Enjoying today and looking to tomorrow.

I originally started this saying that I didn't know what I was going to talk about, but once I got into it this became a little capsule of enjoying BC's title and little reflection on what the future may hold for the Eagles. So enjoy.

Let me start by saying that I am still feeling the joy of the BC national title. Mrs. Pike and I attended the victory celebration and autograph session at Conte Forum on Monday and it was a lot of fun. It was nice to see the guys up close and to get some autographs on my Superfan T-shirt. I had a brief but pleasant chat with Brock Bradford and Mrs. Pike chatted up Joe Adams. All the players were perfect gentlemen and I was impressed at their willingness to stick around after the celebration to continue to sign autographs because of the large number of people that were there who couldn't get signatures earlier.

One of the funny things was looking at the signatures of some of these kids after the fact. Not just the established players (Brennan, Bradford, Gerbe) but also the freshman (Muse in particular). Their signatures looked very practiced and professional like they knew at some time in their lives they would be signing autographs and that they need a cool signature to go along with that fame. Maybe some of these kids really did feel that they would be stars but to have the stylized signatures some of them had was truly impressive.

Now comes the big question of whether Gerbe stays or goes. I believe he will leave and I think that is the prevailing school of thought in the university as well. Just reading the comments from Gene Defilippo and Jerry York it seems like they have already accepted that fact. When Coach York was on the Bruins broadcast the other night, Rick Middleton mentioned how he wasn't losing that many people and before he even finished the sentence York was jumping out with a qualification that those minor losses was only "IF" Gerbe was not lured away by Buffalo.

Normally I have an issue with kids leaving early. But junior year is better than freshman year (or in the case of Kyle Okposo - halfway through freshman year). A good friend of mine, EA, once said that if you score or assist on the winning goal in the national championship game you get to leave early (this of course was said after 2001 when Krys Kolanos and Chuck Kobasew both left for the NHL). In Gerbe's case, not only did he score the game winner, but scored another and assisted on the final 2. I think figuring into EVERY goal in the national title game gets him a free pass.

Realistically, there isn't much more for him to do. You could say he should come back because with him in the line-up and the addition of Tommy Cross & Edwin Shea to defense BC would be the odds on favorite to win it all again. But I think his stats would not be what they were this year. Granted he would get reunited with Bradford (provided he can stay healthy) but that would cut into his goal production as everyone would not be relying solely on him to score. Nathan Gerbe will probably never have another year as statistically outstanding as this one and he should cash in on that before his 15 minutes are up. Will he make it in the NHL? I hope so, for his sake and for BC pride. But it's an open question and the more money he can make up front by cashing in on what he accomplished this year, the better off he'll be in the long run.

I think next year, BC will be fine. We will still be a contender in Hockey East even if Gerbe leaves. The experience that the freshmen (especially Petrecki, Muse, & Whitney) gained with this season will be very valuable for next year and getting Bradford back should maintain our scoring touch. Should Bradford have the year that he seems capable of, I have no doubt we will still be able to light the lamp sufficiently to win 15-20 regular season games.

No matter what it should be fun as always and if Gerbe leaves I wish him the best and I will be there at the Garden for the first home game between Buffalo and Boston next year. Hoping he scores but hoping that it's not enough for Buffalo to win.