One of the legendary figures in collegiate hockey, Len Ceglarski began his unparalleled coaching career in Potsdam during the late 1950s as the fourth head coach in Clarkson’s storied tradition.
Serving for 14 years as the head coach of the Golden Knights, Ceglarski compiled a .717 winning percentage behind the Green and Gold’s bench, posting a 254-97-11 overall record from 1958-1972. He guided Clarkson to four NCAA Tournament berths and its first ECAC Tournament title. Ceglarski’s 1961-62, 1965-66 and 1969-70 teams finished as runner-ups in the NCAA Tournament, the only Clarkson squads to reach the national championship game.
A native of East Walpole, Massachusetts, Ceglarski taught and coached at Walpole High for four years before making the trek to the North Country to begin his collegiate coaching career, taking the reigns of the Golden Knights’ program from retiring Clarkson mentor Bill Harrison.
It took Ceglarski only four seasons to guide the Knights to their first NCAA championship game. After becoming the first Eastern team to defeat a Western squad in the first round of the Final Four since 1954, knocking off Michigan 5-4, Clarkson fell to Michigan Tech in the 1962 title game, closing out a 22-3-1 campaign.
Four years later, Ceglarski boasted his best Clarkson squad, winning the ECAC Tournament and once again making it to the deciding game in the NCAA tourney. The Knights defeated Denver, 4-3, before falling to the Michigan State Spartans in the title game to round out a 24-3 record in 1965-66. At the end of the season, he was awarded his first Spencer Penrose Trophy, which annually goes to the national coach of the year. He also earned the prestigious honor in 1973 and 1985.
For the third time in less than 10 years, Ceglarski’s team advanced to college hockey’s center stage when the Knights battled Cornell for the 1970 NCAA championship. After skating past Michigan Tech, 4-3, in the semifinals, Clarkson fell just short against the Big Red, suffering a 6-4 loss in Lake Placid, capping off a 24-8 record.
When long-time Boston College coach Snooks Kelley retired as the Eagles coach in 1972, it was only natural for Ceglarski to return to his alma mater. He was an All-America left wing on BC’s 1949 NCAA Championship team and captain of the 1950-51 squad. Ceglarski, who served a tour of duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, also won a Silver Medal as a member of the United States Hockey Team in the 1952 Olympics at Oslo. Ceglarski enjoyed great success as the head coach on the Heights, guiding the Eagles to over 400 victories through two decades.
When Ceglarski concluded his 34-year hockey coaching career in 1992, he retired with the most victories ever amassed in the history of the game at the college level, starting with Clarkson’s 10-2 win at Providence on December 5, 1958. His teams at Clarkson and Boston College won 673 games, lost only 339 and tied 38. Over that time, Ceglarski-coached teams had only four losing campaigns.
A 1974 member of the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame and a 1990 Lester Patrick recipient, an annual award presented for outstanding service to hockey in the United States, Ceglarski was also inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992, and was named the 1996 recipient of the Legend of College Hockey Award.
Ceglarski and his wife Ursula, who brought up six sons on Missouri Avenue in the village, did just about everything to keep the Clarkson program running smoothly. He was responsible not only for varsity coaching, but for the freshman team, the rink, the equipment, the laundry, and served as his own secretary and the team’s skate sharpener.
Family always came first, but Clarkson players quickly became like members of the family. Clarkson had 13 winning seasons during Ceglarski’s tenure, never missed the ECAC playoffs, and numerous Knights earned all-star honors under his guidance, including six players who gained All-America accolades. The record they amassed on the ice during his Clarkson years, and the records of achievement many of them compiled in the business world after hockey, is eloquent testimony to Ceglarski’s 
guidance and interest in their development as players and as people.
In Clarkson’s opening game at Cheel Arena, on October 26, 1991, against Ceglarski’s Boston College squad, over 30 former Golden Knights journeyed back to Potsdam to honor and thank their coach for all he had done for them and their school.
Len Ceglarski accepts his 2007 Athletic Hall of Fame plaque from Clarkson President Tony Collins and AD Steve Yianoukos
