Following the 2006-07 season that saw his squad, the New York Islanders, fall 4-1 in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to the Buffalo Sabres, Mike Dunham was at a bit of a crossroads. He had won a silver medal in the 2002 Olympic Games with Team USA, a National Championship in 1993 with the University of Maine, co-won the Jennings Trophy with Martin Brodeur in the 1996-97 season, and even won the Calder Cup in 1995 with the Albany River Rats.
The only thing that had eluded Dunham was a Stanley Cup championship. He could either continue his career with limited playing time or take some time away from hockey, enjoy married life, and then figure out his next career path. Dunham was inclined to do the latter, and then his former teammate – both from the Islanders the season before, and his collegiate days at the University of Maine – Garth Snow, was named general manager (GM) in New York.
One of Snow’s first acts as GM was one that involved Dunham, and in the form of a shift in roles with the Islanders.
“When any player’s career comes to an end, you never prepare for it,” Dunham said. “So when my (career) ending was coming… Garth Snow actually asked me if I would be interested in becoming a goalie coach.”
Dunham had some thinking to do before making a decision. However, the more he thought about it, he realized he didn’t want to be away from hockey. After discussions with his wife, Kate, he decided to retire from playing professionally and take a position as the goaltending coach for New York.
Sep 25, 2006; New York City, NY, USA; New York Islanders goalie Mike Dunham (1) on the ice against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Credit: Lou Capozzola-USA TODAY NETWORK
For Dunham, the transition to coaching the season after playing was almost a no-brainer, but being the family man he was with a young daughter at home in Massachusetts, he knew he couldn’t just take the job without considering all of his options first. Luckily for him, he got nothing but support.
Dunham’s transition to being behind the bench, as opposed to skating up to it at intermissions, was almost a seamless one, given how well he knew the guys on the team.
“It did,” Dunham said when asked of the seamless transition. “I played with the team the previous year and then all of a sudden I jumped into training camp… As the goalie coach so you knew all the players, I knew Ricky DiPietro well, I knew the coaching staff, I knew the management staff. It was very comfortable and they were very accommodating.”
Over the next 10 years, Dunham commuted from his home in Concord, Massachusetts, to Long Island regularly for games, occasionally getting some somewhat extended time at home when the Islanders would come up to play the Boston Bruins. However, towards the end of the next decade, Dunham realized he was missing things at home and wanted to be closer to his family. His kids were growing up, and the travel was starting to take a toll on him. Lucky for him, the Bruins came calling following the 2016-17 season.
Dunham Takes a Job With Boston
In July 2017, Dunham left New York and took a job with Boston as the goaltender development coordinator. While the position sounds like something that was made custom to Dunham’s skillset and his desire to be close to home, he told The Hockey Writers that was not the case. Instead, they were looking for someone for that position specifically to help lighten the load for goalie coach Bob Essensa.
“They approached me,” Dunham said of the team’s approach to hiring him. “I can’t remember exactly when it was, it’s been eight years now, but I’d been home for a few months in the summertime and things kind of just worked out.”
Originally, his duties were to scout goaltenders at the collegiate level and give his input on who GM Don Sweeney should draft, or perhaps trade for the rights to. Eventually, his role grew into what it is today: helping players develop into the players the team wants them to be, both on and off the ice.
Dunham still scouts NCAA goalies from time to time, but it is not where his main focus lies.
While the Bruins were genuinely looking for someone in his type of role, it wasn’t entirely uncommon to have teams looking for that type of role, according to Dunham. He said that most teams at that time were starting to realize the importance of the job.
Related: Bruins’ Goaltending Has Them Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place
“Dunny”, as he’s known at the rink by both players and coaches alike, sits down with players, whether that is on the ice or in the video room, and likes to ask them questions about their play, something that, according to goaltender Michael DiPietro, they really like. DiPietro said one of the things he likes is Dunham’s approach to video. He said the two never watch video as the goalie doesn’t like to very much.
“It’s been great,” DiPietro said of working with Dunham. “Dunny is a great goalie coach, he obviously has developed great goalies in the past and I think he’s so easy going, his approach to the game is very simple which allows goalies to play their game… He doesn’t overcomplicate things and gives you free rein to play your game.”
DiPietro and his coach with the Providence Bruins, Ryan Mougenel, love having Dunham around, both for different reasons. DiPietro for the fun that he brings to the ice every day, and Mougenel for the results he tends to turn out for the netminders on his team.
“He’s got such a calm and amazing demeanor and very welcoming,” Mougenel said. “He’s a calm fellow. Never too high, never too low, exactly the type of person you’d want in a goalie coach.”
The Results Speak For Themselves
Throughout his time with Boston, Dunham has had a history of working with successful goalies. He has worked with Jeremy Swayman at the beginning of his professional career, the aforementioned DiPietro, and even St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington before he took his spot atop the depth chart with the Blues.
When asked if he could define his coaching style, Dunham couldn’t quite put it into words. Neither could DiPietro.
“I don’t think there’s a way to characterize it, each coach is unique in their approach,” DiPietro said. “He sticks to good goaltending fundamentals, but he knows what translates and works well in the pro game, he’s just so approachable and he reads off each goaltender.
“He plays goalie just like the way he lives. He’s calm and cool. He’s just a really special guy.”
Mougenel said that Dunham’s track record speaks for itself, not only with the goalies he’s seen go to the NHL, but also the ones who haven’t, and he’s “just made them a lot better.”
Mougenel, however, takes a different approach to his netminders when it comes to coaching. While most coaches try to be a little bit more hands-on and get to know all of their players, Mougenel is different in that regard with his goalies. With the expertise that Dunham brings every day, he tends not to interact with them much outside of praise or just overall check-ins. The rest of it, however, is all Dunham. In fact, Mougenel said that when Dunham is talking to the goalies, he steers clear of that grouping completely.
Dunham Is More of a Family Man Now
While he does have his job with the Bruins, Dunham is settling into a relatively normal life now that he is entering his mid-50s and his oldest daughter has graduated from Trinity College in Hartford. He does, however, have one more daughter to put through college. She will be attending Fairfield University in the fall.
Stepping away from hockey, however, is something that Dunham doesn’t see happening for a while. Especially with the position he has today with the Bruins.
When asked if he would ever coach high school, Dunham said he liked the one-on-one connection he has with the goalies, so he wouldn’t be inclined to go in that direction. If he were to change his path, the only exception would either be retiring fully or teaching kids how to play in goal – by private lesson, of course.
