Gerbe quickly got team up to speed

Eagles' star had trick up his sleeve

DENVER - What else can be said about Nathan Gerbe, except perhaps, where did he learn to skate like that?

Already a Hobey Baker Award finalist, the leading scorer on Boston College with 33 goals and 31 assists, the MVP of the Hockey East tournament, and the one who scored in overtime to push BC past nemesis Boston University in the Beanpot semifinals, allowing the Eagles to go on and claim their first title in four years, the BC junior showed last night he is probably the fastest skater in the collegiate universe.

For the second consecutive year, Gerbe made North Dakota, the second-ranked team in the nation, look like a team of mudhens, speeding around and through them to score his second straight semifinal hat trick and lead BC to a 6-1 victory and a spot in the national final.

Gerbe scored shorthanded, he scored on the power play, and he scored at even strength. He could have had four, but he handed the puck to Ben Smith on a two-on-one in the second period, and Smith scored to make it 6-0.

"You need some marquee players to get to the championship," said BC coach Jerry York. "He's had a fabulous three years at BC. Right now, he's playing probably his finest hockey.

"He's just so quick and so dynamic. He's dangerous when he has the puck, it doesn't matter what situation he's in. The power-play goal - I've got to watch that power-play goal some more; that was a pretty spectacular goal. It was fun to watch Nathan work a little magic."

There must be extraordinary power in Gerbe's legs, because they're short, really short. Moreover, Gerbe is a true junior - he will turn 21 in July, while some college juniors are 23.

Charging after his older brothers on a pond in Michigan started Gerbe on the fast track, and when he didn't get bigger than 5 feet 5 inches, he just kept getting faster. He long ago proved his size was not going to slow him down at BC and he uncoiled his power early last night.

He scored his first goal in a race, which was no race at all as Gerbe stole the puck at the BC blue line, kicked into another gear, and left North Dakota defender Joe Finley eating ice chips in his wake. Gerbe put a wrist shot between the pads of North Dakota's J.P. Lamoureux at 13:14 of the first period to give BC a 2-0 lead.

"I kind of had to learn to skate fast because I was small," said Gerbe. "I was never going to muscle anyone down low or anything, so I had to be quick to spin off."

Gerbe said his skating took a big jump in the summer before his sophomore year, after spending time with BC conditioning coach Russ DeRosa.

"I thought Nathan played extremely well tonight, not just scoring the goals, but in between periods, and the character he brings to our club," said York. "He's just an outstanding player. He fits in with a long line of high-end players Boston College has had over the span of a century. You win with great players and we have a bunch of them at Boston College."

Every time Gerbe had the puck and a slice of open space in the neutral zone, he deked and ducked to get away from checkers, suddenly appearing on the other side of the blue line, staring down the goalie. Even if you know where he is, you don't.

Gerbe got his second goal against North Dakota at 15:13 of the first with an angled shot from deep in the right corner, whipping it so hard at Lamoureux's pads that although he stopped the puck, it fell off his pads and dribbled behind him into the net.

His third was a power-play beauty at 6:37 of the second. The Eagles were peppering Lamoureux, but not getting anything past him, until Gerbe took the puck and circled behind the North Dakota net, emerging on the left side to roof a backhand into the upper right of the net.

It was the fourth 4-point game of the season for Gerbe, who also had a 5-point game.

BC has had a reputation for small, fast players, but recent rule changes limiting holding and hooking have made the ice an exciting playground for smaller players with Gerbe's skills.

"Paul Kelly was down visiting with us after the game," said York, referring to the NHL Players' Association executive director, "and we were talking about that. The college game is so conducive now to creative players. You still need to balance your team with Nick Petrecki-type players, Mike Brennan-type players. The smaller, quicker player, as long as he has balance on the club, it's a better game for him to play now."