Carl Corazzini on how the path to college hockey has changed

Carl Corazzini has been the St. Mark's boys hockey head coach since 2014. (Dave Arnold/NEHJ)

For the first 20 years of Carl Corazzini’s life, his focus was getting to play college hockey, and he succeeded, playing at Boston University from 1997-2001. The 10 years that followed featured time in all levels of professional hockey including the NHL.

Now he has a different focus.

As the head coach of the St. Mark’s boys hockey team, Corazzini is helping players achieve their dreams of playing college hockey.

The Framingham, Mass., native joined host Stephanie Wood on the latest episode of the RinkWise podcast to discuss the path to college hockey, his own career and a whole lot more.

On changes to the path toward college hockey

Corazzini: “It’s so different. When we were playing, it was much easier. I don’t envy the position that the kids are in right now. For me, it was so much easier. I knew my path when I was eight years old. I was going to play Framingham youth hockey. If you’re really good, there are only six club teams but you could still play both. Then I was going to go to high school and if I had the opportunity to be good enough, I would go to a college and then you take it from there. The path right now, it’s difficult. It’s difficult for kids to make decisions but at the same time, I benefit from that too. When I went to high school, St. Sebastian’s was beating St. Mark’s 12-0. What you’re seeing is the opportunity for every kid to find a spot where they can be highlighted and that’s at a young age. We’re the benefit of that too. Prep hockey, especially in Massachusetts, around 1996-97, you’re looking at Belmont Hill, Lawrence Academy, Thayer Academy, Nobles and St. Sebastian’s. What does it look like outside of those five? It’s probably pretty limited. But now at all of these schools, you’re seeing so many good hockey players across the board that are coming to a St. Mark’s because they have an opportunity to play as a younger freshman, to be in the top six where they might not have that opportunity somewhere else.”

On his players that have gone on to the Team USA’s National Team Development Program

Corazzini: “It just wasn’t a well-established school where there’s a clear path from St. Mark’s to playing at these high levels. Henry [Thrun] and Colby Bailey — they were the first ones coming out of that ’01 Minuteman Flames team, which was highly regarded. I remember when both of them decided to come to St. Mark’s, I was like oh wow, we’ve got something special here. Then Sean [Farrell] came that next year, and Sean and Henry made the national program and you’re like they’ve shown two things. They’ve shown you can come to St. Mark’s and play at a high level but you can be a really good student, play multiple sports and you can still play at the highest level. For Henry, he just got done with world championships and playing for San Jose. But when he was at St. Mark’s before the national program, he played varsity soccer, varsity boys hockey and varsity boys lacrosse. He was a leader on campus and he was a high honor roll student. The thing that Henry did that was so important for our culture, everyone else who came in after tried to live up to that. Not that that’s a reality, but at a school like St. Mark’s, we need the kids to participate in every aspect of the school. …The best part of my job as far as being the head coach of boys varsity ice hockey is getting to see them live out their childhood dreams. That’s the best part of my job.”

On the art of coaching

Corazzini: “You can’t coach everyone the same way. That’s not a reality. But in order to understand what it takes to get the best out of everyone, you’ve got to get to know them on a personal level. We’ve had kids that have come through St. Mark’s that can be pushed extremely hard. There’s a boy at Yale, Tucker Hartmann, that I could get on him and he would respond that. Then there are other players if you gave them feedback in front of their peers, they would shut down. That’s fine. You can’t coach them all the same way.”

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