With hockey season near, ‘Mentor Night’ helps UConn’s players get ready for real life
Matt Carlin, who played ice hockey at UConn when that meant applying Vaseline to the lips and ears to fight off the winter winds blowing through the old open-air rink, asked the current players how they got to where they are.
“A lot of hard work,” one player offered.
“Parents sacrificing,” another said.
“Resilience,” another said.
“Perseverance,” added one more.
These were all traits on Carlin’s checklist for success in life, and though some of UConn’s players may have the chance to play hockey after college, others will not or have short careers. That’s why coach Mike Cavanaugh brought “Mentor Night” to UConn.
“When I was at Boston College, one of my mentors, Peter Berlandi, started this,” Cavanaugh said. “He thought it would be a good idea to introduce players to people who were successful in business and how did they get their start? What was their transition from college to the working world? I thought it was so effective that when I came here I had Peter come with me and help me start it here.
“I think it’s important they start getting interested in something [beyond hockey]. They’re going to meet, while they’re with me, 10 to 15 different people and make different network connections and something might resonate with them that says, ‘This is a cool business, this is something I might like to look into.’”
Carlin played for UConn from 1984-88 and was a teammate of future Whaler Todd Krieger. He called it “the best four years of my life.” He later coached at Worcester Academy, Cornell and Dartmouth, where he met Cavanaugh, and still coaches high school hockey in Massachusetts. For the last 22 years he has owned Resource Options, a staffing business for construction, environmental, civil engineering professionals throughout the Northeast. He was one of several successful professionals visiting with players at Freitas Ice Forum on Tuesday evening.
In nonpandemic times Cavanaugh does this two or three times a year. The return of “Mentor Night” in-person was a sign that a closer-to-normal post-pandemic hockey season is drawing near. For UConn, there is reason to believe it will be a successful one.
“I think [fans] are going to be like, ‘Wow, this is the best team we’ve seen,’” said junior Roman Kinal. “This is a team that’s new, we’re fast, we’re gritty and we’re hard but we also bring that skill.”
With the new $70 million arena, suitable to play Hockey East games on campus, going up quickly, the Huskies were learning life lessons from Carlin, who was impressed enough with a former UConn captain, Derek Pratt, to hire him in one of Cavanaugh’s favorite success stories.
The UConn players had a variety of questions mainly about how to get started in business. “That moment will happen when you will find your passion,” Frank J. Szilagyi, a Hartford attorney, told his group.
Players were urged to protect their reputations, their most valuable possession, and be kind and respectful, particularly on social media.
“I feel like I benefit from getting an older perspective,” said senior Jonny Evans, the Huskies’ leading scorer last season. “Not even about hockey but about life. Some takeaways are just being a good person and just listening to what they’re saying, learning at a young age and implementing it at a young age. I’ve thought about the outcome, after hockey. It’s kind of scary thinking about it because after four years at UConn, now my time is coming up.”
Senior Marc Gatcomb, an economics major, wants to go into real estate and has interned with a firm near Boston.
“It’s good to pick their brains,” he said. “They have so much information. To get knowledge from these powerful guys is something we can take from every aspect of our life: hockey, education, or just meeting people to broaden our network.”
The business leaders, too, were impressed with the athletes they met, young people with the ability to organize their time to balance heavy hockey and academic workloads.
“I look at two of UConn’s most successful athletes,” Cavanaugh said, “I look at Doug Elliot running The Hartford, a very good baseball player here, I look at Andy Bessette running The Travelers, an Olympic track and field athlete. It just translates. You have to grow up, you have to overcome adversity. You’re going to get benched sometimes, how are you going to react to that? You’re not going to make every sale, how are you going to react to that?”
Early next week, UConn will learn where it falls in the preseason Hockey East poll. The Huskies were 10-11-2 overall last season, 10-10-2 in the conference. This season begins Oct. 2 against Sacred Heart at the XL Center. There’s competition ongoing for the top goaltender spot, but a lot of experience elsewhere.
“UConn’s always wanted to be where they are right now,” Carlin said. “The foundation is in place and he’s got a great group with a lot of depth. I think it’s going to be a special year. ... I don’t think there’s another coach in the country who’s a better fit for UConn. Cavs does a lot of things that others don’t do and a lot of it has nothing to do with hockey, which is very unique.”
Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com
