Len Ceglarski 1926-2017

Retired Boston College head coach and former All-America player and national champion Len Ceglarski passed away on Dec. 16 at the age of 91.

The East Walpole, Mass. native starred as a left wing at BC from 1948 to 1951. As a sophomore in 1949, he tallied a goal in the national championship game in Colorado as the Eagles edged Dartmouth, 4-3, for BC's first-ever NCAA hockey title. He led the Maroon and Gold with 25 assists in his junior campaign, earning All-America accolades in the process, and in both goals (21) and points (34) his senior season when he served as team captain. He finished his college hockey playing career with 49 goals and 59 assists for 108 points in 52 outings, and also starred in baseball at the Heights.

Ceglarski was a member of the silver medalist U.S. team at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Norway. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and coached and taught at Walpole High School prior to joining the college coaching ranks.

He served as an NCAA Division I head coach from 1958 to 1992, first at Clarkson University, and then at his alma mater from 1972 onwards, the latter where he recorded a 419-242-27 overall ledger. His career record of 673-339-38 placed him No. 1 all-time on the college victory scroll following his retirement in 1992, until he was passed by the late Ron Mason of Michigan State two years later.

A two-time Hockey East Coach of the Year and a three-time recipient of the Spencer Penrose Award as national coach of the year, Ceglarski later saw Hockey East's sportsmanship award named after him. He is a member of both the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, and also garnered the NHL's Lester Patrick Award in 1990 for his service to American hockey.

Ceglarski led Clarkson to three NCAA Tournament/Frozen Four berths in his tenure there, and also guided the Golden Knights to both the ECAC regular-season and tournament titles in 1966. At BC, he paced the Eagles to two ECAC crowns, a combined eight Hockey East championships, and nine NCAA Tournament appearances, including four Frozen Fours.

I covered Ceglarski’s Eagle hockey teams from 1987 to 1991 as a BC undergraduate and freelance writer for The Heights, Eagle Eye Illustrated, and College Hockey News. He was always gracious with his time and was always accessible to talk about his players and college hockey in general. May he rest in peace.

Boston College Raises One More Banner

I was fortunate enough to be at Boston College’s NCAA Championship banner ceremony on Saturday night at Conte Forum. I missed 2008’s event because I got stuck in traffic on the Mass Pike that night, and 2010’s gathering was too close to Halloween to travel to New England and back—so it sure was nice to finally watch one get raised to the rafters. 

I'm still smiling two days later.

Besides the 2012-13 team and over 7,000 of their closest friends in Maroon and Gold, some of the program's past champions made it back to Chestnut Hill to celebrate on Oct. 20, including former coach Len Ceglarski and locked-out NHL players like Nathan Gerbe. Hoisting the newest banner to the skies were graduated seniors Chris Venti and Tommy Atkinson, part of the 2012 team that won 19 straight contests to close out the campaign, including the national title game in Florida against Ferris State.

To top off the festivities Saturday, the Eagles won, 3-0, over local and Hockey East rival Northeastern, which had beaten BC a week before in Boston. Goals came from forwards Kevin Hayes, Johnny Gaudreau and Stephen Whitney, while captain Pat Mullane had two assists and goaltender Parker Milner made 26 saves before a raucous sold-out crowd of 7,884 at Kelley Rink that included almost an entire section of black-clad NU undergrads who surely got back on the Green Line unhappy.

It was a nice night of nostalgia and one final salute to last year’s title team, which not only made mustard-colored jerseys a thing of beauty, but was also the third BC squad in five years to claim a national crown. When I was a student, BC made the 1990 Frozen Four and won a few Hockey East championships, but not the sheer plethora of team prizes that the program has brought home since 1998.

For me, as an alumnus, it was good to be back on an ever-changing campus that still feels like home. It was good to sit again at the Forum, where I covered several scores worth of games as an undergraduate, and to see old friends like Jack Casey and Paul Gallivan. They and the rest of the Zamboni crew work hard to keep the ice smooth for one of college hockey’s top programs, led by head coach Jerry York (915 career wins and counting) and old friend and Eagle defenseman Greg Brown.


Yes, life has been good at the Heights lately. Keep up the good work, all.