BC's Gerbe Retires as Pro Player

Nathan Gerbe (Boston College) retired from professional hockey as an active player last week.

The 5-foot-4 forward from Oxford, Mich., believed to be shortest skater in NHL history, led BC to the 2008 NCAA title. He later appeared in 435 career NHL regular-season games with Buffalo, Carolina and Columbus, and tallied a total of 63 goals and 88 assists for 151 points to go with 196 penalty minutes as an NHL player.

Drafted 142nd overall by Buffalo in 2005 from the U.S. National Team Development Program in his native Michigan, Gerbe went on to play three seasons at BC, where he registered 71-62—133 points in 123 appearances as an Eagle, culminating in the 2008 national championship. He was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Frozen Four in Denver that season, after recording a total of five goals and three assists in wins over North Dakota and Notre Dame to secure BC's first national title in seven years. He also won the Jim Johannson Award as USA Hockey College Player of the Year that season, and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award after recording 35 goals and 68 points overall to lead the nation in scoring.

Internationally, Gerbe helped the U.S. to a silver medal at the 2004 IIHF World Under-18 Championship, followed by a gold medal in the same event the next year. He also helped the Americans to a bronze medal at the 2007 World Junior Championship.

Gerbe, 35, who missed all of the 2021-22 season following hip surgery a year ago, was also a veteran of 209 AHL regular-season contests with Portland and Cleveland, with whom he posted 67-112-179 points and 223 PIM in 209 outings overall. He also played two seasons in Switzerland (2017, 2018) before retiring, and recently joined Nashville as a development coach.

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.

Jerry York Wins No. 900

No. 3 Boston College registered a 4-2 win over No. 9 Merrimack on Friday night at Kelley Rink in a battle of two Hockey East rivals. The bigger story was that BC head coach Jerry York earned the 900th victory of his career with the win, making him just the second college hockey coach ever to attain that milestone.

Now in his 40th season of coaching, all in the collegiate ranks, York sports a record of 900-557-94 (.611) with Clarkson, Bowling Green and Boston College in a career that began back in 1972. A 1967 BC alumnus, he has gone 433-222-60 in 17 seasons and counting at his alma mater, whom he has led to national titles in 2001, 2008 and 2010 since taking over the program in 1994. He also won an NCAA crown with Bowling Green in 1984, and earned the Lester Patrick Trophy two years ago for service to American hockey.

“Holy smokes, 900 wins,” said Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy, a 1991 BC alumnus, at USCHO.com. “At the rate I’m going, I’ll be 275 years old by the time I get 900 wins.”

York is now just 24 wins away from tying all-time college coaching wins leader Ron Mason, who amassed a 924-380-83 mark (.696) with Lake Superior State, Bowling Green and Michigan State from 1966 until 2002. He also won an NCAA title with the Spartans in 1986.

York, a native of Watertown, Mass., has also sent numerous players on to the NHL in his coaching tenure. His current NHLers from BC include Brian Boyle (NY Rangers), Scott Clemmensen (Florida), Nathan Gerbe (Buffalo), Brian Gionta (Montreal), Brooks Orpik (Pittsburgh), Cory Schneider (Vancouver) and Rob Scuderi (Los Angeles).

BOSTON COLLEGE 2008 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

The third time really was the charm ...

The old alma mater, Boston College, won the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey National Championship on April 12 with a 4-1 victory over Notre Dame in Denver, after falling just short in the finals the past two years. It's BC's third-ever national title, its second crown claimed in the state of Colorado, and its first overall NCAA championship since 2001. It was also the first time I got to celebrate at the final buzzer with my brother, who also went to BC, and my dad, whose checks did.

5-foot-5 junior forward and Michigan native Nathan Gerbe tallied two goals and two assists in the final for the Eagles against the Fighting Irish (beaten by a leprechaun?) and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Obviously it's not all about size, as he hustles his as- off, has great skills, shows no fear, and is simply one hell of a hockey player. So is freshman goaltender John Muse and a supporting cast of three dozen, including a top-notch coaching and support staff ...

Now bring on the parade - and the championship merchandise! I've already made my customary donation to Eagle Athletics and shed a few quiet tears of joy just like I did seven springs ago (yes, I admit it).

Congratulations Eagles - and from an "old" alum, THANK YOU!

WE - ARE - BC!