TROY, NY — Mike Addesa, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute college hockey coach from 1979 to 1989, passed away at the age of 77 on Tuesday, November 29. Addesa led the RPI Engineers to a national championship in the 1984-85 season.
Addesa led the Engineers to 119-87-5 record while at the helm of the team and helped the Engineers appear in the ECAC quarterfinals five times and an NCAA quarterfinal appearance while claiming two ECAC championships back to back in 1984 and 1985.
“I can remember it like it was yesterday,” Addesa said back in 2010 when the 1985 RPI hockey team reunited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their national championship. “So many memories. That was the most talented group I’ve ever had. But what I remember most is, to a man, how concerned they were with wants and desires they had for each other. How they cared for each other, how they disciplined each other, how they laughed together.
“I remember there were bloody noses. They’d go after each other in practice,” Addesa added. “We had codes and if one of the codes wasn’t being followed, they enforced the code themselves.”
Addesa was dismissed in 1989 amid controversy.
Following his tenure at RPI Addesa moved on to a scouting role for the Detroit Red Wings from 1990 to 1995 and then the Calgary Flames from 2011 to 2013. Addesa finished his scouting career with a stint with the Vancouver Canucks from 2015 to 2017.
Addesa’s career also took him to several different junior hockey programs including a front office role as part of the Boston Bulldogs in the Atlantic Junior Hockey League from 1995 to 2012 and the Seacoast Spartans out of Exetor, New Hampshire.
