Chris Dennis was hired as the head coach of the Lions men’s hockey team in 2015. He is the 15th head coach in program history and a York alumnus, having graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in kinesiology and health science in 2002.
He came to York from the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, where he served a number of different roles over 10 years with the club. Most recently he was an assistant coach for two seasons, and he has also previously been the team’s video analyst while working on coaching staffs under notable National Hockey League (NHL) head coaches Pat Quinn, Paul Maurice, Ron Wilson and Randy Carlyle.
While with the Leafs Dennis was also an assistant coach with the Toronto Marlies for their playoff run to the 2012 Calder Cup finals, and in 2014 he was the development camp manager for the annual prospects camp. In addition, he provided administrative assistance to general managers John Ferguson Jr., Cliff Fletcher, Brian Burke and Dave Nonis.
Prior to joining the Leafs, Dennis was a physical education teacher at Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School, where he coached the senior boys’ hockey team to the ROPSSAA championship and an OFSAA bronze medal in 2005.
In his first season with the Lions, he led the Lions to a first-place finish in the OUA West Division, engineering a worst-to-first turnaround after the team finished in last place in 2014-15. He was also named OUA coach of the year while three of his players were named OUA all-stars.
Dennis and his wife, Melissa, have two sons, Luke and Ryan.
