Men's Hockey: Jerry York & Greg Brown Press Conference (Aug. 30, 2024)

good afternoon thank you for being here with us today on behalf the entire B College Community like to extend ources in the of this unspeakable tragedy for that this afternoon's press availability will be for Sher coach Sher family hoey coach ande one I'm Jack Tomy from Aus College again thank you for being it over to to you ask questions Coes either coach when you first heard the news this morning unspeakable yeah it wasn't confirmed yet so we were hoping that was be a going at 6:30 coach hard to put into words your girl family is so close they're so tight so many people here that were affected by them their teammates everybody knew fact that they were together is but ironic because they were that of was it like working with Johnny and Matthew first I'd like to share what Greg said was it was shocking news to us you know it's just such a hard reality when you wake up in the morning and and hear that uh and the biggest thing and Craig and I have talked about this that you know Johnny is the national news and you know my phone's been ringing all over the Canada United States this morning but but they're both boys you know and they're both uh so close to our program so can you imagine uh Kee and Jane the parents the one of youngest the youngest daughter Katie is getting married today and they were all back to celebrate and now you lose two sons so it's it's almost unimaginable and uh you know we know life is difficult this certainly one of those times but uh he was a special a connection like Greg said to us are you both amazing players and people all talk about Johnny as you know Olympic player and world class but just as uh someone to raise the level your practice to to uh be Johnny hockey but not wear that label uh well respected by all the students here the teachers uh and by Greg and I you know if you ask us the name of our favorite players you know they've got to be both boys are going to be among them you obviously they good hockey players to be here great hockey players but when you speak of them being with them on on a daily basis what were they like as people what were your favorite things about them as as as people brought a ton of Joy to the ring they were happy to be there like truly happy to be there big smiles all the time the things they could do on the ice that's what people who don't know them remember because they were both magical in their own ways but uh everyone just love having them on the team they R his teammates they L up the room when they came in so I don't you know we've had lots of Brothers at BC but when you had those two in the room you know it's just everything was amped up and it carried that that joy that they had for for life and for being teammates on the and you can see by the way they play we talked about them being very close can you talk about the dynamic between the two of them when they were teammates For That season how they would interact being on the same team yeah uh we had a great team they would batt each other practice looked out for each other brothers do only thing you can say their personality and their their enthusiasm was was truly infectious to the whole team they could was magical on the ice that year M really be a big time player for us after that year but together was just uh just brought a juice Tony talks bring juice to the lock room those two guys brought they were together three years here so you know like Greg said Johnny was a magical but Maddie just his compete level and he pushed his brothers so much uh that they had a great bond between him but I think part of the reason Johnny was so good not Greg and myself sopia but the younger brother pushing him hard like that so it was it was fun Dynamic to watch and uh when we first recruit when he first came in I remember Kevin Hayes and we had a lot of really good players above MC Cryder and uh Tommy cross and they look at this little kid walking it looks like he's 14 years old and they'd heard so much about him and very few had seen him play uh and he wasn't didn't want to the first one in the room he he was he was never going to be that type of guy he just kind of came in sat down and and I'm sure Kevin was looking over this is the guy that's gonna help us win a National Title yeah Kevin he is so uh but he he really became close especially with I say Kevin Hayes that was his go-to and actually became a DOT rat spent a lot of weekends with uh Kevin Senior the family and in Dorchester so he even though he's a kind of Philly kid Jersey kid he became quite a Boston uh young guy Jerry you're telling me he almost didn't become an eagle he was going to be a husky first and then turned out playing for you as a Hobie Baker winner you know don't get a chance to coach too many of those guys yeah our best recruiter was Greg Cronin I think uh and we St Greg and I both stayed in touch with Greg go all these years but he had left Northeastern prior to uh Johnny and Maddie both coming that that uh fall and so during the summer uh he reached out to you know Greg and Greg helped him I think pick some different schools to visit and uh then he when he visited us and I think Maddie was a I think Greg a driving force I think that we knew you know both brothers were tight but I think he was R John let's go to BC you know they could have go to Wisconsin bu anywhere they wanted to him so I think D helped direct him I think that's right don't they were going to go together yeah no matter what so so excited to get him show up put us over the edge to win that first national title do you think his weight was when he came in you guys he was 140b Addie was 20 lbs lighter than him like the things that they could do for their size I mean they both have a genius tool that you don't see to be as effective not only at the college level with Johnny and the NHL at that size takes such a high IQ level that you can't everyone just play be a star I remember a few practices who were and Mike Calin of them was was was on our staff and and Mike look at Greg and and I'd be looking at both of them as Johnny did something wow what did he just do there you know as Elusive and as just incredible things he could do in the ice with the park and just look over Greg or something we're gonna be pretty good this year I think I big crier with them was pretty interesting have either of you had the chance to speak with the family what did you say or if not what would you like to say to them how CL they were I had chance parents I texted a Jane and guy this morning and just reminded him how special they were to BC and um and even Katie uh Greg of course remembers her too she was like a 10-year-old younger sister sister that never missed a game and it was war with the BC gear and everything and for her you know to be getting married the the whole thing is so hard but we'll have a great contingent coming from here down to the uh wake in the funeral and I'm sure if Tony's available he'll be father Tony will be to sit a MK too want tell a story about the skitt how he learned to skate I think that'd be kind of entertaining we heard it from guy I think that's that's how to get around the ice think he would Chase Skittles he wasn't in love with hotkey when he was little but he would chase the Skittles because he liked those his diet was never that of a world class athlete was Johny H and cheese tees a lot more those stories it seems like they were the finest you guys have ever coached what did you learn from them as athletes as student athletes here at Bon College you guys are so busy coaching and teaching did they teach you guys anything oh absolutely every day uh you know not just hockey skills but how they hand themselves and and father Tony was always talking about you know you want to be great in the ice but you don't want to act great off the ice and just be a regular you know and they'd walk around the campus and everybody being AR of of course the brother Johnny uh but he was just you know hello and very polite and so he handled Fame extremely well and he did at the NHL level too he was always a great teammate and but that's kind of I remember very grounded grounded had special abilities but know that was just their thing and didn't put them in any special light treated every one of their teammates grounded finished up season he came back he slept on his brother's floor to get some more classes in so he did get his degree I do was important to to his family and that was recent or W okay I remember after pretty soon after he okay greig and I were saying goodbye to Johnny because he's we were in Philadelphia the final four and uh Calgary had sent a plane to pick him up bring him right to the end of the season play some games for the Flames yeah and uh the mother was with us and she was and she was Jane she was adamant Johnny you're gonna get that degree and she stayed right on him so yeah both boys have the degrees from BC and that's that's important to us here it seem like they left an indelible Mark here how the current players they look him as as Legends he's a legend here on campus how how are the current players handling this did they get a chance to really know him did he come back and visit from time Gregor know that I'm not yeah I spoke with Ryan Leonard he played with the world championships this last spring so he said and Kevin treated over there young guys they don't know all the pros which was not shocking to us would bring that right in so we haven't had our team meeting yet today talk about it several of our kids were growing up watching Johnny play here he thought it was pretty cool to put on a BC Jersey folks maybe time for our last question m went on to become he was just starting to get into coaching that surprise either one of you that he would he would want to stay in the game not at all father had a love for the game and a passion for it round Hockey coaching and everything obviously his two boys achieve Great Heights uh so it isn't shocking at all in there blood would been a great very cerebral understand thank you thank you here apprciate ask thank sorry for your loss I know