Bill Beaney, who led Middlebury to a 26-2-2 record and a third straight NCAA Division III title, has been named the winner of the 2006 Edward Jeremiah Award, given annually to the Men’s Division III Ice Hockey Coach of the Year. Beaney, who completed his 19th season with Middlebury, becomes the first four-time winner of the Jeremiah Award, passing three-time honorees Mike McShane of Norwich University and the late Sid Watson of Bowdoin College.
Middlebury lost seven players from the 2005 NCAA championship team but the Panthers never missed a beat in capturing NESCAC honors en route to the school’s eighth national championship. A 1973 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Beaney has a career mark of 477- 180-24 (.718). Those 477 career wins place him first among active Division III coaches. The Edward Jeremiah Award is named in honor of the great Dartmouth College head coach and was first presented in 1970. The runners-up for this year’s Edward Jeremiah Award were John Rolli of Mass.-Dartmouth and Mark Taylor of Hobart College.
College hockey’s Coach of the Year recipients are chosen by members of the American Hockey Coaches Association. Winners will receive their awards at the annual AHCA Coach of the Year Banquet, held in conjunction with the AHCA Convention in Naples, Fla., on April 29.
