LYNN — Bobby Liberge is all of 23. He is still at an age where he could be playing college hockey instead of coaching it.
Liberge will be leaving his home in Lynn today to travel to Elon, N.C., to take over as the head hockey coach at Elon University — a school better known in these parts for producing baseball players and golfers.
However, says Liberge, Elon is a Division 2 program in the American Collegiate Hockey Association.
He actually got hired as an assistant earlier this summer.
“But,” he said, “the head coach left and I got offered the head position.
“The oldest kid on our team is only a year and a half younger than I am,” Liberge said.
Liberge, son of Charlie and Ann Liberge of Lynn, is also a nephew to Bill Stephanos, a Lynner played for Boston College and was later drafted by the Minnesota Vikings.
Growing up, the Liberges were involved with Lynn Babe Ruth baseball, where Charlie Liberge was a coach. Later, at Bishop Fenwick, however, Bobby Liberge eschewed baseball in favor of lacrosse. He also played football, and, of course, hockey.
“Of them all, I definitely like hockey the best,” Liberge said.
Hockey and Criminal Justice were his concentrations in college, first at Penn State, where he played Division 2 hockey; and then at Merrimack, where he focused mainly on CJ.
“I graduated with a CJ degree and was going to be a correctional officer up at Middleton,” he said. “I’d passed both exams, and the pay was pretty good, too. But my heart was in hockey.
“SoI started browsing around for hockey jobs,” he said. “I figured I’m young, why not now? Let’s see what happens. I think it’s the start of something good for me. My goal is to either make it in the pros or coach in Division 1. But it always starts with one job. Maybe this will be it.”
One of the reasons Liberge likes hockey so much is that it takes equal amounts of skill and desire to succeed — and often more of the latter.
“I’ve seen clips of Terry O’Reilly when he was with the Bruins, and when they won in 2011, I used to love to watch Mark Recchi. He didn’t have the most skill, but he was a workhorse.”
All things being equal, Liberge likes the type of hockey espoused by the late Herb Brooks, who coached the 1980 U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal.
“I like speed and being gritty, and going hard into the corners,” he said. “I don’t like the whole chippiness aspect. I enjoy the tough battles, but not the chippiness. That’s what I’m aiming for when I move down there.
“I love to quote Herb Brooks. Push yourself and exert maximum potential.”
Liberge credits his Lynn Youth Hockey coaches such as Rick Aylwin, Jack Comeau and Riley Kreamer with influencing him.
“They were a solid team of coaches who emphasized effort,” he said. “For all the skill aspects, at the end of the day it’s all about the effort. Look at Julian Edelman (of the Patriots). He has worked his butt off to make himself one of the best wide receivers in the NFL.”
He’s interested in gauging his players’ reactions to his love of Brooks.
“After all,” he said, “Brooks likes to do those suicide drills.”
