Returning to the flock...or the herd
Bison hockey assistant coach sets example for student athletes
Gord Reid, Toban Staff
When Bison hockey players need to look for an example of what exactly being a student athlete can mean to their future, they need to look no further than to their own coaching staff. Assistant coach Bill Keane can testify to the benefits that university hockey offers its players.
Keane made the transition from the ice to the press box after three years with the team. Now in his sixth year on the Herd's coaching staff, Keane has nothing but accolades about his players.
"[Bison hockey] is a great program in terms of the athletes who play," he remarked. "We find the best student athletes in the province." Ten years ago, Bill and his brother Mike (who now plays for the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL) were at the top of the list of Manitoba's premier developing hockey players.
Born in Flin Flon and raised in River Heights, Keane found himself playing hockey for the Herd after a short stint at the University of Alaska in Anchorage.
Keane finds it easy to relate to the trials and tribulations of balancing an intense sports program with a university courseload.
"Because I went through the grind of a student athlete, I'm able to give helpful hints in course selection," he explained.
This year's crop of Bison hockey players should take Keane's advice to heart.
"You're going to look back in four or five years and it'll be gone in the blink of an eye," he mused. "This is the best time of your life...enjoy it while you can."
This article first ran in The Manitoban, Vol. 83, No. 19 (January 10, 1996). This story ran at the bottom of the back page of the Toban, and was disfigured by the paper's layout people. It's a brief story, but the page was short on content. To fix this, they took the accompanying photo and enlarged it so it covers almost all of the middle column and encroaches into the left and right columns. The text wraps around the graphic like an inverted horseshoe.
Now that I'm writing for The Shorthorn, I'm more critical of my earlier work. In the case of this story, I might have interviewed one of the younger players on the squad, and maybe the team's head coach.
Keane struck me as a bit of an asshole. While I remember little from the original interview, I'm now left with the memory of a prototypical former hockey player: a bit thickheaded at times, often vulgar, bad hair. I also picked up an undercurrent of envy of his brother's success.
"I'm able to give helpful hints in course selection" can be interpreted as "I'm able to tell the dummies on the team which classes have fill-in-the-blank midterms."