It took a phone call from one of Rico Blasi’s good friends and mentors to jumpstart the process that led to his hiring at Providence College.
“I’d heard about (the job opening at PC). (Friars coach) Nate (Leaman) had told me about it earlier and I didn’t really think about it much,’’ Blasi said this week.
“The summer went by and with everything that’s going on in the world, sometimes you need a little bit of a shot in the head to start thinking about different things.’’
That shot came courtesy of a call from Dick Umile, the former New Hampshire coach. “There’s a few people in my life who are unbelievable mentors. He’s one of them. He’s a special person,’’ said Blasi.
“Dick, in his very passionate way, said, ‘You need to call Bob (Driscoll, PC vice president and athletic director).’ So I did. He called me back and we had a few conversations and one thing led to another.’’
Not long after that, on Oct. 22, PC announced Blasi’s hiring as the associate athletic director with responsibility for men’s and women’s hockey and Schneider Arena.
Having someone with Blasi’s résumé a few doors down the hall at Schneider Arena is a coup for both men’s and women’s hockey at PC. Blasi has hit the ground running, with a full schedule of meetings and Zoom calls as the men’s and women’s teams prepare for their seasons under extraordinary circumstances.
“I’m taking over for (former PC captain) Kyle Murphy, who did an unbelievable job, so I’ve got some big shoes to fill. My conversations with Bob were unbelievable. He’s just a great person, a great leader. He’s so grounded and focused on his values and what the student-athletes mean to PC,’’ said Blasi, who went 398-311-76 with two trips to the Frozen Four in two decades at Miami.
“My grandmother always said you want to be challenged and be around good people that challenge you to be better,’’ he said.
Blasi had thought that a move to an administrative role might be something he’d consider down the road. After talking to Driscoll, he decided that the time was now.
“Once I talked to Bob and listened to him and what he believes in, I was hooked. His values and what he believes in are exactly the way I was taught as a young person, from my family, and what I was taught as a young coach by my mentors. So it was a really good feel. That’s really why I’m here.’’
After being fired by Miami in 2019, it wasn’t easy for Blasi to sit out last season after coaching for 23 straight years.
“It was really tough at first. Then as a family we decided we were going to take the year off and try to learn and recharge, see what was out there,’’ he said.
During the course of the season, he visited some NHL teams and college programs.
“I was able to learn from them, formulate different ideas and plans and see how they ran their programs and whether some of it was the same or different, get a different perspective. It kept me involved and looking forward to something. Following my kids around, too. So that was nice,’’ he said.
“It was different, though. There were times when it was challenging to stay focused. And you go through all the emotions — the anger, the depression, feeling like you’re never going to do this again and stuff like that. I was fortunate that I had a great support group behind me, led by my family and some really good friends. We got through it and then COVID hit.’’
The friendship between Leaman and Blasi goes back many years.
“Our relationship really took off when he became the head coach at Union. Obviously we would see each other on the road recruiting when we were assistants. But when he became the head coach at Union and I’d already been the head coach at Miami for a while, when we’d talk we would bounce ideas off each other on what we were trying to do in building our programs. We built that relationship over the years.
“Obviously his record and the way he does things speaks for itself. I think we are very much in line with how we run our programs, the competitive side and the values and all the things that make good programs.’’
Associate ADs obviously are not allowed on the ice or on the recruiting trail, which is fine with Blasi. At 48, he could have many productive years ahead as a coach, but that’s not where his mind is at this point.
“My focus right now is being the best associate AD I can be for Nate and Matt (Kelly, the women’s coach) and for Bob. I’m not thinking about anything at this point except that. I’m 100 percent in on doing this job.
“If COVID has taught us one thing, it’s don’t take anything for granted. Stay focused on today and who knows about tomorrow. It’s not so much what you’re doing, it’s who you’re doing it for and who you’re doing it with,’’ he said.
UConn staying close to home
With the XL Center in Hartford closed for now, UConn will play its home games on campus, at least at the start.
No big deal, says coach Mike Cavanaugh.
“We’ve done it before. My first year here when we were in the Atlantic League we played on campus, so I’m familiar with it. The biggest difference will be we won’t have anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 fans a night. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing on the local pond or at the XL Center or Schneider Arena. It’s hockey. And without fans, it makes sense to play on campus,’’ he said.
The Huskies return a solid, experienced team after a fifth-place finish last season.
“Last year was a great indication of what our league is all about. It’s such a great league from top to bottom. BC is probably the class of the league (this season), but there’s so many good teams,’’ said Cavanaugh.
It’s within the realm of possibility that UConn could lose two top players for at least a couple of weeks to Russia’s team at the World Junior Championship.
With the tournament still several weeks away, Calgary second-rounder Yan Kuznetsov and Minnesota second-rounder Vladislav Firstov are being mentioned in roster projections. Both had strong freshman seasons last year.
“Yan didn’t turn 18 until March. That’s an entire season at 17 years old. He’s still young for college hockey. He’s probably still in the bottom 10 of youngest players in the league,’’ said Cavanagh.
“Physically, he’s a man. I think the game will slow down for him a little bit now. He’ll have more confidence handling the puck and making decisions away from the puck. He reminds me of Brooks (Orpik) in a lot of ways.
“He’s physically imposing. Brooks, when he was at Boston College, it took him a little while to figure it out. He eventually did and turned himself into a two-time Stanley Cup champion, an Olympic player and a great defenseman in the NHL for a long time.’’
Firstov scored 23 points in 34 games last season. “He’s a really dynamic forward. He can score, he can shoot, he can make a play. He’s a kid that’s only going to get better and better as he gets older,’’ Cavanaugh said.
Waiting for Hockey East schedule
The Hockey East schedule should be out any day now. With no fans expected to be allowed in the rinks, it will be interesting to see if the league breaks away from the traditional nighttime weekend games.
“Some of it is going to depend on the cadence of testing, what are the protocols going to be? For example, if it was a Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday (testing), then you’re probably going to have to play your games on a Wednesday or a Friday or Saturday. You’re probably not going to be testing on the day of a game. That will be one aspect of it,’’ Cavanaugh said.
“This is the year to get creative. Play a Friday night game at 5:30. I’ve already talked to Nate (Leaman). He’s been clamoring for a lot of midweek games. I don’t necessarily disagree with him. As long as we can do it logistically with the testing, I’m fine with it. That’s going to be the biggest hurdle that we have to overcome. When we’re scheduled to play him, I think we were both talking about playing two four o’clock games.
Across the league, “I’m not opposed to playing a one o’clock game, then have someone at four and maybe a game at seven.’’
Ideally, all three would be televised.
“Three Hockey East games in one day. All of those ideas and options should be explored,’’ said Cavanaugh.
