Head coach Bob Emery leads the team with an aggressive style. He makes sure they know what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.
Emery’s teams have won 20 games in a season 15 times, including a career best 32-2-2 campaign in 1992 when they captured their first NCAA title with him at the helm.
Emery has a career record of 542-171-57, which makes him not just the coach with the most wins in program history abut also his .741 winning percentage ranks him in the top five all-time in NCAA. His 542 wins places him fourth among active coaches in Division III.
Junior forward Connor Gorman said that being from Massachusetts, where Emery is from, he understands the Boston hockey way.
“He is definitely intense, kind of yells a lot sometimes, but that is the nature of hockey sometimes,” Gorman said.
He also said that, compared to other coaches he has had in the past he is similar in their style, but he lets his players know when they are playing well and what the need to keep doing to succeed.
Emery has been able to teach the players to play better and has gained the respect of the PSUC teams. Senior defenseman Brandon Beadow has learned a lot in his time here, he said.
“Coming in, I think he got 500 wins my first year, so it is pretty rare in college coaches, so he is definitely up there,” Beadow said. “He knows how to create a winning environment, so you respect that, you work hard for that, and it has been great so far.”
That winning environment has made it so the team knows what it needs to do to succeed. Since Emery has taken over for the team in 1990 he has won 60 percent of the program’s wins in its 39-year history.
The difference for Beadow between other coaches he has had and Emery is the more professional environment that is put into place at PSUC.
He said Emery expects you to play and perform to your highest potential. He said that some guys can’t handle his intensity and those are the guys who don’t stay here for the full three years.
During half time, Emery has differing strategies depending on the game.
Gorman said that sometimes Emery comes in and tells the players what needs to be changed, and other times he let them figure it out for themselves.
“We are all 22,23,24 -year-old men, so sometimes he doesn’t need to come into the locker room, we just know what to do ourselves and what we expect out of each other and our teammates,” Gorman said. “So sometimes it is up to us.”
Both Gorman and Beadow have fond memories of the time with Emery at the helm. Beadow remembers his freshman year, when the Cards were the underdogs and went on to win the SUNYAC. They were able to go into it without much pressure because they were one of the weakest teams Beadow has had in his time here.
Gorman remembers a different memory: winning the PrimeLink his sophomore year on the team’s home ice in 2013 when they beat Middlebury college 3-1.
“We like to have a good time on and off the ice, and he understands that and let us go out and have fun as a team and carrying the trophy,” Gorman said. “That was a pretty fun time.”
Gorman said if he could use one word to describe Emery, it would be passionate. He said he has been here for about 30 years as a head coach and he just loves the game, recruits, watches video and does things to make thie program successful.
“It has already had an unbelievable history, and he just keeps it going,” Gorman said.
Email Nick Topping at nick.topping@cardinalpointsonline.com.
