Kevin Dessart is the new head coach of the Lawrence University women's hockey team.
Dessart came to Lawrence in June 2022 from the University of Colorado, where he coached the women's club hockey team from 2019 to 2022. In three years under Dessart's guidance, the Buffaloes won back-to-back Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League championships, earning berths in the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Championships.
A native of East Rockaway, N.Y., Dessart has been coaching women's hockey since 2001. Dessart led the Colorado Springs Amateur Hockey Association U19 team from 2001 before moving to the University of Colorado in 2019.
The first priority will be to create the right type of atmosphere within the Lawrence program, which is headed into its third season of competition.
"This is going to be a team culture built on trust and hard work. The trust has to come first, and we will be the hardest working team on the ice," Dessart said.
"The players will understand they are not playing for themselves, they are playing for their teammates and the program. The program is bigger than all of us. Players will have their individual goals, but it's all about the program."
Dessart has spent a lifetime in the game. He grew up playing the game in New York and was a collegiate player at St. John's (N.Y.) University before the program disbanded in the early 1990s. Dessart earned a bachelor's degree in athletic administration/business administration from St. John's in 1990.
Dessart spent 11 years working in the National Hockey League starting as a media relations assistant with the New York Islanders in 1989. Dessart worked as the assistant to the general manager of the Florida Panthers before serving as director of public relations for the New Jersey Devils. In addition, Dessart is also a coach developer for USA Hockey as well as a coach for the USA Hockey Girls National 16/17 camp.
