Almost all aspiring hockey players have the same dream. Play professionally, have a successful career lasting 15 or 20 seasons, and figure out the post-hockey career later, when the time comes.

The truth is, a 15 or 20 year career in professional sports is almost unheard of. You are considered incredibly fortunate if you are able to turn pro, even more so if you are able to have a playing career that exceeds five seasons. This is a sad but true reality that many professional hockey players learn all too quickly. 

However, there are exceptions to this trend. Nate DiCasmirro, a former St. Cloud State winger is a perfect example of this. After turning pro in 2002 with the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs, the former Huskie has never looked back.  Now in his 14th season of professional hockey, he has played in the AHL as well as internationally in more than four different counties. 

As if playing professional hockey wasn’t challenging enough, DiCasmirro founded PuckStyle in 2014, a company specializing in unique hockey-themed jewelry and accessories. Now, at 37-years young, DiCasmirro finds himself an entrepreneur by day and professional hockey player by night. Here’s how it all came to be.

Getting involved in hockey was a no-brainer for DiCasmirro, a product of family lineage mixed with the right geographic location.  

“My Dad played college hockey. I’m from Ontario, but was raised in Minnesota, in Duluth. Growing up in a hockey state like Minnesota you get involved,” DiCasmirro said. “I was on skates the month after I learned to walk, 9 or eleven months old I think.  Ever since then, it’s been hockey, hockey, hockey.”

In terms of turning hockey into a career, that was always the plan for DiCasmirro regardless of how many times he was told he’d never play professionally.

“I’ve always wanting to play hockey for a living. I went to St. Cloud to further my career,” DiCasmirro said. “It’s funny….I had a professor ask me my freshman year what would happen if I didn’t become a professional hockey player. I just looked at her confused and said ‘what do you mean, why wouldn’t I play professionally?’”

It’s that type of confident attitude that led DiCasmirro to four successful years at St. Cloud State, a school he chose in large part due to proximity to home and familiarity with teammates.

“I was really close to going to New Hampshire, but St. Cloud is a little over an hour from my parents so it would be easy for them to watch me play. Plus, I had a lot of high school teammates play at St. Cloud.  I think I knew almost 14 guys on the team by the time I decided to go there.”

Not surprisingly, there was an on-ice adjustment period for DiCasmirro when transitioning with St. Cloud. These changes included a larger (Olympic-sized) ice surface, bigger, older, faster players, and a different style of play among others.

“It really took me my whole freshman year to get used to it and adjust,” DiCasmirro remembers.

It’s safe to say that whatever changes DiCasmirro had to make, he was able to do so successfully. At St Cloud, he saw action in 147 games registering 136 points (51 goals, 85 assists) over his four seasons, two of which were cut short due to ankle injuries.

Coming of the strongest year of his collegiate career as a senior and team captain, DiCasmirro’s 1.2 points per game average was good enough to earn him All-WCHA Second Team honors. Such a strong senior season caught the attention of the Edmonton Oilers front office who signed DiCasmirro as a free agent in 2002. He was played in his first professional contest just two weeks after being signed.

“I wasn’t expecting to play any that year, but I was at the morning skate and our Coach said, ‘you look good, you’re playing tonight,’” said DiCasmirro. “That was the most nervous I have ever been playing hockey.”  DiCasmirro further commented, “It was crazy, not expecting to play and then being there (in Hamilton) for two months and able to play in the playoffs for ten games. It was great.”

DiCasmirro spent the first four seasons of his professional career on assignment with Oiler AHL affiliates. In 2006, he signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Boston Bruins where he played right wing for the Providence Bruins of the AHL, and was later elected by his teammates to serve as the team’s Professional Hockey Players Association Player Representative.

In December of 2007, DiCasmirro learned first-hand exactly what people mean when they say professional sports is nothing more than a big business at its core when he was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes, the first trade of his career. DiCasmirro also made stops in San Antonio and Syracuse, and was even elected by his fellow Player Representative peers to the PHPA player Executive Committee before deciding to take his talents to Europe in 2008.

“I look at it as a life experience. When things don’t work out with one team, you go somewhere else.  Sometimes I think about people with nine to five jobs, they don’t get to travel and see the world like I do because of hockey. If a trade is the worst thing that can happen, then it’s not so bad.”

Although his ultimate goal was to play in the NHL, he was always intrigued by the idea of playing in Europe at some point during his career.  He may not have played in the NHL, but he was able to play for his country and be a member of the Italian national team.

“Playing in Europe was always something I wanted to do and knew that I would do because of my family heritage.  It was just a matter of when,” DiCasmirro said.

Naturally, hockey aside, there was a semblance of culture shock with the move to Europe.

“My first time landing in Italy, the way everything looked, everything just seemed upside down. Everything is smaller, smaller apartments, department stores, they just don’t have the need for that stuff.  Little things like that,” DiCasmirro continued. “From noon to three the stores close, there is no rush here, it’s very laid back, a different way of life. That takes some getting used to.”

From a hockey perspective, there were some differences as well.

“The game is different.  The ice is bigger, the game is much less physical, you get much more time with the puck.  It’s more about the skating and the finesse and trying to make plays. It’s not about the physicality, it’s about the speed.”

Now enjoying his eighth year playing in Europe, that sense of culture shock is long gone. DiCasmirro has adjusted to the European lifestyle both on an off the ice.

“I met my wife here, she’s from Austria. Now, when I go back home I find myself saying whoa, slow down, why not enjoy your meal a little and things like that,” DiCasmirro laughed.

Much as it was in the states, DiCasmirro still finds himself changing teams or leagues every few years, but at this point, he is unfazed by the change. Thus far, he has played in five different leagues with 7 different organizations since 2008.

“It’s always an adventure. There are always differences wherever you go.  There have been times where I have told my agent, I want to go to Italy, or I want to go to Sweden. It definitely makes it easier when you have a say in where you are going.”

Regardless of the team or country DiCasmirro finds himself in, at 37 years old, he is still playing hockey at a remarkably high level and doesn’t intend to stop any time soon.

“Physically, I feel great right now, I’d like to try to make it to 40 and still be playing,” DiCasmirro commented. “Food for one has helped me. I watch what I eat, when I eat, and how much I eat. Also, certain training and workouts make a big difference.

Though DiCasmirro does have some regrets about his career, one regret he has made sure he will not have is making sure he is prepared with a plan for life after hockey, whenever that may be. That plan is PuckStyle, a company specializing in unique hockey-themed jewelry and accessories.

“I was wearing a necklace one day; it had a little black disk with my number on it. I saw it in the mirror one day and thought other people might like or wear something like that and it went from there,” DiCasmirro recalls. “I started messing around with different materials and googling to find different manufacturers who could do what I wanted and trying to put it all together, it took about a month to finalize the idea.”

DiCasmirro went on to point out the importance of google in ultimately helping him get his business off the ground.

“Thank God for Google. I would just google things like hockey puck backs and cold call or email people asking questions. I would just try to learn and teach myself as I went along, trying to sound as business savvy as I could and I’m sure sometimes I didn’t,” DiCasmirro chuckled. “I can see why good ideas don’t always turn out for people.  It’s a lot of work, way more than I thought it’d be.”

There were certainly times where the work may have seemed overwhelming, but now less than two full years from the very beginning of this venture, DiCasmirro has already seen results. The PuckStyle brand has already made its way into the AHL and NHL with endorsement from the Syracuse Crunch and Minnesota Wild respectively. Both teams’ retail stores supply PuckStyle products.

As DiCasmirro himself will tell you, the process, which is now almost two years in the making, has not been easy, but he has never doubted his business venture.

“My wife is pretty honest with me, she’s a hockey player herself, she played for the Austrian national team, and she would have told me if she didn’t believe in this. When I explained it she and a few other friends got on board. ”

One might expect that starting a business in Europe that largely handles its business in North America would be very difficult, especially if you are doing this in your spare time when you’re not playing professional hockey. As it turns out the obvious geographical barriers are not as cumbersome as one might think.

“Actually, the time difference benefits me,” DiCasmirro said. “I can do all my research and send emails back to North America while everyone is asleep. By the time they get back to me I have finished my workouts and practice so I can focus on this. I can make calls at eight or nine my time and it’s only the middle of the day back home. It works out pretty smoothly.”

For DiCasmirro his goal for PuckSytle is financial stability for his family.

“If I decide that after my career I want to go into coaching, I don’t want to have to say I’m taking this coaching job because I need the money. I want this to provide comfort for me and my family in the long term.” 

What might be most impressive about the promising young company is that it is run mostly in-house without any employees, a very impressive feat given that they distribute products across the globe.

“It me, my wife who is the graphic designer, and my business partner, one of my best friends who lives in LA.  It’s just the three of us, we hammer out the products and send them all across the world,” DiCasmirro commented. 

Currently, PuckStyle products include customizable bracelets, necklaces, keychains, golf ball markers, and pucks, but are hoping to expand their product line in the future.

“I hope PuckStyle will continue to grow and expand, as we are constantly brainstorming.  Not everyone is going to want a bracelet or a necklace so we want to provide customers with as many different options as possible. PuckStyle is for every type of hockey fan.”

It is uncertain when DiCasmirro’s playing days will come to a close, or if he will play for team Italy in the 2018 Olympics as he hopes, but it is certain that he will be around the game for some time to come all thanks to PuckStyle, a small but promising company providing fun, affordable accessories to the everyday hockey fan.