When you watch a hockey game , you seldom think about all the people behind the scenes who make the game possible . Paul DeFazio is one of them . He ’ s been contributing to the success of the Pittsburgh Penguins for decades , making sure the players have everything they need on the ice .
DeFazio recently passed a milestone , working his 1,500th game as part of the Pens ’ team of equipment managers .
His love of hockey began at age 9 , in Peters Township . “ Luckily I had parents who were ‘ full steam ahead ’ in anything I wanted to do ,” he recalls . “ They were very supportive in my wanting to play and made sure I was in every hockey clinic there was .”
In fact , DeFazio ’ s parents started the school hockey team at Peters Township when he was in the sixth grade . “ They have a really good program and have even won some state championships ,” he notes . DeFazio went on to play hockey in high school , and for some traveling teams including the Mt . Lebanon Hornets , Central Pittsburgh and the Amateur Penguins , adding , “ I was a good player , but probably lacked the confidence I needed to play in the NHL .”
He also lost some of his childhood passion for playing the game , but after knowing hundreds of pro hockey players , he ’ s learned it ’ s more about drive and hard work than natural ability : “ I ’ ve learned a lot by watching these guys . Looking back , knowing what I know now , it ’ s the hard work and the passion that makes it possible .”
When DeFazio was a junior in high school , he got a job working at the Pens practice facility in Southpointe . He was a hard worker and quickly moved up to operating the Zamboni and being a supervisor . When he was just 18 , Howard Baldwin , Jr .— a team owner at the time — took notice of his strong work ethic , and asked him to do something that would change his life .
“ He asked me if I wanted to work in the Pens locker room . They needed someone to clean up their room after practices ,” DeFazio recalls . He quickly agreed — and that was his ticket to getting to know the players and people in the Pens organization , eventually leading to his position as an equipment manager , one at which he ’ s been very successful for decades .
In 2013 , DeFazio had the opportunity to learn about being a head equipment manager when he went to the American Hockey League ’ s Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins . He got a chance to see what the job was like and learned a lot about being the head of the equipment team and seeing the other side of the job . He basically traded jobs with Teddy Richards , who wanted to work for the NHL ’ s Penguins in Pittsburgh .
After about five years , DeFazio was ready to get back to the NHL though , and remarkably a job opened in the equipment department with the Pittsburgh Penguins . It was an opportunity to return to his hometown , and he moved his family back , settling in the Cranberry Township area .
For those who think they would love the glamour of working for a professional sports team like the Pens , you may want to do a little research . There is much more than most people realize in doing the necessary jobs . DeFazio ’ s days usually start at 7 a . m . and he seldom gets home before 11 p . m . There are four equipment managers and three of them travel . DeFazio is part of the travel team and is sometimes on the road for weeks at a time . He just recently returned from a 14-day trip . And anytime the team travels , it ’ s the equipment guys who pack all those thousands of items up and make sure that they ’ re organized for use on arrival .
The equipment team makes sure the players have pretty much everything that would be found in the locker room — toiletries for the room , sticks , pucks , uniforms , pads , undergarments , equipment for maintaining the skates in top condition , practice jerseys , socks and tons of other things .
They have dozens of different kinds of socks and that ’ s just one item . There is game gear and practice gear , which doubles the amount of equipment needed . And they also collect all the skates , drying them and packing them for travel , and even sharpening the blades , and clean the helmet visors . There ’ s also a great deal of inventory tracking and ordering .
But all of this organization and attention to detail is vitally important to the players in doing their best job , which can lead to winning games .
DeFazio is also lucky that his wife , Katie , is supportive of his career and takes care of many things while he ’ s on the road .
He is frequently asked how to break into the business of professional sports , and replies , “ That ’ s a tough question . One thing is to do some volunteer work for the team . It helps you get to know people in the organization . The best advice I can give is work hard . Even if you ’ re just sweeping floors , you do it right . You get noticed . There might have been 15 or 20 employees working when Howard Baldwin , Jr . asked me to work in that locker room . But he asked me because he saw how hard I worked and that I was doing the best job I could .” n
PETERS TOWNSHIP ❘ FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022 39