Congrats, Bill

[USCHO Newsbot]

Middlebury head coach Bill Beaney won his 500th game last Saturday with a 6-3 win over New England College, ironically the school where he won his first college hockey game. Beaney won 86 games at NEC before making the move to Middlebury, where he has compiled a record of 414-115-28, including eight national titles. Beaney [...]

More at uscho.com/blogs ... (http://www.uscho.com/blogs/d-iii-blog/chris/20080130/congrats-bill.html)

[Dyce]

Well-deserved congratulations for a truly deserving coach. His success at Middlebury speaks not only to his recruiting ability, but also to his strategic genius. If a player, even on a great team, gets 2-3 chances to play at Kenyon over his career and comes away with a single win, it's more of an accomplishment than he might ever realize.

And by way of anecdote: several years ago I took the Montreal metro out of town following (sigh) an Expos game, and happened to board a car packed with fellow Plattsburghers. An unwitting Beaney joined us (resplendent in a Panthers pullover, no less), and when informed of his situation, feigned a speedy exit onto the platform before chuckling and re-entering the car. He proceeded to chat affably with all of the Cardinal fans about Middlebury, Plattsburgh, and D-III hockey in general until it came time to part ways.

Just a total class act.