Paul Bittner is in his second season as an assistant coach with the Yellowjacket men’s hockey team under Rich McKenna in 2024-25.
Bittner came to UW-Superior following a decorated career as a player. He played parts of four seasons with the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League (WHL). In 2014-15, Bittner scored 34 goals and 71 points in 66 games for the Winterhawks during the regular season before adding 12 more points in 17 playoff games. After the season, Bittner was chosen in the second round (38th overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Professionally, Bittner debuted with the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Lake Erie Monsters in 2015-16. He then played the next four years for the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate before continuing his career n Europe. Bittner had 13 points in 14 games during the 2020-21 season for Vasby IK in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan. The next year he played eight games for Mora IK in HockeyAllsvenskan before moving onto Dusseldorfer EG in Germany. He finished his career in 2022-23 splitting his season between Dusseldorfer and the Stavanger Oilers in Norway.
Bittner has some familiarity with the NCAA Division III and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), as he had two brothers who played four seasons each at UW-Stevens Point.
A native of Crookston, Minn., Bittner currently resides in Duluth.
