Mike Gilligan was feeling under the weather over the winter, so he got to watch more Boston Bruins' games on TV than ever before.

"I think I watched every single game," the 61-year-old Beverly hockey icon said from his home in Burlington, Vt. "The Bruins had a solid season, and I didn't think there was a better goalie (in the regular season) than Timmy. On a good team, he was fabulous."

'Timmy' is Tim Thomas, Gilligan's No. 1 goalkeeper for four years (1994-97) when Mike was heading the University of Vermont men's hockey program. Thomas is now the best goaltender in the National Hockey League, having just won the Vezina Trophy awarded to the league's top keeper.

"All of Vermont is thrilled for him," Gilligan said.

No one more so than Gilligan.

"I went overseas to Finland with our national women's hockey team as an assistant coach, and they all knew about Timmy (Thomas played there for three seasons). They said he might have been the best they had seen over there. They couldn't understand why the Bruins didn't look at him earlier," Gilligan recalled.

"He's the best (goalie) I had in 19 years at Vermont — and in 30-odd years in men's hockey.

"So competitive, always on top of the puck. Not stylish by any means, just competitive as hell. He's a guy who put up with all the years of the Bruins experimenting with higher draft choices and stuck to it until he showed 'em he was the guy."

Thomas played almost every game for UVM in his four years, Gilligan pointed out. He also spearheaded Gilligan's only Final Four NCAA entry in 1996. UVM had a couple more pretty good players on that squad: high scoring forwards Martin St. Louis (a Hart Trophy winner as league MVP with the Tampa Bay Lightning) and Eric Perrin (now of the Atlanta Thrashers). St. Louis actually sent Gilligan a ticket to the NHL Awards Ceremony in Toronto five years ago, where the coach also encountered one of his former Salem State skaters, John Tortorella, who just happened to be the Tampa Bay coach at the time.

"Thomas, St. Louis and Perrin were as good a trio as you would have found on any (college) team in the country that season," Gilligan said.

Tortorella was a Salem State freshman when Gilligan made his debut as the Vikings' head coach and transferred to Maine to join a brother.

Gilligan has had such a storybook career in hockey that he should write a book. He would surely devote a full chapter to Thomas. The Michigan native wasn't even on top of UVM's recruiting list; Christian Soucy, a kid from Quebec, was signed to be the Catamounts' future goalie, but signed with the Chicago Blackhawks instead.

"Soucy left school, one of the few we ever lost to a pro contract," Gilligan said.

"We ended up on the phone, calling people, and Timmy was one of the names recommended. He was in the North Atlantic Junior League. A friend said 'This is the guy you want.' So we flew him in for a visit, showed him around and offered him a scholarship. He went on to become one of Vermont's all-time favorites, in popularity and performance.

"We got every ounce of talent he had. I mean every inch. I saw him make saves with his head. There's nothing he wouldn't do to stop a puck."

Gilligan was impressed with Thomas' comment when he was presented with the Vezina trophy a few weeks ago in Las Vegas.

"He said he just wanted to get his name on a roster when he came from Finland. That was his biggest worry," said Gilligan. "That's Timmy."

Bruins fans should remember who was responsible for keeping Thomas a Bruin: ex-General Manager Mike O'Connell signed him to a contract extension before he was let go in the summer of 2006, reminded Gilligan.

"O'Connell had great vision knowing how valuable Thomas was," Gilligan said.