Robert Donald Emery (born March 4, 1964) was a college men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

coach at the

State University of New York at Plattsburgh The State University of New York College at Plattsburgh (SUNY Plattsburgh) is a public college in Plattsburgh, New York. The college was founded in 1889 and officially opened in 1890. The college is part of the State University of New York (SUN ...

. He played college hockey at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

from 1983 to 1986 and briefly played professional hockey with the

Fredericton Express The Fredericton Express were a professional ice hockey team based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. They played in the American Hockey League between 1981 and 1988. The Express were affiliated with the Quebec Nordiques and Vancouver Canucks o ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and the

Maine Mariners Maine Mariners may refer to: * Maine Mariners (AHL), an ice hockey team in Portland, Maine, which operated from 1977 to 1992 * Maine Mariners (ECHL) The Maine Mariners are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2018 ...

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

. He has been the head men's ice hockey coach at Plattsburgh State since the 1989-1990 season. With 465 career victories, he is the winningest hockey coach in Plattsburgh history and the 20th winningest coach in NCAA college history. His .742 career winning percentage ranks third all-time among college coaches with at least 300 wins.

Early years

A native of

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

, Emery played hockey for

Matignon High School The Cambridge Matignon School (originally Father Matignon High School) is a private, co-educational Roman Catholic college-preparatory school in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. The school is under the auspices of the ...

from 1979 to 1982 and led the team to three consecutive state championships in 1979, 1980 and 1981. Emery was named to the Massachusetts High School All-Scholastic First Team in 1981-1982.

Boston College

Emery enrolled at

in 1982. He participated in three

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

men's ice hockey tournaments while attending Boston College. He was selected as a Hockey East All-Star as a senior in the 1985-1986 season. Emery received a bachelor's degree in marketing from Boston College in 1986. He also earned a master's degree in leadership at Plattsburgh State in 1990.

Professional hockey

In 1982, Emery was drafted by the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

in the 10th round (208th overall pick) of the NHL Entry Draft. He was invited to the Canadiens' training camp and later played for the

, the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the W ...

affiliate in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

. He also played with the

Plattsburgh State

In 1988, Emery became an assistant men's hockey coach at Plattsburgh State while studying for his master's degree. After one season as an assistant, he was promoted to head coach for the 1989-1990 hockey season. Emery led Plattsburgh to the NCAA Tournament in 18 of the next 30 seasons. His teams have won two national championships and advanced to the

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

nine times in 1990, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010. His best record came in 1992 when Emery led Plattsburgh to a 32-2-2 record and its first NCAA national championship. Emery's second national championship came in 2001 and resulted from beating the previously undefeated

RIT Tigers The RIT Tigers are composed of 22 teams representing Rochester Institute of Technology in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, crew, cross country, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, and track and ...

in the finals. Emery announced his retirement from coaching at the end of the 2018–19 season and was 11th all-time in wins with 624 when he hung up his whistle.

Merrimack

Shortly after wrapping up his coaching career, Emery was hired by Merrimack to be the Director of Hockey operations.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Head Coaching Record

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Emery, Bob 1964 births Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey players Fredericton Express players Ice hockey players from Massachusetts Maine Mariners (AHL) players Montreal Canadiens draft picks Sportspeople from Somerville, Massachusetts Ice hockey people from Middlesex County, Massachusetts State University of New York at Plattsburgh alumni State University of New York at Plattsburgh faculty Living people American men's ice hockey defensemen