May 8, 2009
ST. PAUL, Minn. -
Senior co-captain Matt Gilroy of the national champion Boston University men's ice hockey team was officially awarded the 2009 Hobey Baker Memorial Award - college hockey's top individual honor - on Thursday evening at the Hobey Baker Awards Banquet, held at 317 On Rice Park in St. Paul.
Gilroy was honored along with Gustavus Adolphus College head coach Don Roberts, who was the recipient of the 2009 Legend of Hockey award.
Here is the feature story on Gilroy that appeared in the banquet program:
A storybook ending to an outstanding collegiate career became a reality for Boston University senior defenseman
Matt Gilroy last month in the nation's capital.
Last spring, Gilroy had his junior season came to a disappointing end in the Terriers' loss in the Hockey East semifinals, and despite being just three years removed from practically begging every Division I school for a spot on a roster, the forward-turned-defenseman had developed nearly overnight into one of the top college players in the country.
With offers from nearly two dozen teams in the National Hockey League, foregoing his senior year to start a promising professional career appeared to be a near certainty.
However, after sitting down with his family and taking a close look at his options, the decision on whether or not to enter the NHL ranks became clear.
"My family and I made a list of the pros and cons of staying and leaving, and once it was all on paper, my reasons to stay were obvious," said Gilroy. "Getting my degree, being a senior captain, having a shot to do something special with my teammates - especially my classmates - and probably the biggest of all being the chance to play with my brother, Kevin (a freshman on this year's Terrier squad)."
Family has always been very important to Gilroy, who grew up with eight siblings in North Bellmore, N.Y. He wears No. 97 to honor his younger brother, Timmy, who wore the number at the Mites level and passed away in a bicycle accident in 1993.
His family had always encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming a professional hockey player, even when it looked like he wouldn't play at the Division I level. He got his chance as a walk-on at BU, however, and quickly made the most of it, earning a spot in the lineup he would never relinquish just five games into his freshman season.
Gilroy, who would become the first three-time All-America defenseman in school history, was confident that this year's BU team had the ability to go far, and he looked at that as both an opportunity and a challenge.
"What's so special about college hockey is that it's only four years," said Gilroy. "When it came down to decision time, I talked to guys who left and guys who stayed and they all mentioned at some point that you can never get that year back."
And what a year it ended up being.
Fast forward to the present, and Gilroy is set to graduate with a degree from BU after leading the Terriers to their fifth national title with one of the most dramatic comebacks in college sports history.
But just over 24 hours prior to sophomore Colby Cohen's overtime goal on April 11 that lifted the Terriers past Miami for the NCAA championship at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., Gilroy became the 29th winner of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, honoring the nation's top collegiate hockey player.
He is just the second BU player to earn the award, joining Chris Drury (1998), and only the fifth player ever to capture the Hobey and the national championship in the same season.
"It's pretty special to have your name next to Chris Drury," said Gilroy. "When you think BU hockey, you think of Chris Drury. It's an unbelievable honor just to be mentioned with him."
Count BU head coach Jack Parker among the people who were most happy to have Gilroy back in a Terrier uniform this season.
"It was a surprise that he was back, that's for sure," said Parker. "He had so many teams chasing him in the NHL, but it's a testament to his character and his family that he wanted to come back and play with his brother and get his degree."
Once he was set on coming back for his senior season, Gilroy's first task was to take on a captain role with classmate and roommate John McCarthy and proactively encourage the rest of the team to embrace the attributes that would be necessary to make this squad one of the best in BU history.
"If Matt came back and never played a game for us, and was just the captain, it would have been worth it," said Parker. "I've been here 36 years, and he's been as good a captain as I've ever seen, day in and day out, in a bunch of different areas.
"Our captains this season were like assistant coaches for us. Their outstanding leadership was a huge reason for our success."
Right before the season started, Gilroy was the driving force behind the Terriers' "Starr of the Game" benefit. Meryl Starr Herman, who was the co-chairperson and long-time board member of the BU Friends of Hockey organization, passed away in September after a courageous battle with thyroid cancer. Gilroy and the team had red bracelets produced that were available for purchase at home games, and to date, nearly $20,000 has been raised to benefit research at the Massachusetts General Hospital Thyroid Cancer Center.
On the ice, Gilroy and the Terriers quickly established themselves as a team to beat, beginning with the title at the season-opening Ice Breaker Invitational at BU's Agganis Arena. After the semester break, the Terriers claimed another tournament title at the Denver Cup thanks to a fantastic effort from Gilroy, who was named the tournament's MVP.
More titles followed, as BU took home the Beanpot championship for the 29th time and went on to capture both the Hockey East regular-season and tournament crowns before earning the top overall seed for the NCAA tournament.
However, after a relatively easy 8-3 victory over Ohio State in the first round of the NCAAs, the Terriers were forced to pull off three straight dramatic, one-goal victories to win the program's first national championship since 1995.
In the title game, BU trailed Miami by a score of 3-1 with under a minute left in regulation, but turned in a remarkable rally with two goals in the closing moments to force overtime.
Gilroy set up the game-tying marker when he calmly skated through the slot and slid a pass over to the right side, where sophomore Nick Bonino sent home the puck with just 17.4 seconds left in the third to ignite a huge celebration on the Terrier bench.
The overtime victory not only closed the books on Gilroy's remarkable career, but it was also the team's 35th triumph of the season, setting a new program record. In addition to all of his numerous accolades, Gilroy might take the most pride in the fact that his remarkable journey saw him become a respected captain for arguably the best team in BU history.
Knowing that a chance at the NHL level was in his future, Gilroy used his senior campaign to focus solely on helping the Terriers become national champions. All of the hard work that the always-humble defenseman had put in had paid off in more ways than one.
"That's just a reflection of my family," said Gilroy. "They raised me to be competitive and hard-working, and the BU coaching staff gave me a chance and stuck to their word. They said that if proved myself, they would play me. I give the credit to both of those groups of people."
"I'm extremely proud of him," said McCarthy. "It's such a great story that he came in unrecruited and it kind of comes full circle now because he's going out on top."
"He deserved [the Hobey Baker Award] 100 percent," said fellow senior Steve Smolinsky. "Coach gave him a chance, and just watching him grow over the last four years has been unbelievable. You couldn't ask for a better teammate, a better captain."
Exactly one week after been named this year's Hobey Baker winner, Gilroy's NHL dreams came true when he and the New York Rangers agreed to a two-year contract worth a reported $3.75 million.
He probably should start getting used to being mentioned in the same breath as Drury.
By Brian Kelley
