THIS GUY IS UNFIT TO LOOSEN THE LACES ON MY 'ROOS.twballgame9 {l Wrote}:This bomber ironic shtick needs some work. Maybe type in all green capital letters.
Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:And now we are 0-5 and a loser to Mack. It is time to seriously ask what the succession plan looks like. This iteration of the coaching staff is abysmal.
claver2010 {l Wrote}:York extended through '21-22
Logitano {l Wrote}:claver2010 {l Wrote}:York extended through '21-22
Jarmond has made it very clear he will not be hiring a new hockey coach unless York retires (and it will be York making that call).
Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:I can’t believe I am living in a world where UMASS has the Hobey, is playing for the national championship and we are three years from our last appearance in the NCAAs and looking like we will stretch the drought to four years. The simulation we are all living in has gone horribly wrong.
flyingelvii {l Wrote}:So was Guy Carbonneau because he played in Montreal for a while.
blueline {l Wrote}:This season will be his test to see if he still has it. New recruits and a talented goalie in Spencer Knight.
Jerry York never expected to be a Hall of Famer. But that’s where the BC hockey coach is headed now
By Fluto Shinzawa 7h ago 9
The best part of Jerry York’s work day happens at the beginning of every practice.
At around 3:15 p.m, the Boston College coach’s blades touch Conte Forum’s freshly made ice. To York, a clean sheet stands for a new start, a platform for achievement and an opportunity for young men to be better people and players than they were before.
“You step on it and it’s fresh ice,” York said with his signature smile. “It’s a brand new day.”
On Nov. 18, York will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. York will be recognized for his accomplishments, which include the most wins by a Division 1 coach (1,072), five NCAA titles and nine Beanpot championships. York has never been to the Yonge St. home of the Hall of Fame.
Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of the Watertown native is his unshakeable enthusiasm for what is to come. By definition, the Hall of Fame recognizes prior achievement. But the 74-year-old York remains more energetic about the possibilities of tomorrow than the certainties of yesterday.
On a hot day in August, before classes had begun, York looked at a flurry of industrial activity from the window of his third-floor office at Conte Forum. Bulldozers were ripping up the footprint of land that used to house The Plex, BC’s student recreation center. The school has yet to determine the plot’s next occupant.
York mused about a hockey rink. It would allow his players to vacate the arena his team shares with four others: women’s hockey, women’s basketball, men’s basketball and volleyball.
Such infrastructure projects are not approved, funded and built overnight. Yet York dreams about coaching in such a facility. That it would be years in the making is not his concern.
‘It’s a robo-call’
The news, delivered on June 25, produced nothing but smiles around the sport.
“I felt, needless to say, not just very, very happy for him, but happy that they really got it right,” Vegas Golden Knights president of hockey operations George McPhee, who played for York at Bowling Green, said of the Hall of Fame’s decision. “Because he has been so good for the game, so good for college hockey and so good for so many young men. He taught them the right way to play. But more importantly, he taught them the right way to live and carry themselves.”
Ironically, the news that everybody expected caught its recipient by surprise.
On the day that Guy Carbonneau, Vaclav Nedomansky, Jim Rutherford, Hayley Wickenheiser and Sergei Zubov waited for career-affirming calls, York ignored the buzz of his phone and the unknown number it flashed. York was working, studying the whiteboard in his office alongside assistant Brendan Buckley.
“Just let it go, Buck,” York said. “It’s a robo-call.”
By now, York has erred in answering dubious calls. He owes taxes. The government has opened an investigation into his finances. His son is in jail and needs money. York does not like to repeat mistakes.
“Then it rings again,” York recalled. “I says, ‘Buck, just forget about it. I’ll put it in my pocket.’ So then it rings again. No voicemail.”
An irritated York relented.
“Jerry,” the caller said.
“Yes,” York replied.
“This is J.D.,” came the response in the brassy, singular voice of John Davidson. “I’ve got Lanny McDonald on the phone.”
York had no idea why Davidson was calling. A month earlier, Davidson had been named president of the New York Rangers. The team employs Greg Brown, one of York’s former coaches, as an assistant to David Quinn.
“Treat Greg Brown well, would you please?” York asked Davidson.
“No, no,” Davidson answered. “We’re calling for the Hall of Fame.”
Only then did York understand the nature of the call.
“I was stunned,” York said. “Then I Googled and started looking at some of the people in there. I said, ‘Oh, wow. This is …’ Then the flood of people calling and texting to congratulate me, that night and the next day, it was kind of neat.”
York is the fifth NCAA coach to earn the honor. He joins Herb Brooks (Minnesota), Bob Johnson (Wisconsin), Lou Lamoriello (Providence) and John Mariucci (Minnesota).
The thing about York’s company, however, is their NHL connections; all four coached, if only briefly, in the NHL. York is college through and through. Even if he could have made it behind an NHL bench.
“Coach York could have done it and done very well,” McPhee said. “A lot of college coaches would have followed. Now they’re getting their opportunities. But college hockey, I believe, was his calling. He’s been perfect for college hockey. Perfect not only for all the young men he’s influenced, but he plays the right way. It’s fast, skilled, entertaining hockey. He doesn’t play the sit-back, standstill hockey that, frankly, too many college teams are playing these days. Any coach can do that. Good coaches open it up and play the game right.”
When he was in Washington, McPhee asked York to consider coaching in the NHL. Taylor, formerly the Kings GM, did the same.
York was not interested in meeting his former players’ requests. He did not enjoy the prospect of being fired at some time. His GM would form the roster. York didn’t want to play 41 road games a year.
“I had no aspirations,” York said, “to lead that life.”
York, born in Watertown, lives with wife Bobbie about one-quarter of a mile away from his childhood home. He met Bobbie at BC, which he attended after graduating from Boston College High School.
It takes York about 12 minutes to drive from home to work. On his way every morning, York stops at the Dunkin’ Donuts in Watertown Square. His drink is black coffee with a touch of cream. In warmer weather, York plays golf several times a week at Oakley Country Club, which he measures as a driver and a 5-iron away from his front door. His preferred restaurant is Porcini’s, just across the river from Brighton. York is a parishioner at the Watertown collaboration of St. Patrick’s and Sacred Heart.
Daughter Laura lives in the Back Bay. Son Brendan lives in Sewickley, Pa., but his job brings him to Boston once a week. During his visits, Bobbie jokes to her son that she is not running a Holiday Inn.
In the summer, York and his wife spend a week on the water in Duxbury. Perhaps the only thing that pulls York away from the area is his annual post-season tropical vacation. After last season, the couple traveled to Antigua. York still raves about the fish.
Finding and developing talent
The names that fill York’s former rosters and the credentials they bear are practically beyond belief.
Stanley Cup champions
Rob Blake (Bowling Green/Colorado)
Brian Dumoulin (BC/Pittsburgh)
Brian Gionta (BC/New Jersey)
Brooks Orpik (BC/Pittsburgh)
Zach Sanford (BC/St. Louis)
Rob Scuderi (BC/Los Angeles)
Ryan Shannon (BC/Anaheim)
Ben Smith (BC/Chicago)
Hobey Baker winners
Johnny Gaudreau (BC)
Brian Holzinger (Bowling Green)
McPhee (Bowling Green)
Mike Mottau (BC)
Hall of Famer
Blake
NHL executives/coaches:
Blake (GM, Los Angeles)
Dan Bylsma (Bowling Green/assistant coach, Detroit)
Brian MacLellan (Bowling Green/GM, Washington)
McPhee (president of hockey operations, Vegas)
Todd Reirden (Bowling Green/coach, Washington)
Dave Taylor (Clarkson/vice president of hockey operations, St. Louis)
“They’re nice men now,” Bobbie York said of the boys she’s watched her husband help to shape. “He’s always had a good sense of people to recruit, good coaches. He’s surrounded himself with good people. They’re all turning into good men. I love watching that process.”
Be it in Chestnut Hill, Bowling Green, Ohio, or Potsdam, N.Y., York has always considered hockey sense to be his biggest requirement. He likes players who process rapidly, use the puck and their teammates as their allies and play fast, creative hockey. Ex-Eagles like Gaudreau, Brian Gionta and Cam Atkinson fit this profile.
“Continuous action,” York said of how he prefers the game. “When all of a sudden, it’s less whistles. Plays are going. You’re playing offense, you’re playing defense on the same shift, maybe 3-4 times, you’re switching between them. I like that part of the hockey game. I like the speed, the quickness. There’s a certain symphony that’s going on out there when everything’s going right.”
It is only recently the NHL has adopted York’s manner of thinking. There was a time that the diminutive Gaudreau would never have gotten a sniff of the NHL.
York was never that way. His eyes light up when recruits exhibit flash and dash, even if they show no threat to a scale’s structural integrity.
York insists on off-ice character as well as high on-ice IQ. He does not hesitate to excuse players from practice if they need to catch up on their studies. Foul language has as little place in his dressing room as facial hair. York is in the business of raising men more than winning games.
“He’s not always about hockey,” said New Jersey forward Miles Wood, who played at BC for one season. “He’s more about shaping you as a person. If you happen to play pro hockey after BC, that’s great for him. But what he cares about is about you as a person. That’s what I think is so special about him.”
York has touched McPhee’s life twice — first as a player, now as a parent. Graham McPhee is a BC senior. It took just one call from York and an invitation to attend BC for the younger McPhee to make his decision.
“You just know that, as a parent, you’re blessed,” George McPhee said. “You know your son is in good hands with this man, this program and this school.”
Thirty years have passed since York coached Graham McPhee’s father. Since then, almost everything about college sports, players, society and technology has turned upside down.
York has evolved. His principles, however, have not moved an inch.
Adapting to the times
Today’s college hockey players are under more pressure than ever. The NHL is beckoning a year or two earlier than it did before. Family advisers are common. Training is year-round.
Social media may be the biggest influence of all.
“Ten, 12 years ago, after a game, you may have talked to your mom, dad or a guardian and gotten feedback about the game,” said Martin Jarmond, BC’s 38-year-old athletic director. “Now, you can pull up your phone right when you get off the ice. In five minutes, you can see 20 people, 30 people comment about your performance. And usually it’s not (good). And so we all need validation. We yearn for that. It’s hard to tell a young person, ‘Turn that off.’ Now they’re dealing with different pressures that I didn’t have to deal with. So you’ve got young people that are very impressionable, who have significantly more pressure on them, and it’s not just coming from the parents. Now it’s coming from the high school coach, the club coach, the team, the coaching staff. There’s so much pressure for these young people to be successful or to live up to whatever people expect of them. They’re very impressionable. So you have to have a leader that understands that and can adapt.”
York has ditched his briefcase for a backpack. About three times a week, York attends yoga class to complement his cardio and weight training. He mixes emojis into his texts.
York is 56 years older than Spencer Knight, his hotshot freshman goalie. But what’s made York successful is his ability to reach across generations. He leans on assistants such as Marty McInnis (49), Buckley (42) and Mike Ayers (39). York is famous for inviting guest speakers, ranging from NHL players such as Zdeno Chara to an ex-Navy SEAL named Dave Dauphinais, to talk about dedication, teamwork and life.
Above all else, York has connected by being good.
“He’s about as nice a man as you’ll ever meet in this game,” McPhee said. “I mean this in a positive way — he’s the Fred Rogers of hockey. Mr. Rogers said there are three ways to success. One is to be kind. Two is be kind. Three is be kind. Jerry York is a very kind man, a wonderful man. It’s not in him to have a bad day. Players take to him and like him. Parents, in the recruiting process, this is the man you trust, that you want to look after your son. Those are the reasons why he’s had success. It’s nice to see nice guys finish first.”
After games, be they wins or losses, York addresses his players in the room. It is a two-way conversation, not a monologue. He will call upon a player, like a teacher in a classroom, to share his feelings on the game — who made an important play, what the Eagles could have done better.
York believes in the power of collaboration to extract the best from his players and motivate them to improve. He’s learned through this through experience and outside counsel. York likes Jim Collins’ “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap … And Others Don’t.” He also recommends “Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell.” Coincidentally, Campbell, who worked with Apple and Google, was an assistant football coach at BC.
York hopes his lessons will serve his players well after their last shifts at Conte Forum. He is just as happy to learn about an addition to the family or a job promotion as he is about a bigger NHL salary. It pleases York that the depth and breadth of the connections his players make at BC will serve them well once their skates are rusted out.
“It all ends at some point,” said New Jersey assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald, whose sons Ryan and Casey attended BC for four years. “I believe it will open a door in some avenue that both my boys will want to do. It’s exciting. I’m proud of them because they have that piece of paper. They worked hard to get it. College isn’t easy, especially when you’re juggling a sport.”
For all that he has given to BC, college hockey and his players, York is also a taker. During a Bruins training camp session at Warrior Ice Arena, York watched from the concourse while scribbling notes. When he talks to former players who are now in the NHL, he asks them about drills he can swipe. York enjoys consulting with coaches of other sports at BC.
York is just as much of a student as an educator. He does not want to stop learning.
The future
York is signed through 2022. He will be 76. It is possible that the Class of 2023, York’s next crop of recruits, may have a different coach by the time they’re seniors.
“I’m telling the kids now that I’m probably going to coach 3-4 years. Unless I get hit by a train crossing Mount Auburn St.,” York said. “But I feel good. I’m healthy. I like it.”
The line York then uses with his players is a good one: “How long are you going to stay?”
“I just think he enjoys it still,” said Bobbie York. “He’s healthy enough that he can do it. Why not? He loves it. We both love it. It’s been our lives forever. You just keep doing what you love.”
York has a lot to do. He wants Knight to develop into one of the best American goalies ever. York has already coached three good ones: Cory Schneider, Thatcher Demko and Joseph Woll.
“He has the potential to go past those three,” York said. “He’s so quick. He’s big. He understands the game very well. He could be very special for us.”
York would like being behind the bench when the Hall of Fame makes its next round of college calls. He would take pleasure in opening the door for Red Berenson, Ned Harkness, Ron Mason and Jack Parker to join him in Toronto.
“I’d love that,” York said of having college company in the future. “We’re a group of guys that fight like cats and dogs for recruits and winning games. But basically, they do what I do.”
The Eagles last won the title in 2012. They are experiencing something of a drought.
“Jerry’s been at the top. You’d best believe he wants to get back there,” Jarmond said. “There’s no dulling of the light or however you want to put it with Jerry. He is hungry to get our program to that level where they’re raising a championship again and putting another banner in the arena.”
There is nowhere he’d rather be. York feels no pull toward warmer weather. He is satisfied with three visits to Oakley per week in the summer. York is energized by life among young people and educators, all pursuing excellence.
York leads, quite simply, a simple life. He takes pride in a job well done, enjoying a good day and making tomorrow better.
York sees no reason for any of that to end.
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