Emma Guzdek November 21, 2024
The ice hockey industry offers numerous career opportunities that cater to diverse skill sets and interests. While playing professionally remains the most visible path, the industry relies on a vast network of professionals who contribute to its success. Understanding these various career paths can help individuals identify opportunities that align with their skills and passions within the hockey industry.
The field continues to evolve with technological advances and changing consumer demands, creating new opportunities in areas such as analytics, digital media, and fan engagement. Success in any of these roles typically requires a combination of hockey knowledge, professional expertise, and a passion for the sport.
On-Ice Personnel
Professional Players
The most obvious career path in hockey is that of professional players, who compete at various levels including the National Hockey League (NHL), American Hockey League (AHL), ECHL, and European professional leagues. Professional players typically begin their careers in youth hockey, progress through junior leagues or college hockey, and may be drafted or signed as free agents.
Coaches
Coaching is the next best-known path to work in the hockey industry. Coaching staffs include Head Coaches, who is responsible for overall team strategy and management, Assistant Coaches, that are typically specialists in areas such as power play, penalty kill, or position-specific training, Skills Coaches, that tend to focus on individual player development, and Goaltending Coaches, that specialize in training and developing goaltenders.
Officials
There are several on-ice official opportunities as well. There are Referees and Linesmen, who work on the ice during games. There are also Video Goal Judges, who review controversial plays, and Official Scorers, that track statistics and maintain official game records.
The Other Side of the Hockey Industry
There are a number of additional opportunities to be involved with the hockey industry. While playing, coaching, and being an official are the most well known careers, there are several other roles that are the backbone of the hockey industry. Below are more in-depth job descriptions of other careers from those in the career themselves.
Travis Culhane, Director of Hockey Operations - University of Denver
As a Director of Hockey Operations at the University of Denver, Culhane says his responsibilities include facilitating the day-to-day operations of the Men’s Hockey Program. This includes scheduling practices, managing team travel and meals, maintaining the program’s video software, acting as a liaison between players and academic faculty, planning alumni relations and other events, pre-scouting opponents, and scheduling games.
Culhane said that “no one’s path is the same” when working in hockey operations so there isn’t a “hard or fast way or certain requirements to meet.” Culhane started working in hockey operations as a student volunteer at Western Michigan University and realized he wanted to stay involved in hockey after he was done playing. Most NCAA programs and professional programs require a college degree, but hockey experience and hard skills like time management, organizational skills, communication skills, ability to handle multiple tasks at once, and operating within a team environment are key. Working as a student volunteer gave Culhane the opportunity to network and create connections that ultimately led him to a full time job.
As a Director of Hockey Operations, Culhane particularly enjoys the “routine of the season,” working with players, and filling the role of a video coach. Culhane describes the atmosphere at DU as one that makes it fun to come to the rink everyday because the program has a great staff and team culture. However, managing multiple tasks at a time and managing team travel are some common challenges Culhane faces as team travel continues to grow in “cost and complexity.”
“Any experience is good experience,” says Culhane, “it will teach you what to do, and more importantly, what you do not want to do in your career.” Culhane suggests to those interested in pursuing hockey operations as a career to not turn away from volunteer positions, as they can create invaluable networking connections.
Justin Fowler, Assistant Equipment Manager - Colorado Avalanche
Fowler has been working with the Colorado Avalanche for five years as an Equipment Manager. Fowler’s role primarily includes coordinating logistics of teams coming in and out of Denver, what he calls “running the room” and “giving them anything they could possibly need.” It is Fowler’s responsibility to collaborate with the opposing team’s equipment managers on times that they will be flying in to Denver, work with Ball Arena and other local rinks to figure out the locker room situation for the other team(s), figure out alternatives for the other team if there is an event going on at Ball Arena (concert, Denver Nuggets game, etc.) when they arrive, and driving a box truck from the airport to the rink with the opposing team’s equipment. “I get a twenty-six foot box truck, driving it to the airport, and going through security,” says Fowler, “I drive it over to the runway when their plane lands to pack their gear and pray I don’t clip a wing.”
Fowler attended Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania where he received a degree in Sports Management. Before working with the Avalanche, Fowler spent several years with the Colorado Rockies. Fowler claims he “started at the bottom” doing things like promotions and special events where he dressed up in the Toothache costume, throwing out t-shirts to fans, and doing anything he possibly could to get his foot in the door. He then worked his way up and received a job in the home club house, which he did for eight years. This led to Fowler working with the Avalanche in the off-season and eventually taking a full-time job.
The best part of Fowler’s job, in simple terms, is winning the Stanley Cup in 2022, but he says “it’s actually the experience leading into that point–the anticipation of each step in the journey.” Fowler had the ability to travel with the Avalanche to Nashville, St. Louis, Edmonton, and Tampa Bay. “It felt like all the long hours, the long days and nights, and the time spent away from home were about to pay off,” Fowler shares, “the little dreams you have as a kid about winning a championship finally came true.”
When asked to provide advice for those seeking a career in this field, Fowler highlights that “you have to be passionate about the sport you’re working in because the hours are too long to not enjoy what you are doing” and says working in sports is a team effort. He describes his role as being a “piece of the puzzle” and says, “your piece of the puzzle, while small, translates to the next person being able to do their job so it is important.”
Nick DiLisi, Hockey Agent/Advisor - 93 Hockey Services
Nick DiLisi helps run 93 Hockey Services, a program dedicated to helping players move to the next level and “gain successful life experiences that only hockey can offer.” Being a Hockey Agent means that DiLisi is essentially the “CEO” of a players career; meaning that he represents them at every step and helps put his clients in a position for success by helping them work towards their goals. DiLisi’s job consists of traveling, scouting, recruiting, and visiting clients all over the world, while also handling other various tasks that come up during the season.
There is no specific way to break into the advising industry. “Some start by scouting for local junior teams and work their way up, while others begin as coaches or players and then transition into various roles,” says DiLisi, “sometimes all it takes is finding one player, putting them in the spotlight, and watching them succeed.” There is no specific education required, but having a strong knowledge of the game, understanding the landscape, and building a network with players, coaches, GMs, and scouts is key to being successful in the industry.
For DiLisi, he started out by helping some friends find teams. While living in Europe DiLisi had some players ask about playing in the United States. At the time, he was a scout for a USHL team at the time, which ultimately led to the formation of 93 Hockey Services with his partners. “We all share a passion for the game and a desire to help players, both men's and women's, achieve their dreams and provide them with the best representation. What fuels me is seeing our athletes perform in amazing venues and on some of the biggest stages and best leagues in the world,” shared DiLisi.
As an agent, DiLisi has the opportunity to work with players of all different backgrounds. He gets to travel and watch hockey for a living which is “pretty cool.” DiLisi has worked with players as they worked their way to some of the highest levels of hockey including the Olympics, World Championships, and World Juniors, as well as some of the top leagues in the world. The biggest challenges DiLisi faces in this career is the ever-evolving landscape of both men’s and women’s hockey. He must stay up to date, know when to make moves, and have a solid understanding of immigration policies, academics, and more. DiLisi acknowledges that players have lives outside of the rink, so it is important for him to be there for them every step of the way.
To be successful, DiLisi says that you love the game and have a passion for seeing athletes succeed. DiLisi expresses that his job is not an easy job and it’s definitely not a career where you “get rich quick.” It can take years to generate success, so those who are interested in pursuing this as a career must be ready to grind, make mistakes, and learn as the game constantly evolves at all levels.
Joe Sawicki, Performance Coach - Shattuck St. Mary’s
Joe Sawicki, a Performance Coach at Shattuck St. Mary’s, describes his position as more of a “high performance director.” Although he does fill the role of a strength coach, he also oversees the sports medicine department by working alongside to find trends in injuries and problems amongst their athletes and finding solutions to correct these problems. Sawicki also works with third party groups to support nutrition, mental skills, and sports psychology. By combining all of these assets, Sawicki works towards helping athletes reach their full potential.
Sawicki studied biology and pre-med at Merrimack College before switching to sports medicine his Junior year. During his Senior, Sawicki worked with the men’s hockey team, which provided him with a new perspective on athlete movement and injury prevention. He claims that this was his introduction into the strength world, as he helped run the team’s off-season program. Following his time at Merrimack, Sawicki became an athletic trainer. While working as an athletic trainer, working as a strength coach was more of a side job for Sawicki as he worked at a local fitness center as well. Sawicki realized that the more work he put into the strength training side of his work, the less work he had to put into the athletic training side of things.
A typical day for Sawicki includes opening the gym early for athletes, which includes teams other than hockey. He works with groups throughout the whole day. Sawicki enjoys “making people feel good about themselves” by pushing athletes to holistically make themselves better. He looks for opportunities to make his athletes better, overcome different obstacles, and help athletes achieve small victories every day. Sawicki believes the biggest challenges come differently for every age group. For younger players, it is “getting them to focus and understand, while keeping them on task. For groups in the middle, it is helping them get through some challenges in their life as they go through physical and mental growth. With older kids, it is trying to keep them interested by trying to prevent things from getting old and boring.” Developing relationships and connections with athletes is vital. It allows you to take them out of their comfort zone and create trust between yourself and your athletes.
For those that want to pursue this as a career, “it is a labor of love,” Sawicki said. “For many people, they can make good money out of it, but if that is what you’re in it for then you’re in it for probably the wrong reasons,” he shares. You may have to do a lot of work for little to no money to gain the experience and make yourself more well-rounded. Sawicki suggests for those interested to, “take advantage of every opportunity and look at it as a way to make yourself better. It may take you a little bit away from where you want to go, but it will come back together and be entirely worth it.”
Kevin Margarucci, USA Hockey Manager of Player Safety
Over the course of his career, Kevin Margarucci has worked as an athletic trainer at the high school and collegiate level, has worked in hospital and clinical settings, and works with the U.S. Olympic and U.S. Paralympic Committees. Margarucci currently serves as the Manager of Player Safety at USA Hockey, the national governing body for ice hockey in the United States. In this role, Margarucci is responsible for overseeing safety protocols and programs related to player welfare in USA Hockey programs. This includes areas like managing concussion and injury prevention protocols, overseeing safety education programs, developing and implementing safety guidelines for players, working on equipment safety standards, and coordinating with medical professionals on player health initiatives.
In addition to Margarucci’s role in the office, he has the opportunity to play the role of a traditional athletic trainer for the U.S. Under-17 Select Team at events like the Under-17 Five Nations Tournament and the Youth Olympic Men’s Hockey Tournament. Margarucci also plays a critical role in the USA Hockey National Player Development Camps in Amherst, New York where he screens staff for all of the camps and puts together a team of medical staff for the camp, and gets to fill the role of a traditional athletic trainer.
“I’ve been involved in hockey my whole life,” says Maragrucci, “in almost every role. I’ve done everything from playing at the youth level, to officiating, to coaching, and becoming a traditional adult league player.” Margarucci attained a Bachelor’s Degree from the State University of New York at Brockport in Physical Education and Athletic Training and a Master’s Degree from Indiana State University in Athletic Training. “I knew I wanted to put it all together one day. I took my athletic training background and experiences, then was able to find a job that I felt my background was perfect for. But to be honest, I found my job with USA Hockey by accident,” he shared. Margarucci said that a friend of his read the job post out loud, which he credits as the reason he is with USA Hockey today.
A large part of Margarucci’s job is educating others. “I have to try to bring safety initiatives to youth and girls hockey, but it’s probably one of the most difficult parts of my job,” he explained, “it is tough because a lot of people don’t know about it. We have to educate people, but they push back because they’re not used to it.” Margarucci said that if that is the hardest job, he’ll take it because he has the opportunity to work with people in hockey every day and they’re some of the best people he knows. Margarucci also enjoys having the opportunity to wear a USA Hockey logo and travel around the world; something he does not take for granted.
For those that want to pursue athletic training as a career, Margarucci suggests “taking advantage of all the opportunities in front of you.” While many of these opportunities may be volunteer to start, they will still provide an invaluable experience by allowing you to build connections and gain exposure to a future in athletic training.
There’s A Whole Other World Out There…
While players, coaches, and officials are the most visible faces of hockey, the sport thrives due to countless professionals working behind the scenes. From equipment managers ensuring player safety to sports medicine specialists to marketing executives growing the game, these roles form the backbone of the hockey industry. Their expertise and dedication not only support the athletes but create career opportunities that expand hockey's impact far beyond the ice. For those passionate about the sport but not destined for professional play, these positions, and so many others not discussed in this article, offer meaningful ways to shape hockey's future while building rewarding careers in the industry.
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