Tales from the Boston College Hockey Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Eagles Hockey Stories Ever Told

by Tom Burke, Reid Oslin

Overview

With five Division I national championships to its credit—most recently in 2012—the men’s hockey program at Boston College is a force to be reckoned with year after year. Tales from the Boston College Hockey Locker Room details the long and highly successful history of ice hockey at Boston College, from the informal “ice polo” competition held among students at BC’s original campus in the South End of Boston in the 1890s, to the establishment of a formal varsity ice hockey program shortly after the school relocated to its present-day home in Chestnut Hill a century ago, and on to the emergence of Boston College hockey as one of the most successful programs in all of collegiate sports. This book blends research; interviews with coaches, players, and fans of Eagles hockey; and scores of anecdotes about the high points—and a few slips that occurred along the way—in the building of Boston College’s fabled hockey tradition.

Many of the legends are covered in this book, including coach John “Snooks” Kelley, Len Ceglarski, Jerry York, the Morrissey brothers, James “Sonny” Foley, Bill Hogan, Jr., Ed “Butch” Songin, the tandem of Tom “Red” Martin and Billy Daley, and Tim Sheehy. Modern-day Eagles greats also have a prominent place, from Joe Mullen, to Brian Leetch, David Emma, Brian Gionta, and more.

Fans of Boston College hockey, as well as college sports aficionados everywhere, will find this book to be an entertaining and fact-filled volume of tales and accomplishments of one of the nation’s premier intercollegiate sports programs.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613216491
Publisher:	Sports Publishing LLC
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Series:	Tales from the Team Series
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Tom Burke was Eastern College Hockey’s first national correspondent. He wrote for the Hockey News for eighteen years and was a New York Sunday Times college hockey contributor for seven years. He has served as a member of the Hobey Baker Award Selection Committee, and he annually presents the Walter Brown Award, which is named for his uncle Walter, to New England’s best American-born Division One player. Tom serves as assistant secretary of the Beanpot Tournament and has contributed to the annual Beanpot game programs for over thirty years. He also is the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame’s biographer, has been the arena voice of BC hockey for twenty-seven years, and the stadium voice of BC football for thirty-nine years.

Reid Oslin was affiliated with Boston College and its athletic program for forty-one years, including twenty-four years (1974–1997) as the Eagles’ associate athletic director and sports information director. During this period he attended hundreds of Boston College athletic events and got to know thousands of student athletes, coaches, staff members, and fans. He served as the senior media relations officer in the university’s Office of News and Public Affairs before retiring in 2012. Oslin is also the author of two books on the history of Boston College Football.

Table of Contents

A Note from the Authors vii

Acknowledgments ix

1 2001, An Ice Odyssey: End of a Long Road, Beginning of Another 1

2 The Early Days of Boston College Hockey 5

3 Snooks: The "Dean" of American College Hockey Coaches 15

4 The Impossible Dream: Boston College Wins a Game for the Ages 45

5 A Nickel for a Goal… A Dime for an Assist: The Torch Is Passed to Len Ceglarski 51

6 The Eagles' Nests: Boston College's Home Rinks 79

7 Boston's Pot of Beans: A Midwinter Staple 89

8 Transitional Years 119

9 Boston College and the NCAA Tournament: The First Half Century 137

10 The Revival: Coach Jerry York 155