Tim Thomas recalls invite to Middlebury

[spwood]

I found this in the Boston Globe while reading about the Bruin netminder and the US Olympic camp. At the bottom of the second page, he discusses being coached by Bill Beanie at a Sports Festival before going to college:

Boston Bruin Tim Thomas & Middlebury

 

[uvmcats]

Re: Tim Thomas recalls invite to Middlebury

UVM did not recruit a goaltender that year thinking they were set with Christian Soucy who had just been named an all-american in his sophomore year. Soucy got signed in the NHL, Blackhawks I think and UVM was without a starter. Beaney had previously worked with Roger Grillo who was then an assistant for Gilligan and tipped him off about Thomas who had not been recruited by any school. UVM wanted a decent goaltender because they had 2 recruits coming from Montreal who they believed could allow them to compete for league honors and tournament births. They took a chance on Beaney's recommendation and offered Thomas a ride. So out of that class they had a NHL MVP and a Vezina trophy winner. Not bad.