The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, February 20, 2019 — 7A
Joseph Cecconi’s lifelong competitive drive is paying off
It was the night before the
United States junior hockey
team’s last exhibition game at the
2017 World Juniors tournament,
and
Joseph
Cecconi
wasn’t
nervous at all. He probably
should’ve been.
The Michigan captain — then
a sophomore playing for his
country at the World Juniors
for the first time — knew
that the final roster spot for a
defenseman was coming down
to two players. Thanks to his
upbringing, Cecconi was ready
to fight for that last spot.
In that final exhibition game,
coach Bob Motzko and the rest
of the staff would be looking
for one of two players to assert
themselves as the right choice.
Cecconi knew what he had to
do to make sure the place went
to him.
“They pretty much said that
it was between two guys, and I
was one of them,” Cecconi said.
“I just went out there and played
my game and didn’t hold back
and hoped for the best.”
As soon as the team arrived
in Toronto after playing its final
game in Oshawa, a city 40 miles
to the east, general manager Jim
Johannson told Cecconi that he
had made the team.
“I called my grandpa right
away, because he was at the
game in Oshawa and he was
driving back home,” Cecconi
said. “I immediately called him,
it was like 1 or 2 in the morning.
He answered, then I called my
dad. It was just — I mean, I was
expecting to make the team.
That’s what I wanted to do. I
wasn’t going in there just hoping
for whatever, I was expecting to
make the team.”
Motzko wanted to add a
defenseman with size to his final
team and Cecconi — then 6-foot-
2 and 222 pounds — fit the bill.
It
wasn’t
the
most
glamorous reason to make
a team, but Cecconi took
his opportunity and ran
with it.
He
became
an
integral part of a team
that went undefeated
through the group
stage and defeated
host
country
Canada for the
gold medal.
“Joe was
quietly
probably one of our most steady
competitors as a defenseman and
just played a huge role for us on
that team to win a gold medal,”
Motzko said. “I remember after
the tournament, he was one
of the guys me and the staff
members
talked
about
like,
‘What a great surprise,’ because
he was such a calming force for
us.”
The 2017 team boasted talent
up and down the roster, which
made Cecconi’s selection to the
team a bit of a surprise. At that
point in his sophomore season,
he had only one assist and no
goals.
Motzko told Cecconi that
people were talking about him,
and
Cecconi
responded
by
playing his traditional, steady
defense. By the end of the
tournament, there was no more
conversation about why he was
chosen.
Aside from winning the gold
medal, a moment Cecconi will
never forget, he took something
else home from Canada after the
tournament.
Confidence.
That changed his approach to
the game when he came back to
Michigan. Two and a half years
later, at the end of his senior
season, he now stands as the
Wolverines’
captain,
looking
toward an NHL career — the
Dallas Stars drafted him in the
fifth round of the 2015 draft —
when his time in college comes
to a close.
***
When Cecconi first picked up
a hockey stick at age three, no
one ever would’ve guessed he’d
come this far.
Youngstown, N.Y., is not a big
place — in fact, it’s considered
a village rather than a city or
town. It sits a few miles north of
Niagara Falls and mere feet from
the shores of Lake Ontario. The
best restaurant, according to
Cecconi, is a former gas station
that now serves pizza. The
population is barely 2,000 and
there isn’t a lot going on.
But what is going on is hockey.
“There’s
like
three
restaurants, a Rite Aid,” Cecconi
said. “That’s the type of town it
is.”
Buffalo, home of the NHL’s
Buffalo Sabres, is just over
half an hour away. There are
countless minor and midget
teams in the area, which is
where Cecconi got his start.
“His dad played hockey, and
he was on his sister’s little inline
skates, so he started skating
around,” said Regina Cecconi,
Joseph’s
mother.
“Hockey’s
big in our area, so why not
throw him on the ice, see what
happens? He’s just been in love
with it ever since.”
Even before his first organized
hockey
experience,
Cecconi
gravitated toward the game. He
always picked the hockey stick
over the basketball as a child and
could always be found on skates
in the winter and rollerblades in
the summer — when he wasn’t
playing soccer.
“Outside, inside, always had
a group of kids in the driveway
playing hockey,” Regina said.
“Even the real little kids, he
would let them play, too, with
them. One of our neighbors’ dads
used to dress up in the goalie
uniform and bring his little kids
over. Joseph would love skating
with them.”
In middle school, Cecconi’s
years of balancing hockey and
soccer came to an end. Hockey
was Cecconi’s first love and his
first priority, and an Achilles
injury that left him unable to
run made the decision even
easier.
He couldn’t run, but he could
skate. The ice skate held his foot
in place and didn’t aggravate the
injury, allowing him to continue
skating during his recovery. It
was the only sign he needed
to switch his full attention to
hockey.
From there, the kid who used
to spend his winter on the ice
and his summer on the soccer
field spent the entire year on
skates. If Cecconi wasn’t playing
for his regular season local
team, he was playing on an elite
summer travel team.
It was all hockey, all the time.
Just how Cecconi wanted it.
But as he rose through the
levels, it soon became clear that
his talents may take him farther
away than his small town or
even nearby Buffalo.
After spending his whole life
in Youngstown — where he knew
everyone, played street hockey
with his neighbors and was a few
minutes’ walk from the lake —
Cecconi had a decision to make.
“I didn’t want to leave home,
but I was excited to move on
from playing U16 hockey and to
probably the best junior hockey
league in America,” Cecconi
said. “It was sad to leave my
friends and family, but I knew if I
wanted to take hockey seriously,
I would have to leave. Once I left,
I didn’t really look back.”
In early 2014, Cecconi moved
to Muskegon and made his
debut for the USHL’s Muskegon
Lumberjacks.
“That was difficult,” Regina
said. “That was — Joseph’s a
momma’s boy and that was
difficult to let him go, but it
was something that had to be
done. We always knew that if
he had the chance to advance
and to move up and play the
game with a higher caliber of
kids, that he was gonna have
to leave the area. So, when that
opportunity came around, it
wasn’t a lot of discussion as far
as not going, it was just making
the arrangements to get him to
where he needed to be.”
While Muskegon isn’t a huge
city, it was quite a change from
the small-town life surrounded
by friends and family. Suddenly,
Cecconi went from a town of
2,000 to a city of 40,000 and left
behind everyone he knew.
Everything was different. But
it was for his hockey career, so it
was worth it. It was an important
step for Cecconi’s maturity as
a hockey player, just as leaving
home to play juniors has been for
decades of NHL players before
him.
And it was in Muskegon that
Cecconi first realized that a
professional career might be a
legitimate possibility.
“Growing up, ages like 10
to 15, I didn’t even know what
(getting drafted) really was,”
Cecconi said. “I didn’t know who
was getting drafted or where
they were getting drafted from,
things like that. As I got older,
I think it was when I went to
Muskegon in the USHL I kinda
figured like, ‘Oh, wow. Maybe
I can do this. I love the game
so much, why not take full
advantage of what Muskegon has
to offer and go from there?’
“Now that it happened and I
was drafted, which, that was an
awesome experience, but that
was a long time ago. Now, I’m just
looking forward to finishing the
year and seeing what happens to
me at the end of the season.”
Going away from home for
hockey isn’t something that kids
from Youngstown often do. And
for most, the NHL is nothing but
a distant dream.
But now, as his senior season
draws to a close, Cecconi has a
chance to take his career to the
highest level.
***
Regina
Cecconi
always
wanted her kids to be the best
they could be at their chosen
activity. Cecconi and his older
sister Carissa were encouraged to
be involved in extracurriculars,
whether that meant playing a
sport or taking up a musical
instrument. Cecconi played the
cello for a couple of years in
middle school on top of hockey
and soccer.
His own mother admits that
he could’ve practiced more, but
it was important to her that he
honored his commitment.
Cecconi picked up the cello
because he thought it looked
interesting, and when he decided
he wanted to quit after a couple
of years, he knew he couldn’t
tell his mother. Regina believes
strongly in her kids sticking with
their activities, so he brought
the cello home and kept it in
his room for months — without
practicing. When Regina looked
at the calendar and saw an
upcoming orchestra concert, the
jig was up. He had to fess up that
he hadn’t played in months and
no longer wanted to play.
“She wasn’t thrilled with
that,” Cecconi said. “I don’t even
know if I had to pay to return the
cello for how long I was using it,
but that was pretty funny.”
And whether it was in the
orchestra or on the ice, Regina
always made sure that Cecconi
was set up to be the best that he
could be.
Most parents want their kids
to play sports so that they learn
to get along with other people
and be active, and Regina was no
exception. But she also wanted
more than that for her son, and
she made it clear that success
was a priority.
“My first priority was that he
was having fun and that he was
competing with the best kids,”
Regina said. “He always tried
out for — I always made him try
out for the team that was the
hardest to make. My thing was,
if he can get a little college out of
it, that’s a bonus, and the NHL,
well, that’s always been Joseph’s
dream.”
By having her son try out
for the best team and always
making sure he was heavily
involved,
Regina
instilled
a
competitive drive in her son. As
a competitive person herself, the
atmosphere in the family was
one of competition and success.
It’s hard for that not to rub off
on a young hockey player.
“He’s always been competitive
when it comes to hockey and
whatever sport that he was
playing in,” Regina said. “I’m
very competitive, I’m very goal-
oriented, so I’d love to say that
he gets that from me. It’s taught
in the family and Carissa’s the
same way. I always tell him, if
you want to do something, you’re
just going to have to go after it. If
that’s what you want to do, then
just go for it.”
Nowhere has that lesson been
more poignant for Cecconi than
when he made the 2017 World
Juniors team.
After
attending
the
USA
Hockey summer showcase after
his freshman year, he knew there
was a fairly good chance he’d be
on the preliminary roster for the
World Juniors. Cecconi wanted
desperately to be on the team,
and — just as his mom taught him
— he went after what he wanted.
And it was there that his
natural
competitive
drive
began to blend with the inner
confidence he’d always had. As
Cecconi moved through the
World Juniors tournament, his
confidence continued to grow
until it became external. His
ability became more and more
self-evident as his mental poise
began to show itself in his play.
“The first couple games in the
tournament, I wasn’t playing too
much,” Cecconi said. “Then, in
the final couple games, I logged
a bit of ice time. It just gave me a
lot more confidence when I came
back here. I had more confidence
in my defensive abilities, as well
as carrying the puck and just my
poise and control with the puck,
too.
“I played much better my
second half of my sophomore
year and that — going into the
summer, that just built on. And
then junior year and now senior
year, I feel like World Juniors
really gave me a kickstart to
being more confident on the ice.”
Confidence
is
incredibly
important in sports, and it’s
particularly important in hockey.
One weak pass or tentative move
to block a shot can change the
outcome of a game.
If
you’re
confident,
you
compete harder. If you compete
harder — and win those battles
— it increases your confidence.
As Cecconi’s confidence grew,
his
natural
competitiveness
increased even more.
It’s been a successful formula
for the senior as he looks to the
next step in his career.
“If
you’re
not
wired
(to
compete), you kinda just get
left
behind,”
Cecconi
said.
“Especially with — in hockey,
you have to play at U16s and then
(U18s) and then juniors and then
maybe stay a couple more years
and then college. All that.
“You have to be competitive or
you’ll get left behind.”
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
PHOTO COURTESY OF REGINA CECCONI
Senior defenseman Joseph Cecconi helped grow his confidence at the 2017 World Juniors Tournament, which propeled him to the first line and NHL-caliber defenseman that he’s dreamed of being since his youth in Youngstown, New York.