Men's Hockey Ready to Dominate with Beaney Back

Author: Andreas Apostolatos

As the perennially dominant Middlebury men's hockey team awaits the opening bell for its 2003-2004 campaign, it seems a common trend that returning forces will be pivotal to the program's success this year. Among the many players coming back from the 2002-2003 roster is the offensive magician Kevin Cooper '04, who was named a first team All-American for his superb play last season. Then there is senior team captain John Dawson, or sophomore Tim Schneider, who as a first-year was second on the team in goal scoring.

However, the most valuable comback will be none other than that made by head coach Bill Beaney, who is back in his 15th year after sitting out the 2002-2003 season.

Last year, Middlebury was under the leadership of Neil Sinclair, who had previously been an assistant coach under Beaney. He led the team to a overall 22-5-2 record and the NCAA semifinals in his head coaching stint.

"I'm excited to be back, but that doesn't mean I'll be accepting any offers to be president [of the college]," joked Beaney, who is an astonishing 305-96-19 in his 14 seasons as head coach.

Middlebury returns all but two players - Rob Chisholm '03 and Aaron Copeland '03 - to the roster this season. In addition, six first-years join the team, as well as senior Mike Kennedy, who played at the junior varsity level last year.

"I think that what we've got right here is a number of returning players coming back in great condition, and the addition of freshmen that will improve our overall skill. We've got great leadership with [captain] John Dawson and [assistant captain] Kevin Cooper. Things are very solid across the board, we've just got to go out and play a game," Beaney added.

Middlebury has traditionally emphasized defense as it's primary objective, but new this season is a slight strategic alteration, which will make one of the three defensemen on each line significantly more offense-oriented. While the change should by no means be viewed as an exchange of defense for goal scoring, the Panthers hope to simply get more goals in at the same time.

"It's essentially the same defensive system with just a little bit of a change to give us that extra guy to help us down low on the offensive end as an extra scoring threat," noted Cooper.

Cooper, an offensive wizard who needs but 16 goals to become Middlebury's all-time leading scorer, will undoubtedly anchor the team's scoring attack as he did last season. Behind him will be talented forwards Tim Graham '05 and Schneider. On defensive, the Panther's will look to senior Mike Velez, Jeff Smith '05 and Patrick Nugent '05, a versatile defensemen who notched eight goals and 17 assists last season. In goal, it is very likely that Yen-I Chen '06 will start for his second season in a row, after posting a highly respectable .905 save percentage in his rookie year.

Besides the challenges posed by tough opponents like Norwich, or NESCAC rival Trinity, the Panthers cohesion as a team is the primary goal in the early stages of the season. The Middlebury men are well aware that the tiring 30-plus game season will only flow as comfortably as the atmosphere among the team's individual parts.

"[Our biggest challenge will be] coming together as a group, and making this a team where we respect and trust each other," explained Cooper, who posted 26 goals and 15 assists in 28 games last season and was named a first team All-American in addition to NESCAC first team and player of the year accolades. "Everyone on the team needs to be able to look at the guy sitting next to him and know that he'll take a bullet for you, or block a shot for you. Whether or not that makes us win the championship or not is irrelevant."

Middlebury commences this Saturday on the road against Skidmore in a 3p.m. matinee.