Left: BS with RecSports Director Paul Lee; Right: BS and fellow goalie Andrew Sperry
No one is really sure exactly when Brendan "BS" Sheehey played for the team. As far as anyone can tell, he was just always there. As a five year mainstay, Sheehey is a link between the earliest roots of the program and today's team. He was also a constant of UCSB's intramural hockey program, organizing officials and running the league from Roberston Gymnasium as a student manager. As a goalie, he was one of a kind. Having been "born in Rob Gym" BS was unique to the program in so many ways. Even though he played during much of his career behind the Gauchos' stellar goaltender Andrew Sperry, BS nonetheless stood out in half a decade's worth of backstopping. It seems impossible to have so many stories and legends come from one man, but the alumni still maintain that it's all true. Here, then, is the interview. Read at your own risk....
What’s your name?
Brendan Sheehey.
So what was your nickname?
BS, also spelled Bee Ess.
How many years did you play for the team?
5 years! Not bad considering I was in IV for 6 years and graduated in 4 years.
What year did you graduate from UCSB?
1999.
What kind of degree did you graduate with?
BA in Geography (best major there is, how many people remember me studying?)
Where are you living now?
San Francisco, although I’m relocating to Hawaii for the summer.
What’s your occupation?
Professional student, right now I’m in law school.
[Editor's note: BS is attending UC Hastings with fellow UCSB Hockey alumnus Andrew Cahill]
Is that what you were expecting to be doing at this point in your life?
Nope, I was expecting to be living in IV and putting the finishing touches on my book entitled “A Decade of Madness, 10 years in IV.”
How useful was your college experience in terms of what you’re doing now/aspiring to do?
I guess it was useful. My experience was extremely useful in that I learned more about myself and the people that surround me. The school stuff didn’t really do a whole lot except prevent me from sleeping and surfing.
What do you miss most about UCSB/Isla Vista?
Well, I don’t miss having the mirrors kicked off my car. Things I do miss from IV: the ping pong table in our garage, sharing a bedroom with 3 other guys (and we wondered why we never got girls), watching LA Kings’ games at Woodstocks, buying 40s at SOS, surfing right in front of my house, road trips to hockey tournaments, all of my friends and roomies, my BB gun, playing hockey in Rob Gym, the ice cream at DLG, watching porn on the big screen whenever Cahill brought a girl home, going shopping at the Ventura thrift stores, Wildbread, Bill’s Bus, skipping class to ride the tram, skipping class to buy bratwursts from the Die Bretzel cart, skipping astronomy to get pitchers at Chilito’s, eating ice cream from random people’s freezers during a party, Tri-tip pizza at Italia Pizzeria, having a Mohawk, getting naked at parties, putting a keg of beer in the shower with me, hanging out at BS Squared’s place listening to the Stones, sitting on the grass near Broida and watching all the beautiful young ladies, having hockey practice till 2 AM and then going to McDonald's, the Chalet pirate party, Milan Poidl’s pick-up lines (“Do you girls wanna come back to our place and play ping pong?”), watching bike accidents, bunking next to Sperry’s Temple of Self Pleasure, living in the honors hall, Stir Fry shows, Dave Salyer taking his jersey off after a game and having red tape over his nipples, Dave Wagner eating a box of cereal for breakfast, James Wagner’s dry land practices, and “Itsy Bitsy Bang Bang.” Oh yeah, I guess the parties were pretty cool too.
Do you keep in contact with any UCSB Hockey alumni, and if so, whom?
I try to, but I’m pretty flaky. I have had recent emails or conversations with BS Squared (Brian Seymour), Dave and James Wagner, Andrew Cahill (he’s my roommate), Andrew Sperry, Vince “VD” Gotanda.
Are you still playing hockey? If so, where and how many times a week?
Law school severely cut into hockey. I played for University of South Carolina for the past two years, but haven’t played since last summer.
Favorite memory of playing hockey at UCSB:
My favorite memories were the practices; I always had a great time. I mean really, when else is it socially acceptable to get changed with 25 other guys. A close second is when I stopped all the A team shooters in a shoot-out for the B team when they beat the A team. Also James Wagner scored on a wraparound one time and the goalie yelled out, “How the fuck did he do that?” I almost passed out from laughing so hard.
Least favorite:
It sucked losing the championship game to MSU and it felt just as bad every time we lost to SLO.
What, if anything, did you take away from your experience with the team?
I took away the knowledge that you must wash your hockey chones sometime during the season or they will disintegrate. I learned a lot about winning and losing, playing well with others, and all those other things that you’re supposed to learn from Mr. Rogers but don’t.
How have things seemed to change since you played here? Anything the same?
Well, to start everyone that I played with has now left I think. I’m sure the rink in SB is the same.
[Editor's note: current seniors Loren Cogswell, Greg Franks, Ricky Matulac and Mike Saksen all played during the 2000-01 season, which was BS's last.]
What are your thoughts on the RecCen II (the site of the new hockey rink)?
It’s awesome! I’m glad that all the hard work has paid off. Rec Sports put a lot of effort into getting the new Rec Cen and I’m excited to see the hard work of so many pay off.
Here’s where you dispense some advise to the current team:
Uh, how about… “Strike fast, strike hard, no mercy.” Also, keep working hard, “the juice is worth the squeeze.”
Do you have anything else you’d like to mention to them?
The tradition at UCSB is very strong, keep that in mind and let it drive your work ethic. Work your butt off to make that tradition even stronger. When I went to a tournament in Florida last year, some guy from UCF [University of Central Florida] came up to me and asked if I had previously played for UCSB. When I told him I did, the guy responded that we were one of the best teams he’d ever seen and that they played their best game of the year to beat us [in 2001]. That’s tradition, people 3000 miles away recognize the strength and quality of our program.
Last parting shout out, gratuitous plug or comment:
I need to thank Paul Lee, without his support we would have never become a club sport. I also need to thank Steve Underhill and Sperry. Underhill gave me the Grant Fuhr book on goaltending, which taught me how to play and Sperry helped me perfect the two pad slide. As Maya Angelou would say… “Keep on truckin.”
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