42nd Hall of Fame Induction - Graber Associates

BRIAN LEETCH ’87Hockey2010 INDUCTEEA reporter approached Ken Hodge in thelocker room after a game in 1986-87 andasked the prolific centerman how BostonCollege designed its breakouts from thedefensive zone.“We give it to Leetchie,” grinned Ken.Unfortunately, Eagle forwards only had theopportunity to give the puck to Brian Leetchfor a single season. Though he says henever quite planned it that way, Brianturned professional after representing theUnited States in the 1988 Winter Olympics.He is the only BC Hall of Fame athlete whonever played a home game. Conte Forumwas under construction, and the team practicedat local MDC rinks and played allgames on the road.Brian Leetch’s professional hockey accomplishmentsand accolades would fill a book.Those who don’t follow the college gamemight regard his time at BC as a light pregameskate. But Eagle fans know otherwise.Even though he played just one year, as an18-year old freshman, Brian set the standardof class and excellence for every defensemanin the Boston College program’s storiedhistory.“I was drafted by the Rangers coming out ofsenior year, but all during high school I wasjust hoping that I’d progressed enough tomake the 1988 Olympic team. That wouldfall in my sophomore year of college. Ithought that having played on US NationalDevelopment teams, I had a good chance,”he said.Leetch made the national squad easily andtook the 1987-88 year away from BC alongwith Greg Brown and Craig Janney. KevinStevens, who graduated in ‘87, was also onthe team. Leetch would eventually play inthree Olympics: Calgary in 1988, Nagano in1998, and Salt Lake City in 2002. FacingNHL teams on the 1988 Olympic exhibitionschedule made Leetch confident that hecould jump to the bit time.There had been little question that Brianwould wind up at Boston College, eventhough he applied to other schools. Hisfather Jack ‘63 was an outstanding forwardfor Snooks Kelley and was enshrined in theHall of Fame in 1984.During Brian’s early years the family movedabout the country as Jack fulfilled his militaryobligations with the Navy. Brian wasborn in Corpus Christi, Texas, and didn’tbegin playing sports until age five when theLeetches settled in Connecticut. In additionto hockey, Brian developed into an outstandingbaseball pitcher. He led his highschool, Avon Old Farms, to the ConnecticutState Championship.He wanted to be a defenseman rather than aforward because defenders played everyother shift and got much more ice time. Hewas no stay-at-home backliner, but a worthyheir to the offensive revolution in defensemen’splay that was pioneered by Bobby Orrof the Bruins.“A lot of my teams needed me to beinvolved with the offense, even though Iwas playing back there,” he states.Saying that he was involved with the offenseis an understatement. In two years at AvonOld Farms, he scored 70 goals and picked up90 assists. At Boston College he was theoffensive mainspring from his defense post,racking up nine goals and 38 assists.Boston College had been one of the bestteams in the country in the years precedingLeetch’s arrival, making the NCAATournament three straight times and goingto the Frozen Four once. The 1986-87 teamwas another exceptional one. They posted a31-9 record and won the Hockey East championshipwith a 3-2 win over Maine. In theNCAA quarterfinal total goals series, however,they couldn’t overcome a 4-1 loss toMinnesota in the first game and were eliminatedby a count of 6-4.Leetch was a first team All-American,Hobey Baker Award finalist, and the onlyfreshman ever to win the Walter BrownAward as New England’s top player. He citeshis father as the biggest molder of his life,and Mark Messier as the biggest influenceon his career.“Mark explains all those thoughts you haveas a young man, about what it means to bea good teammate, a good leader, and what itmeans to want to win. He’d already beenthrough that in Edmonton. When he cameto New York he had already won fiveStanley Cups. Without sitting you down andtelling you, he was leading by example, gettingeveryone involved, and showing howimportant each person is to the process ofbeing successful. He was able to get thatacross to guys like me and Mike Richter andAdam Graves. Just being around him dayto-dayhad a big impact on me,” explainsLeetch.In 1988-89 he won the Calder Trophy asNHL Rookie of the Year. He took the NorrisTrophy as top defenseman in 1992 and1997. In 1994 he led the Rangers to theStanley Cup, and won the Conn SmytheTrophy as the MVP of the playoffs. In 1991-92, Leetch became only the fifth NHLdefenseman to score more than 100 pointsin a season, finishing with 102.Leetch played 18 seasons in the NationalHockey League, almost all with the Rangers.He had a brief stint in Toronto at the end of2004, and after the NHL lockout year hefinished his career with the Bruins in 2005-2006. With Boston he scored his 1,000thpoint, making him only the fourth defensemanto attain that level. He totaled 1,028points and was an 11 times an all-star.The Hockey News ranked Brian as the 71stgreatest ice hockey player of all time. Hewas inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall ofFame in 2008 and into the InternationalHockey Hall of Fame the following year. Healso received the Lester Patrick Award in2007 for Outstanding Service to Hockey.Brian and his wife Mary (O’Neill), whohails from Queens, New York, now live inBoston with their children. Jack is 11 yearsold, Riley is eight, and Sean is six. Sincehis retirement Brian has been doing commentaryfor NESN, the Madison SquareGarden Network, and Sports Illustrated.com.23