As Inside College Hockey considered its INCH Coach of the Year candidates, we evaluated characteristics that coaches look for in their teams - matching or exceeding its talent level, playing with consistency, and making the right moves at the right time. As the examination continued under those criteria, the choice became quite simple. Yale’s Keith Allain is the INCH Coach of the Year.

Allain’s Bulldogs recently completed the best season in the program’s 100-plus year history by winning the ECAC Hockey regular season and playoff titles as well as the Ivy League championship. Yale returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998 and just the second time in program history. All of this was done by a roster that included just one returning all-league player - forward Sean Backman, who was on the All-ECAC Hockey Third Team in 2007-08. Yale was picked to finish seventh in the regular season by both the coaches and media in preseason polls and ended up going 15-5-2 over 22 league games to win the league title.

Consistency? No team was more consistent. The Bulldogs lost two games in a row just twice all season, and never went three straight without a win. Aside from an 8-3 loss to Nebraska-Omaha, Yale never lost by more than three goals, and that only happened twice. Allain often credited his players for putting in the effort it took throughout the season and in preparation for the season, turning the spotlight away from himself.

Allain also pulled the right strings at the right time. When he sensed that Yale was in a midseason malaise following a home series against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, he took the advice of his daughter and scheduled a practice outside on a frozen pond at the campus golf course. The re-energized bunch from Yale rattled off eight straight wins in league play and took over the top spot in the standings. During that streak, Yale trailed 4-0 in the third period during a game at Colgate. Allain pulled the goalie with 13 minutes left, the Bulldogs scored their first goal, and eventually went on to tie the game and win it 5-4 in overtime.

The right mix of preparation, intuition and management makes for a successful season and Yale and head coach Keith Allain did everything it took to be successful.

His runner-up: Dave Hakstol, North Dakota

- Written by Joe Gladziszewski