Long 'Sader stretch ending; Bellerose retiring at end of year.

• Position: Sports

The greatest moment in Holy Cross sports history? That's an easy one for retiring HC associate director of athletics Bill Bellerose.

The men's hockey team's monumental upset of Minnesota in the 2006 NCAA Tournament is, in his opinion, the best.

"I think it is,'' Bellerose said. "Of course, I'm a hockey guy.''

Bellerose played hockey for the Crusaders in the mid-1970s, coached the team for 16 years, and, during his 23 years as an administrator at his alma mater, maintained a special interest in the squad.

The 59-year-old Bellerose's last day at Holy Cross is Dec. 31. He'll head down to spend a month with his sister in Florida beginning Jan. 4, the day after the Crusaders wrap up a two-game series against Air Force at the Hart Center. He didn't want to miss that.

In his position as associate director of athletics/business manager for more than two decades, Bellerose, who graduated from Holy Cross in 1977 with dual degrees in economics and accounting, handled the day-to-day financial support of individual teams and the athletic department, prepared and administered budgets for HC's varsity teams and handled much of HC's travel and ticket operations.

"Little by little I've been sifting through a lot of stuff,'' Bellerose said as he looked around his office in the Holy Cross Field House. "When you've been on the job this long, you accumulate a lot of stuff.''

Bellerose grew up in Worcester and starred at St. Peter's High. Following in the footsteps of his dad, he enrolled at Holy Cross in 1973 and made an immediate impact for the Crusaders and coach Bill Kane, scoring a team-high 31 goals and earning ECAC co-Rookie of the Year honors.

Bellerose ranks eighth in program history in career points (152) and 10th in career goals (71). In 2002, Bellerose was inducted to the Holy Cross Varsity Club Hall of Fame.

Bellerose joined Mike Addesa's HC staff as an assistant right after graduation and served in that part-time position, under Addessa and Peter Van Buskirk, until 1988. Bellerose, who had also worked in purchasing and accounting for the Providence & Worcester Railroad, was hired by former Holy Cross treasurer and chief investment officer Bill Durgin as the college's director of purchasing in 1984. Eight years later, he moved to his current position in the athletics office. Bellerose, a longtime Shrewsbury resident, was head coach of the Crusaders from 1988-93.

"Looking back,'' Bellerose said, "there are three people who have really done so much...