Hockey has been Shane Talarico’s life. He started skating when he was 3 years old, and, thanks to being pulled along by his brother B.J., who is 6 years older, he started playing at age 5.

The 2008 Greensburg Salem grad transitioned from playing to coaching as he grew up in the game, and, recently, he was hired as an assistant coach for the Princeton men’s team.

It is his second Ivy League post, as he previously served three seasons as the director of operations for the Cornell men’s team.

“Princeton, I felt, was a really good fit for me,” Talarico said. “I came on my interview, I met with the staff, I met with a couple of the players, the athletic director, the director of human resources, and everyone had the same message. I knew it was a great opportunity to come in and help this program.”

Princeton is a long way from where Talarico thought he would be. Literally.

Talarico said his dream job was to be a teacher at Greensburg Salem. He wanted nothing more than to be a Greensburg lifer.

But the game that got ahold of him at an early age wouldn’t let him go.

As a youth player, he was a goalie — “Somebody had to jump into the net, and I was the odd man out,” he said — for the Westmoreland Eagles. When he was in fifth grade, coach Rick Versaw let him start coming to practices and face shots from the varsity players.

Two years later, as a seventh grader, he was in the net facing Latrobe’s varsity during a scrimmage. Versaw needed a goalie to stand in, so Talarico got the call.

“I remember I gave up a goal, and the puck was in the net and out of the net before I could even move my glove,” he said.

But rather than be discouraged, Talarico grew even more fond of the game.

“Those are little things you don’t forget,” he said. “Those are opportunities that make you better, and I just kept falling in love with the game, and I stuck with it.”

He played for Greensburg Salem and the Pittsburgh Hornets through high school, with an eye toward playing Division I hockey.

He didn’t land at a Division I school, but he played three seasons at SUNY Potsdam, a Division III program in New York. As a senior, he played 204 minutes and gave up only 10 goals.

As graduation neared, Talarico still hadn’t taken strides to pursuing his dream job of teaching at Greensburg Salem. Something, he said, seemed to be holding him back. Perhaps it was all the people who kept telling him his future could be coaching hockey.

His first experience was as a head coach, taking the reins of the Syracuse Stars junior team. He led the team to the league semifinals in each of his two seasons.

“It was my first opportunity, and I haven’t looked back,” he said.

From there, he became an assistant at Skidmore. He helped to recruit two classes that were rated among the top five in the nation in Division III, and he was promoted to associate head coach in his second season.

Cornell was his next stop and his first Division I post. He joined a team that, at the time, was ranked No. 1 in the country and included Morgan Barron, who Talarico expects to be a regular for the Winnipeg Jets this season.

He also was able to learn from coach Mike Schafer, who is approaching 500 career wins.

“He’s a legend,” Talarico said. “He has one of the best winning percentages all-time for college hockey head coaches.

“So being able to work with somebody like that every day and learn from him is something that will be with you for the rest of your life.”

Said Schafer in an email to the Trib: “We loved having Shane as part of our program. He has a great hockey mind and, combined with his ability to develop relationships with student-athletes and his tireless work ethic, he is poised to have a great career as a coach.”

Talarico said he tries to have a new goal every five years. Next, he said, he will aim for a job as an associate head coach, with the ultimate goal of being the head coach of a Division I program.

The notion of making a life in Greensburg has faded further into the background. Talarico said he gets home only two or three times a year.

Still, all the lessons he learned growing up are always with him, and, he said, they have helped to guide his career.

“With my teachers, I had so many great teachers at Greensburg,” he said. “They made a difference for me, and it motivates me to continue making a difference for players in college hockey.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)