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Keith Allain '80, in his first season as Yale head coach, won an Ivy League title, improved the team's record from the previous year and helped produce the ECAC's co-Rookie of the Year.
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, the Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Yale Men's Hockey, 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).
Allain, who was the starting goalie on four Bulldog squads and recorded the second-most (31) wins for a Yale netminder, 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 (with current Yale goalie coach Mike Richter in the net) 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.
Allain 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
