When the Penn State Icers left Bird Arena last year, they had in their hands both the American Collegiate Hockey Association national championship trophy, and the heart of Ohio goalie Brian Gallagher.
If Gallagher was down, he certainly was not out, as he immediately began to prepare for his senior season. Gallagher and teammates Jordan Levy and Nick Bilanow rededicated themselves to the Ohio hockey program and spent their summer in Athens, working with Ohio strength and conditioning coaches.
This year, the team is sitting at 18-7-2, already having clinched the Central States Collegiate Hockey League, and Gallagher is having his finest season as a Bobcat with his 1.69 goals against average. But he still is weary of how far he's come.
We worked towards a goal that we haven't achieved yet
said Gallagher, who has a .928 save percentage this season. We stayed down here to become better players and now I'm just doing everything that it takes for us to win.
Gallagher's devotion to winning doesn't just stand out for his particular physical effort, coach Dan Morris said, as the goalie has developed into one of the team's finest locker room leaders.
Brian's the type of guy who gets in your face Morris said. He's not afraid to challenge any one on this team and that makes him a good goalie on and off the ice. He challenges our guys all week in practice
and when the games roll around he challenges his opponents to beat him.
Nowhere can Gallagher's leadership be better viewed than at the competition amongst his own position. With two freshman, Ryan Baksh and Derek DeFelice, and redshirt, Brian Bakowski on the team, Gallagher said he had to adapt to working with other players.
With those guys you hope you can just lead by example
Gallagher said. One guy (Baksh) is actually older than I am
so there isn't a way for me to say 'I'm going to show you how to do this'
I just have to do what I do and hope that they see that and put in the same effort.
That effort was undoubtedly shown this past weekend as both Baksh and DeFelice had shutouts against Fredonia State.
We definitely feed off that leadership
Baksh said. Brian is always talking in the locker room; he's always firing us up
even when he's not on the ice. His mental game is a key component to this team.
Gallagher said he can be vocal because he has so much confidence in his teammates.
My role on the team has enhanced as far as knowing what to say to people
Gallagher said. But this team makes it all easy. I'm lucky to have a good cast to feed off of and we all know we can push ourselves to be better.
While Gallagher got an early redemption for Penn State's championship last year - he defeated Penn State twice when they visited Bird Arena this year - he is still not satisfied with what he's accomplished.
I just have a drive to not let us lose again
Gallagher said. I go out and prepare each day with that in mind
