Gerbe stands tall

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Plenty has been made about Boston College's youth (read: inexperience), but a month into the season, there are no rookies on the team. Just plenty of freshmen.

Among that group is smallish left wing Nathan Gerbe, who at 5 feet 6 inches stands with the likes of former Eagles Brian Gionta and Ryan Shannon, tiny dynamos with a big touch.

Gerbe earned his wings yesterday by scoring twice to lead the No. 8 Eagles (4-2-1, 3-1-1) to a 2-1 win over No. 9 Vermont (8-2-0, 2-2-0) before a sellout crowd of 4,035 at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

''I was surprised with the atmosphere," said Gerbe, who is from Oxford, Mich. ''I'd never been to Vermont before, but the fans here are really supportive."

Still, it was Gerbe, one of 14 underclassmen in the BC lineup, who quieted the crowd with his second goal of the game (third of the season), with 5:10 to play.

''You could walk into a rink and you knew right away he was going to be a terrific player," said BC coach Jerry York, who recruited Gerbe from the US National Development Program. ''It didn't take a lot for me to see his skating and his creativeness. He's an awful lot like the Brian Giontas and some of the other players that we've had."

It was Gerbe's finishing ability that made the difference.

''Their defensemen block an inordinate amount of shots," said BC blue liner Peter Harrold. ''They're very good at it. Luckily, we snuck a couple through. Most of the game was fought in front of the net."

Vermont, which wound up with a slim 19-16 edge in shots, grabbed a 1-0 lead on Jeff Corey's tally at 17:45 of the first period.

After gathering the puck on his backhand at the top of the right circle, Corey spun and, using a screen that had formed in front of BC netminder Cory Schneider, threaded a wrister just inside the left post.

BC put just four shots on Vermont goalie Joe Fallon in the first period but tested him in the middle period (nine shots), before Gerbe beat him on a breakaway at 11:34, tying it, 1-1.

Gerbe's linemate, sophomore center Dan Bertram, spotted him lurking near the Vermont blue line and hit him with a pinpoint pass from deep in the BC zone. Gerbe took it from there, putting a series of head fakes on Fallon before flipping in a backhander.

''It's just the kind of player Danny is," Gerbe said. ''He can really see on the ice. He looked up, saw me, and made a terrific play. I was thinking '5-hole.' I didn't want to have to do too much."

The stalemate continued until late in the third period, when Eagles freshman right wing Brock Bradford scraped the puck away from defenseman Slavomir Tomko along the right boards. After a give-and-go with Bertram that pulled Fallon out of position, Bradford zipped it over to Gerbe at the left post. Gerbe promptly slapped it into the open side.

''Our best hockey is in front of us," said York. ''We're going through a learning phase, but this is a great stage to learn on. We were pushed very hard today."