Jerry York Career Highlights: The 2009-10 Men’s Hockey Season

We’re continuing through the incredible career of Boston College legend Jerry York, and we’ve come to the 2009-2010 Boston College Men’s Hockey season.

This was a particularly special run for Joe Gravellese and I, as it was our senior year on the Heights and so carried quite a bit of extra emotional punch. It also happened to be one of Jerry York’s finest seasons as a coach.

It’s difficult to remember the beginning of that season, looking back, because of just how great the run to the finish was. But when the year started, it didn’t really seem like the Eagles were going to turn into world-beaters. The Eagles found wins, sure, but there were a lot kinks to be worked out. A 2-2-1 start turned into 10-6-2 which turned into 17-10-2 — good records, of course, but nothing outstanding. And with BC going 2-5-0 to start the 2nd half, there were certainly some down moments.

But based on the stacked roster alone, there was a feeling that BC would be able to go on a big run at some point. Some of the best Eagles to ever come through Chestnut Hill played on that team — I mean, really, just go down the roster — but Coach York had to get the pieces to come together. And come together they did, just in time for Trophy Season.

After a couple post-Beanpot losses, the Eagles rattled off their now iconic 12-0-1 finish to the season, scoring in buckets in the process. The year was chock full of shoot-the-lights-out performances. UMass’ “Operation 8,000” at the Mullins Center with a solid contingent of BC students in attendance was an all-time classic, with the Eagles going up 4-0 after 1 and 7-0 after 2 to run the Minutemen out of their own building. This came just a few games after a 6-0 demolition of Harvard in the Beanpot semifinals. Then it was a 7-1 win over Northeastern. A 7-0 bludgeoning of Merrimack. 11 goals in two games in the Hockey East quarterfinals. A wild 7-6 overtime win over Maine to win the Hockey East championship. And somehow the Eagles’ offense hadn’t even peaked!

The 2010 NCAA tournament in particular was truly the stuff of legends. The regional final against Yale was completely drunk, with BC pulling out a 9-7 (!) win over the Bulldogs to s send the Eagles to the Frozen Four — one of the most ridiculous games in program history, surely.

But it all came together in Detroit. BC wrapped up the season with a 7-1 destruction of the top overall seed, Miami (OH) to advance to the championship game, which was followed up by a clinical 5-0 title win over another #1 seed in Wisconsin.

Without a doubt, it was one of the most fun seasons Boston College has ever had. The year didn’t start out perfect, but Coach York was there to make it end up that way.