For most Boston fans, the 2022 NBA Finals represented a missed opportunity. For the coaching staff of the Boston University men’s hockey team, it was anything but.
The Celtics had seized a 2-1 lead over the Warriors. A win in Game 4 at TD Garden would have given them a commanding 3-1 edge. But Golden State guard Stephen Curry had other ideas. He lit up the Celtics for 43 points as the Warriors pulled even with a 107-97 win.
Watching that night from Boston was Rick Celebrini, the director of sports medicine and performance for the Warriors. His son Macklin had just completed two seasons playing hockey for Shattuck St. Mary’s in Minnesota, and was set to play for the Chicago Steel in the USHL. Still two years from being draft-eligible, Macklin was already projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft after racking up 258 points in 102 games.
Joe Pereira, less than a month after being named associate head coach for BU, was ready to take his shot.
RELATED: It’s nearing Hobey Baker time in men’s college hockey, and New England has some candidates
Pereira, a member of the Terriers’ 2009 national championship team, returned to his alma mater when he joined newly hired head coach Jay Pandolfo’s staff on May 19, 2022, after nine seasons at UConn.
No one was sure that Celebrini was even considering going the college route, but Pereira reached out to his father to see if he was interested in meeting up in between Games 3 and 4.
Rick Celebrini agreed, and went to the BU campus to tour the facilities and meet the coaching staff. He liked what he heard and saw, and agreed to bring the family if the Warriors came back to Boston.
That Game 4 victory ensured that there would be a Game 6 in Boston, and when the Warriors returned (after winning Game 5 on Macklin’s 16th birthday), the Celebrini clan was in tow. That included older brother Aiden, a talented defenseman who would be selected by the Canucks in the sixth round of the 2023 draft.
Leave a Reply