. -- Former Lawrence University men's hockey associate head coach Pat McCadden has been chosen as the new head coach of the Green Bay Gamblers.
    McCadden, who coached with the Vikings for five seasons, takes over with the Gamblers after serving as the associate head coach since 2022. The move was announced on Tuesday by the Gamblers, who are part of one of the top junior hockey leagues in the country. McCadden replaces Mike Leone, who left to become the head coach of the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. 
    McCadden, who helped Lawrence to Northern Collegiate Hockey Association playoff appearances in four of his five seasons with the Vikings, has a long history with the Gamblers. McCadden played for the Gamblers when the team won the Clark Cup in 2010 under head coach Jon Cooper, who went on to win a pair of Stanley Cups as coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
    McCadden got into coaching after playing three seasons of professional hockey with in the Southern Professional Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League. He played for the Columbus Cottonmouths, Toledo Walleye and Fort Wayne Komets before spending the entire 2016-17 season with the ECHL's Atlanta Gladiators.
    Former Lawrence coach Mike Szkodzinski brought McCadden to the Lawrence staff in 2017, and McCadden helped bring in multiple star players for the Vikings, including Kyle Gierman, Zach Lodes and Matt Meininger, to name a few. 
    McCadden played at Michigan Tech University for two seasons before transferring to St. Norbert College. He played two seasons with the Green Knights and helped them win a NCAA Division III national championship in 2014. A 2014 graduate of St. Norbert, McCadden earned a bachelor's degree in business administration. 
    McCadden is the second former member of the Lawrence coaching staff to make a big career move in recent weeks. Kalle Larsson, a 2007 Lawrence graduate who also served on Szkodzinski's staff, was recently named senior director of player development for the NHL's Edmonton Oilers.