Keith Allain, the goaltending coach for the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, will be Tim Taylor’s successor as Yale head coach.
The 47-year-old Allain, a 1980 Yale graduate, ranks third all-time among Bulldog goaltenders in victories and saves. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Yale under Taylor, who was removed as head coach and reassigned on March 28.
“It is a tremendous honor and a great responsibility to follow in Tim Taylor’s footsteps as head hockey coach at Yale,” said Allain in a Yale press release. “His impact on Yale, Yale Hockey, and me personally has been profound. I enthusiastically embrace the challenge of building upon his legacy while taking the Yale Hockey program to the next level. I have great memories of the energy and passion that can only be found in a sold out Ingalls Rink, and can’t wait for opening night.”
Yale has scheduled a Saturday press conference at Ingalls Rink at 1 p.m. ET to introduce Allain.
“The playing and coaching resume of Keith Allain is extraordinary. He was an outstanding student-athlete at Yale and he continued to distinguish himself as a coach of two Olympic teams and two NHL programs,” said Tom Beckett, Yale’s Director of Athletics. “All of this combined with his love of Yale University and Yale Hockey make this appointment a source of great pride for all of us.”
Allain joined St. Louis as goaltending coach in 1998. His professional coaching experience includes serving as a scout for the NHL’s Nashville Predators in 1997-98 and a four-year stint (1993-94 through 1996-97) as an assistant coach for the Washington Capitals.
His international coaching experience includes being an assistant coach for the championship U.S. team at the inaugural World Cup of Hockey in 1996. He returned to the World Cup in 2004 as goaltending coach. Allain was also an assistant coach for the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, and was head coach for the U.S. at the 2001 and 2002 IIHF World Junior Championships.
He replaces Taylor, whose 28th and final Yale season ended with a 10-20-3 record and an ECAC Hockey League quarterfinal playoff loss at Dartmouth on March 11. Taylor, whose overall record with the Bulldogs was 342-433-55, coached 825 games, the most of any coach in ECACHL history, and had more victories than any Yale hockey boss. His tenure included one conference title and three 20-win seasons. Taylor was named conference coach of the year three times and won six Ivy League championships.
Allain reportedly beat out Dartmouth assistant Dave Peters, Holy Cross head coach Paul Pearl and Harvard assistant Sean McCann for the job.
