Dumb luck with frozen yeast?

[quik_sk8]

A few weeks ago I brewed an Oatmeal Stout for the first time and I think I was pretty lucky when it came to fermenting since I did several things wrong. My disclaimer/excuse is that we have a newborn in the house and things can get hectic; hence my lack of brain activity. I went to the homebrew store to pick up my ingredients on Wednesday for a Saturday brew. I wanted to get a strain of White Labs yeast that they didn't have, so I was going to pick up some WLP005. As I was going for it I noticed that they had two vials of one week past best before date WLP004 for $3 a piece. The penny pincher in me prevailed and I picked up the vials. When I arrived home my son was wailing and wife was becoming a little overwhelmed because it had been like that all day so I threw my hops AND yeast in the freezer and didn't think about it until brew day. Brew day comes along and as its closing off I go to grab the yeast from the fridge, realizing they were actually frozen in the freezer. I thought a little too quickly and threw them into my now 130 degree leftover HLT water to thaw. That worked in about 60 seconds and it was liquid once again. I pitched a vial in each 6 gallons (I do 12 gallon batches) and hoped for the best. Well other than there being a 2.5 day delay on airlock activity my stout finished at 1.012 and tastes amazing. Everyone I have served it to has said its the best beer I've made yet, and that's not to say my other brews are bad!

All that said, I've often thought about doing starters, pitching more in a 6 gallon batch and just general better yeast care practices. This makes me think that it can be pa bit unnecessary. I've always pitched a single (healthy) vial into 6 gallons and have never fermented out higher than 1.012.

So, dumb luck or not surprising?