Alumnus David Arduin ’12, still shows up to the rink every afternoon. He still laces up his skates and heads to the ice at Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena.
This season, however, he’s traded the pads and helmet for a hat and a whistle, and his game-day jersey for a jacket and tie.
After graduating in May 2012 with 30 goals and 64 points over a three-season Geneseo career, Arduin returns to join the coaching staff as an assistant coach at his alma mater.
After spending time in Geneseo as both a student and an Ice Knight, Arduin said it was an easy decision to begin his coaching career here.
“My heart and passion are with the college game, and to coach the college game, you have to stay on the East Coast of the United States,” Arduin said. “After being done with my playing career, this is what I want to do, and I want to see where this can take me. If I could turn this into a career, I couldn’t think of a better way to wake up and go to work every day.”
One challenge for the new assistant coach is connecting with the players in his new role – players that he called teammates just seven months ago.
“Now that I am on the other side of things, it is different, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s changed that much,” Arduin said. “The players and I have a mutual respect for what each other [are] trying to accomplish.”
Arduin is also adjusting to a new relationship with the coaches, a staff for which he played 70 games and for which he now has an entirely different list of responsibilities.
“They have granted me with a tremendous and unique opportunity to get my foot in the door in the coaching world and have allowed me to be a part of this team just as I imagined it,” he said.
“I knew [Arduin] had an extreme passion for playing the game of hockey, but he has seamlessly transitioned that passion into coaching,” assistant coach Kris Heeres said in an email interview. “He has been a sponge thus far and has transitioned from former player and alumnus to coach.”
Alongside head coach Chris Schultz and Heeres – both Geneseo and Ice Knights alumni – Arduin will bring knowledge as both a coach and a former Ice Knight to the 2012-13 team.
“I know being in this position on any other team would not be as beneficial because I am comfortable here with the coaches and players and know what is expected of you in an Ice Knights uniform,” he said.