Dr. Dennis Sullivan is a renowned orthopedic surgeon with a demanding clinical and operating room schedule.
Through it all, he has found time to dedicate the last 25 years to athletes who compete at the highest level within USA Hockey.
For all that tireless work, USA Hockey is recognizing Sullivan with the Dr. Alan Ashare Excellence in Safety Award, which honors individuals who positively impact the safety of the game and go above and beyond to make hockey a safer game for all participants.
“Dr. Sullivan is a very experienced and knowledgeable hockey doctor,” said Dr. Mike Stuart, chief medical and safety officer for USA Hockey. “He’s also very dedicated to USA Hockey, and he’s a very dependable, reliable, valuable addition to our USA Hockey teams internationally.”
USA Hockey created the award in 2005 and presents it annually in June at the USA Hockey President’s Awards Dinner during the USA Hockey Annual Meeting. It was renamed in 2024 to honor Ashare, who passed away on July 5, 2023, at 85 years old. Ashare was the chair of the USA Hockey Safety and Protective Committee for 25 seasons, and co-chair of the committee for seven seasons after.
“These kinds of volunteers are so pivotal to the health and safety of our athletes and staff,” Stuart said. “We really look for these types of professionals who will give up valuable time and really put the team first and Dennis epitomizes that level of dedication.”
Sullivan has been the team physician for the U.S. Under-17 Select Team 23 times at the Under-17 Five Nations Tournament. He’s also worked for U.S. teams at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Deutschland Cup and the IIHF Men’s World Championship among other events.
Sullivan’s experience with hockey came in the AHL, when he worked as the team physician for the Portland Pirates from 1994-2008.
“He has been taking care of hockey players for a long time, and he has a passion for the sport,” Stuart said. “There is real value when our team physician is not only knowledgeable in sports medicine, but specifically the sport of ice hockey.”
Sullivan earned his medical degree at Cornell University Medical College in 1978. He completed his residency in general surgery at New England Deaconess in 1981 and his residency in orthopedic surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York in 1985.
Following residency, Sullivan finished his fellowship in orthopedic surgery in 1982 at the Hospital for Special Surgery before completing a fellowship in sports medicine at the University of Toronto in 1985. He has been board certified in orthopedic surgery since 1988, and currently specializes in knee and shoulder surgery at Central Maine Healthcare.
“There’s a lot of schedule shuffling to go to those tournaments, especially for an orthopedic surgeon,” said Kevin Margarucci, USA Hockey’s manager of player safety. “You have to make sure your patients are taken care of, not only the clinical schedule, but also the operating room, and he’s willing to do that every year. He’s a wonderful physician, he treats the kids great, and he loves doing this.”
Margarucci has worked alongside Sullivan for the last decade — Margarucci as the athletic trainer and Sullivan as the team physician. Margarucci said it’s been a seamless relationship based on teamwork and communication between the two ever since their first tournament together.
“Sometimes we’re in these small cities overseas and you don’t have all the bells and whistles, but he always finds a way to get it done,” Margarucci said. “He makes connections with physicians in other cities; there has never been a gap in anything the kids need no matter where we’re at and it’s because of his expertise and relationship with physicians in the area to get the kids taken care of.”
Margarucci noted that Sullivan said receiving this award was a great honor, but also “very unexpected.” He appreciates that Sullivan dedicates his time to hockey even after being away from his family and medical practice for several weeks annually during the summer.
“He’s just very easygoing. He cares about people and that makes it easy to work with him,” Margarucci concluded. “I can’t say enough about his professionalism and how he cares for our players. He’s a great guy and this is a very well-deserved honor.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
Source: usahockey.com