When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Charlie Cerrato in the second round of last month’s NHL draft, the Fallston resident smiled when he realized he was the 49th overall pick.
That seemed fitting considering his father, Vinny Cerrato, was a former executive of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington franchise.
“It was a funny coincidence because the 49ers are all over our house, like all of his stuff,” the younger Cerrato said. “I mean, 49 is a number we use a lot. So it was definitely funny seeing that.”
Added the elder Cerrato, a sports talk radio host for 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore: “His agent thought he was going to go between 40 and 50, and he went 49, which is pretty cool.”
The past 12 months have been a whirlwind for Charlie Cerrato. Shortly after enrolling at Penn State, he turned in an eye-opening season that resulted in him earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and then becoming the second-highest draft pick in school history.
Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said that the Hurricanes swooped up one of the more impressive players he has ever mentored.
“What he is going to add is an incredible competitor and I don’t care what team you are or what league, but everybody can use that no matter how good and successful you are,” he said. “He’s going to raise the competitive nature of that team. That, I can guarantee, and then I think he’s going to bring a lot of other things to the table, too.”
Football might have seemed to be a natural path for Cerrato. After all, his father played quarterback and wide receiver at Iowa State, served coaching stints at Minnesota and Notre Dame, and worked his way up the ladder to become the director of player personnel for San Francisco from February 1995 to July 1999 and Washington from July 1999 to January 2001 and then vice president of football operations for Washington from January 2002 to December 2009.
But growing up in Minnesota, Vinny Cerrato was an avid hockey player himself who met famed coach Herb Brooks when the latter was coaching the Golden Gophers in the late 1970s. He introduced Charlie to the sport when he was 3 years old, coordinating weekly 6 a.m. hockey sessions at a rink in Northern Virginia.
“Before he went to work, he would take me to McDonald’s — I’d always get pancakes there — and then he’d take me over to the ice rink and then drop me off at preschool,” Charlie Cerrato recalled. “It was totally normal.”
After Vinny Cerrato was fired, the family moved to Fallston, and Charlie began playing with club teams in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That meant round-trip drives of almost 200 miles after school, but also moments of father-son bonding.
Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit. (Photo by Mark Selders)
“We’d have to drive three days a week, and he’d be doing his homework in the car, and we’d get home at 10 o’clock and he’d be sleeping in the back,” Vinny Cerrato said. “We’d be driving to Boston, Toronto. So it was a lot of driving, but it was great.”
Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit as a sophomore and then the United States National Team Development Program as a junior and senior.
Initially worried about leaving home, Cerrato learned how to cook and clean, purchased his own gym membership, and bought a bike for travel.
“I think it was the best decision that me and my parents could’ve made because at 15, I grew up, and I learned how to live on my own,” he said. “I think it benefited me a ton because at 18 or 19 years old, most kids are moving away to college and they get homesick. But at 15, that was already done.”
For two years, Cerrato was committed to Michigan. But a coaching change there forced him to re-evaluate his options, and he chose Penn State.
In his first year with the Nittany Lions, Cerrato had 12 points by Christmas. After the holiday, he racked up 30 more points, ranked second nationally among freshmen in both assists (27) and points, won 57.2% of his faceoffs, and contributed to the team’s first run to the NCAA Tournament’s Frozen Four.
“He exceeded our expectations,” Gadowsky said. “He’s a quick learner, a quick study. I think he really took to heart a few of the suggestions that we had which were going to help him with his transition to college hockey, and I think he did a really good job with little things like playing without the puck and shift management.”
As winter turned to spring, Cerrato talked to 27 of the NHL’s 32 teams, including several occasions with 10 of those clubs. But he interviewed with Carolina only once, which added to his shock when the Hurricanes drafted him on June 28.
“It is so unpredictable how the NHL draft goes, and it was definitely a surprise, a great surprise,” he said. “I’m grateful to be drafted by them, but I don’t know if I was expecting that.”
For Vinny Cerrato who spent many years delivering the good news to players selected by the 49ers and Washington, sitting on the other side of the draft process was a bit unsettling.
“I was sweating and everything and pacing around, and I was like, ‘When are we going? Who are we going to?’” he said. “But Carolina is a perfect place for him. They play a very similar style.”
The day after the draft, Charlie Cerrato was on a plane to North Carolina for a four-day development camp. But he plans to return to Penn State for his sophomore year and then coordinate with Hurricanes coaches about the next step in his maturation.
“If the opportunity comes to sign a contract and go play pro hockey for the Canes and their organization, that would be the best option for me because at the end of the day, playing in the NHL is the dream and the biggest goal,” he said. “So I think getting to do that would be a dream come true. We’ll see. If it’s a year or two or whatever it is, then that’s what it is. But I’m happy where I’m at. I love Penn State, and I’m excited to go back.”
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