Maine Hockey Journal

Beaney named Portland/Deering head coach

(PHOTO: Dan Hickling)

(PHOTO: Dan Hickling)

PORTLAND – It’s true that you can go home again as Jeff Beaney wasn’t ready to hang up the skates just yet and is going back to where his head coaching career blossomed nearly 30 years ago.

The former University of Southern Maine head coach was named head coach of the Portland/Deering boys’ co-op hockey team Thursday morning after Portland Athletic Director Rob O’Leary made the announcement via Twitter.

Beaney, 55, stepped aside as head coach of the men’s program in January after 28 years behind the bench. Ed Harding took over for Beaney as interim coach to finish out the season. That tag was removed in March when Harding was named the permanent head coach of the program.

Beaney had been with the program since its re-birth, leading it through a growth period that included the construction of Troubh Ice Arena – formerly Portland Ice Arena – in 1985, jump to ECAC East from NAIA in 1995 and ultimately the construction of Southern Maine’s own ice arena on its Gorham campus in 1998.

Beaney, who led Southern Maine to a 260-380-50 record and was named ECAC East Coach of the Year in 2005 said at the time of his departure from the program that he wished he could have finished out the season, but held no ill will toward the program.

He maintains that feeling still today, moving on and eager to begin working with the kids.

“I’m looking forward to working with the kids to develop their skills and try to help them out both on and off the ice,” said Beaney.

Beaney also said that he’s thrilled to be coaching again in Portland where he began his head coaching career. Beaney also spent ten years as arena manager for Portland Ice Arena – now Troubh Ice Arena re-named after the late Bill Troubh, who passed away in Nov. 2013 – watching the Portland hockey program in its initial stages.

“It’s like going home,” said Beaney. “I’ve watched the (Portland/Deering) program from the beginning. It’s played a big role in my life with Portland Ice Arena when I was the manager, walking me through many different things.”

Beaney is a big believer in relationships, something he learned along the way coaching the Huskies, with the majority of his time spent recruiting versus actually coaching. He feels this is an opportunity to grow the sport in Portland and help guide another generation both on-and-off the ice through the building of those relationships.

Beaney pointed to the late Charlie Holt as someone who left a collegiate program to coach lower level of hockey and made an impact on multiple generations.

Holt, a member of the US Hockey Hall of Fame, left Colby College in 1968 to become head coach of the men’s hockey team at the University of New Hampshire where spent the next 18 seasons. After leaving UNH in 1986, Holt was back behind the bench two years later, coaching at Berwick Academy until he retired for good in 1996.

“He impacted a whole another generation of kids,” said Beaney. “When I saw this position was open I wondered if this was an opportunity to “give back” to Portland and especially to Troubh Ice Arena because it was very good to me.”

“I’ve always viewed coaching from an education standpoint,” Beaney said. “Can we teach the players to become better students, better people and that’s what I’ve tried to do at USM. Winning is fun, but there are a lot of people that got through school because that probably wouldn’t if they didn’t have hockey and that positive influence.”

Beaney is taking over for Chad Hart, a former Travis Roy Award winning with Waterville, who departed after three seasons as head coach of Portland/Deering. The team went 7-12 last season, advancing to the Western Class A quarterfinals before falling to Falmouth.

Beaney said he’s hoping to teach the players a more collegiate style of hockey with less dump-and-chase and more of a puck possession type game. He believes it will take a couple seasons to build a program the way he wants it to be run. It was a main question that he asked O’Leary during the interview process.

“Are you looking for a one-year fix or to build a consistent program,” he asked?

After a lengthy discussion, his response to O’Leary was pretty simple.

“I’m all in.”

You must be logged in to post a comment Login