The Pulteney StreetSurvey
Strong and Balanced
Assistant Coach Tom Fiorentino ’14 shares his insights on the remarkable season.
Since joining Hobart’s hockey staff ahead of the 2018-19 season, Assistant Coach Tom Fiorentino ’14 has helped steer the Statesmen to four berths in the NCAA tournament, including the 2023 national championship. He has mentored two All-Americans, 16 All-NEHC selections and two USCHO.com All-Rookie team picks. A four-year member of the Hobart hockey team, Fiorentino served as a captain in his senior season. His play landed him a spot on the ECAC West All-Academic Team three years in a row and earned him the Holden Award for sportsmanship, character and leadership. After graduation, Fiorentino played two seasons of professional hockey with Les Phenix de Reims in France, where he led the team in goals and ranked in the top 20 in the league in points. He then spent two seasons in the Southern Professional Hockey League, playing for the Evansville Thunderbolts, the Pensacola Ice Flyers and the Fayetteville Marksmen.
What are the ingredients that made this year’s team so successful? At the beginning of the year, the guys set some goals they wanted to achieve as a group — they did that without me or Coach Taylor, so they were able to take a real ownership of it. The culture of the group is extremely strong and balanced, and that allowed them to stay focused on what they wanted to achieve, no matter what was thrown our way.
What was it like, both as a former player and now as a coach, to see Hobart hoist the trophy? Once you hang up the skates and are done playing, you’re always following along and hoping for continued and elevated success, so as an alum of the program, it’s an unbelievable feeling. The team feels that pride and energy from the alums, year in and year out, and it no doubt contributed to our success. And to be able to come back as a coach and have a small part in it all is awesome.
Can you reflect on some of the ways the program has evolved between your time as a student-athlete and now? The level of hockey has grown each year for sure, but every year we always have a great group of young men. That culture was established back in 2000 when Coach Taylor arrived and is a point of continuity that will never change here. Each year, the guys are continually trying to elevate the program and raise the bar. It’s a hungriness to leave the program in a better place than you found it (a Coach Taylor motto), so in a lot of ways, not much has changed. This year was the culmination of years and years of great Hobart Hockey players who wore the sweater.