A giving night results in a new Rutgers milestone

By Alexander Vilardo - Web Content Contributor

On Saturday, October 22nd, John Beatrice scored a first period goal to give Rutgers a 1-0 lead over Binghamton during Rutgers’ “Pink in the Rink” breast cancer awareness night.  This would have been an ordinary goal on any other night. However, Jason Adams' assist on the tally made him the Rutgers' all-time leader in assists.

The record was previously held by current coach Andy Gojdycz. 

When Gojdycz, a former defenseman, finished his hockey career at Rutgers, he had assisted on an 106 goals.  Adams, a junior from Oak Ridge, N.J., suprassed his coach with assist number 107, he still has one more year to build on that record.

“Back when I played, we played a lot less games,” Gojdycz said.  “[For Jason] to do it in two and a half years, it doesn’t make a difference as to how many games he’s played, because it took me four years."

Often times, seeing one’s own record broken is tough.  But if it is broken by a deserving player, it makes the previous record-holder proud to be a part of that company.

“Records are meant to be broken,” Gojdycz said.  “Jason is a quality player and he’s got another year and a half to prove himself to the league.  Off the ice, he is a great kid and a great leader.  He expects a lot from himself, and the team expects a lot from him.”

Adams knows how unique of a record this is, and he is well-aware of what it means to break a record for a program such as Rutgers.

“It’s pretty special because we have a lot of history in this program,”  Adams said.  “We may not be the most well-known program, but we’ve been around longer than most other programs, and to have my name associated with Rutgers’ history is pretty special.”

Since his first year with the team, Adams has been an assist machine.  In the 2009-10 season, the forward posted 42 assists in 31 games.  In his sophomore season, he posted 47 assists to go along with 23 goals in 27 games.  This season, through 11 games, Adams has 21 helpers.  If things continue like this, Adams’ record may not be broken for a very long time.

And that might be one of the reasons as to why Adams likes to have fun with the fact that he broke his coach’s record.

 “Yeah, I tease him,” he said.  “I get my shots in at the right moments.  [I tell him that] he still doesn’t want to let [the record] go.”

All teasing aside, Adams respects his coach and his coach’s legacy at Rutgers.

“From what I hear, he was a pretty good player in his day, and he obviously was pretty good if he was a defenseman and held the record,” Adams said.  “He and I have gotten closer during the past couple years, and he’s a great person off the ice and a great citizen for our school.”

In the current sports era, it seems like a “did-you-see-that” moment happens about once a game, an “instant classic” game happens about once a week, and a record is broken about once a month.   But how often is it that a player breaks a record that previously was held by his coach?  Not very often, but it’s something which Gojdycz and Adams are proud to be a part of.