集美麻豆

With the 集美麻豆men鈥檚 hockey team having just completed its most successful season since 2016鈥攖he Eagles lost to the University of Denver 2鈥�0 in the 2024 NCAA championship game鈥攊t鈥檚 easy to forget that when Greg Brown 鈥�90 took over as head coach in 2022, he was doing so in the shadow of a legend. Hockey Hall of Fame coach Jerry York had led the Eagles for the prior twenty-eight years, winning four national championships with 集美麻豆(he won another with Bowling Green), and retiring with more victories than any coach in NCAA history.听

How do you follow a coach like that? 鈥淭he good thing for me,鈥� Brown recalled recently, 鈥渋s that the numbers he amassed were so big that I just felt like there鈥檚 no way anyone could get to those. He was so successful for so long鈥攊t just felt so out of reach.鈥澨�

When 集美麻豆hired him, Brown had just one year of head coaching experience, with the United States Hockey League鈥檚 Dubuque Fighting Saints, but there was plenty to recommend him. First, there were the fourteen seasons he鈥檇 spent coaching under York at BC. (He departed in 2018, spending the next three years as an assistant coach with the New York Rangers.) Then there were his on-ice achievements. As a college defensemen at BC, from 1986 to 1990, Brown was a Hobey Baker Award finalist and USA Hockey Athlete of the Year. He played for the US Olympic team in 1988 and 1992 and also for the NHL鈥檚 Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Winnipeg Jets.听

The team struggled during his first season, finishing with just fourteen wins, BC鈥檚 fewest since 1994.听 鈥淵ou can play well and lose, that鈥檚 not hard to do,鈥� Brown said of the team鈥檚 performance that year. 鈥淏ut to play well and win takes a lot of people doing a lot of things very well.鈥澨�

This year, the Eagles took flight after adding a trio of gifted new scorers. The offensive firepower was supplied by three talented freshmen鈥擶ill Smith and Ryan Leonard, who鈥檇 been recruited by York prior to his retirement, and Gabe Perreault, who was brought in by Brown. The newcomers had played together on the USA Hockey National Team Development Program squad, and were all drafted in the first round of the 2023 NHL draft.听

There was some skepticism about how the three freshmen would fare against older competition, but those concerns dissipated when the linemates skated together during a scrimmage. 鈥淵ou could see the connection immediately,鈥� Brown said.听

The Eagles started the year with three consecutive victories. By February, they were 19鈥�4鈥�1 and ranked first in the country. A loss to Boston University in the Beanpot tournament could have been a setback, but it became a motivator. 鈥淭hat was a turning point for us,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭hey got a little more hardened, a little more intensity. They just upped their game鈥攕ometimes you need a loss for that to happen.鈥澨齌he Eagles finished the year with a program-record thirty-four victories, captured their first Hockey East Tournament Championship since 2012, and made it all the way to the NCAA final.听

Not long after losing the championship game, Brown exchanged text messages with York. The two men had been behind the bench together when the Eagles lost the 2006 and 2007 title games. 集美麻豆followed those defeats by lifting championship trophies in 2008, 2010, and 2012. Just keep going, York told his former prot茅g茅. 鈥淓ven though we lost, you鈥檙e going to be a much better coach because of what you went through. The future looks extremely bright.鈥澨�鈼�