  Longtime Valley Jr Warriors coach Bob Sweeney received yet another honor this past week. As part of the 58th annual Beanpot festivities, Sweeney was inducted into the Beanpot Hall of Fame and honored between the two s emifinal games.
Sweeney, the current head coach of the VJW '96 Elites and assistant coach for the '00 Elites, was honored for his outstanding play for Boston College. After all, it seems like just yesterday when Sweeney captured 1983 Beanpot Tournament MVP honors as a Boston College freshman.
Since that time, Sweeney has gone on to enjoy a successful collegiate and professional career where he spent six seasons wearing the Boston Bruins jersey. He now spends his time working as the director of
development for the Boston Bruins Foundation and serving alongside many of his fellow NHL alumni such as Steve Leach, Bob Carpenter and Dave Sacco as coach of the Valley Jr Warriors.
Here is a copy of the official press release that recognized Sweeney's great accomplishment.
Sweeney Joins Beanpot Hall
Former Bruin inducted into the Beanpot Hall of Fame.
Bob Sweeney has been a familiar face around both of Boston's Gardens
for more than 20 years. And now he is a permanent fixture, as the
Boston College and Bruins alum was inducted into the Beanpot Hall of
Fame this week as part of the 58th annual Beanpot festivities.
Alongside 1984 Beanpot MVP Tim Marshall and longtime Harvard
athletic director Fran Tolland, Sweeney, now the director of
development for the Boston Bruins Foundation, was honored between the
games last night at the TD Garden.
“I just want to congratulate Timmy Marshall and Fran Tolland, on
their induction into the Hall of Fame,” said Sweeny during his speech
at the annual Beanpot luncheon, which marks the official beginning of
the tournament each year.
“It’s well-deserved and I’m happy to be going in with you guys.”
Sweeney earned the title of MVP in the 1983 tournament, where as a
freshman, he led the Boston College Eagles to victory over
Northeastern. He went on to play 11 seasons in the NHL, six of them
with the Bruins. He was named to his current position with the Bruins
Foundation two years ago.
Though it’s been over two decades, Sweeney could still remember how
it felt to step out on the ice for the first time and become a part of
a rich historic tradition.
“As a freshman, it was almost overwhelming,” he said. “But when you
skate out there in the old Garden, when were playing, to see the spoked
B, which everyone alludes to, it’s just something that you say, you
know this is the same ice that Bobby Orr used to skate on and Ray
Bourque and all the other great Bruins before him.
“To have that chance and that opportunity to play where these guys played, it’s just a great experience.”
As a budding hockey star growing up in Boxborough, Mass, Sweeney
said his local perspective made his experience with the Beanpot that
much more special.
“It was a great experience and I couldn’t wait to be a part of
that—to be a part of that history,” he said. “To be able to play,
whether it’s for BC, BU, Harvard or Northeastern, but to take that ice
on a Monday night, for two nights in February, was a huge, huge thing
for a local kid to be able to do that.”
Standing before the members of each of the four Beanpot teams, Sweeney offered a bit of advice.
“It’s something I will never forget and it was a dream come true for
a local kid to play in the Beanpot,” he said. “Enjoy it, because it’s
great and it’s something you’ll remember the rest of your life.”
| 
HOME
GENERAL
Jul 15, 10
Feb 5, 10