For the first four years of his college hockey career, Dan Rooney woke up every day, went to class and then to the ice rink where he would suit up in heavy padding and stand in front of a small, solid disk capable of traveling over 100 mph.

Rooney, now in his fifth year of college, still repeats the routine daily. Except now, he’s not putting on the pads, but mentoring the Illini’s four goaltenders on how to keep the puck out of the net.

“A year ago, I found out I had to be in school for another full year,” Rooney said. “So I knew right away as soon as my career was over that I wanted to help the team out as much as possible.”

Last season, Rooney split time with current junior starting Illini goaltender Nick Clarke. Rooney started 11 games and pitched one shutout. More importantly, however, Rooney has maintained a strong bond with his former teammate.

“(Clarke’s) my roommate right now,” Rooney said. “We both came in here at the same time, and ever since we came, we’ve developed a great friendship. I’m a bit older, so he’s always seeked my advice, and I’ve always been there to give him pointers whether I was playing or on the bench coaching

“Not much has changed between us. I’ve always known that he’s had the ability of being one of the best goalies in the country.”

Rooney said his goals have not changed. His goal is the same as head coach Nick Fabbrini’s and Clarke’s: to win a national championship.

“I want to contribute as much as I can to help this team make a run at a national championship,” he said. “My other goal is to help every goalie on this roster finish the season a much better goalie than they started.”

While the Illinois hockey team was devoid of a goaltender coach in Rooney’s time at Illinois, Rooney said he learned how to coach through his experience with various youth teams. Over the last five summers, Rooney has coached youth hockey camps, teaching both goaltending and defensive tactics. He is now the head coach of a local AA bantam-level hockey team.

“I feel like I’ve always been a better coach of goalies than I’ve actually been a goalie myself,” he said. “I’ve gotten used to paying attention to little details that a lot of people don’t pay attention to in the game.”

Under Rooney’s tutelage, Clarke is having the best year of his career so far. Through 16 starts, Clarke has already surpassed his career high in wins, with 10. Clarke also improved his goals against average by .53 points, from 2.91 last year to 2.38 this year.

Blake can be reached at [email protected] and @BlakeP.