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Three years with Keith Allain '80 as Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey has meant remarkable progress for the program, and the most recent campaign more than established the Bulldogs on the national scene. All he did in 2008-09 was lead the Bulldogs to the best season in the history of the sport at Yale. A school-record 24 wins, Yale's first ECAC Tournament Championship and a school-best No. 5 national ranking in late March backs up that statement. The Elis' second ECAC regular-season title, a third NCAA Tournament appearance and an Ivy League crown confirm the status of the 2008-09 squad. That's why the ECAC coaches voted him the conference coach of the year (Tim Taylor Award) and College Hockey News named him national coach of the year. In his first year, Allain's squad won a 2007 Ivy League title, improved the team's record from the previous year and helped produce ECAC Hockey's co-Rookie of the Year.
His second season was better. Allain doubled his Yale win total as the Bulldogs finished 16-14-4. More importantly, Yale became a legitimate post-season contender after sweeping Rensselaer in a first-round playoff series before pushing 2008 ECAC Hockey Champion Princeton to a third quarterfinal game on the road.
Entering his fourth campaign, Allain is 51-39-7 overall and 32-27-7 in conference play while his Elis have won seven of 11 ECAC playoff contests.
Allain, a former Bulldog goalie who coached in the NHL and in the Olympics, was named the 11th head coach of the 112-year-old Yale men's ice hockey program on April 15, 2006. Allain is the second Yale graduate to take the position and the first since Holcomb York '17 led the Bulldogs from 1930 to 1938 (Lawrence M. Noble '27 coached the Elis from 1928 to 1930).
The starting goalie on four Bulldog squads, Allain recorded the second-most (31) wins for a Yale netminder and ranks third at the school with 2,337 career saves. He owns four of the top 10 Yale single-game save totals, including 55 stops in a 7-3 loss at Minnesota on Dec. 28, 1978.
Allain, the goalie coach for the St. Louis Blues from 1998 to 2006, served as assistant coach for the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team in Italy. He also assisted with the 2005 and 2006 U.S. National Team at the world championships. Under Allain's guidance, St. Louis netminders gave up the fewest goals in the NHL in 1999-2000, claiming the William M. Jennings Trophy. That season the Blues captured the President's Trophy for the best regular-season record in the league. His professional coaching experience includes serving as a scout for the NHL's Nashville Predators in 1997-98 and a four-year (1993-97) stint as an assistant coach for the Washington Capitals, where he helped Jim Carey win the 1996 Vezina Trophy. His extensive international coaching career includes serving as an assistant coach for the United States team that captured the championship of the inaugural World Cup of Hockey in 1996 while registering a 6-1-0 overall mark. He returned to the World Cup of Hockey with the U.S. in 2004 as goaltending coach. The Bulldog mentor was also an assistant coach for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team (current Harvard head coach Ted Donato skated for him), which placed fourth in Albertville, France with a 5-2-1 record. His involvement with USA Hockey includes guiding the U.S. as head coach at the 2001 and 2002 IIHF World Junior Championships.
The current Yale head coach replaced his original mentor, Tim Taylor (1976-2006), whose first team included Allain. Taylor hired Allain to be his assistant from 1982 to 1985 before the prized pupil left the collegiate game to coach and scout in Sweden.
Allain, a Worcester, Mass., native who has six brothers (five of them played college hockey), played two years (1980-82) of professional hockey in Sweden before suffering a career-ending injury. He and his wife, Mi, have three children: Josefine, a soccer player at Wagner College, Julia and Niklas.
ALLAIN TIMELINE
YEARS: Position/Team
1976-80: Attended Yale
1980-81: Professional player in Sweden
1982-85: Yale Assistant Coach
1985-86: Professional player/coach in Sweden
1986-89: Worked in the investment business
1989-91: Head Coach Jarfalla Hockey Club Sweden
1989-93: European Scout for Washington Capitals
1989-94: Assistant Coach Washington Capitals
1997-98:Professional Scout for Nashville Predators
1998-06: Assistant Coach St. Louis Blues
ALLAIN'S INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Years: Position, Team, Tournament
2006: Assistant, U.S. National, World Championships
2006: Assistant, U.S. National, Olympic Games
2005: Assistant, U.S. National, World Championships
2004: Goalie, U.S. National, World Cup
2002: Head, U.S. National, Jr., World Champ. (4-1-2)
2001: Head, U.S. National Jr., World Champ. (5-2)
1996: Assistant, U.S. National, World Cup (1st)
1995: Head, U.S. National 17, Mexico Cup (2nd)
1994: Head, U.S. National 17, Pacific Cup (2nd)
1991-92: Assistant, U.S. National, Olympic Games
1990: Assistant, U.S. National 17, Summer Challenge
