With his first season as a college hockey coach about over, Andrew Sturtz has learned a lot and has appreciated a spot behind the bench as opposed to taking shifts on the ice for the first time almost a decade and a half.
As the season winds down for the Penn State men’s hockey team, he’s not hurt — something that happened regularly during his professional career after leaving Hockey Valley as one of the program’s most productive players.
He’s also learned coaching can be just as rewarding as playing, and that it requires a lot of work.
“As a player, you’re sometimes kind of wondering what the coaches are doing,” Sturtz said. “You’re looking at those two games each weekend and thinking they just have so much time during the week.
“Obviously that’s not the case. There’s so much more — NCAA rules, preparation, recruiting — and that’s not even counting skill sessions and player development. The biggest thing I’ve learned this year has been about handling different individuals. You need to build relationships and every player is different.”
Of course, Sturtz knew that long before he joined the Penn State coaching staff last summer. When updated NCAA rules eliminated volunteer coaches and added additional coaching positions in their place in a variety of sports, his long-expressed interest in coaching and his numerous intangible skills made him a logical addition to the program.
As a player, his spirited, team-first approach allowed him to build strong bonds with teammates. He was chirpy but positive, a trait that followed him into his pro career where his last stop with the Toledo Walleye — when the team reached the East Coast Hockey League conference finals — earned him a nickname, “the germ.”
How you interact with a teammate differs greatly from how you interact in a player-coach relationship, though. So, Sturtz has learned to tailor his messages.
While he was fine getting called out during a game, not everyone is wired that way. Plus, he knows it’s his job to help make the team the best it can be, so when and how instruction happens matters.
Sturtz brings a proven record of success at Penn State — he played 111 games for the Nittany Lions, produced 50 goals and 104 assists while earning a Hobey Baker Award nomination and forgoing his senior year to sign an NHL contract — but the biggest key to his success behind the bench might be the same as what made him successful on the ice.
“He’s someone that really relates to players, to parents, to fans, to everybody. He’s just so positive and magnetic,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said. “He’s great to be around.”
A Pro Passion
Although Sturtz had been talking with Gadowsky about being a coach even during his career at Penn State, he needed to pursue his on-ice passion first. He played parts of three seasons in the American Hockey League and parts of five more in the ECHL.
He made sure to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment out of that before letting go of his dream to play in the NHL.
“When I played here at Penn State and everything was going great, you’re kind of in that mindset that it’s going to happen and then everything went wrong,” Sturtz said. “It wasn’t a lack of effort. It was more so poor timing, bad luck and things happen. When I got to the end, I knew I was ready to be done. I couldn’t do another summer of rehab, couldn’t put myself though that again mentally or physically.”
The long list of injuries Sturtz sustained includes both shoulders, both knees, a hamstring, a foot and an ankle. Those came with multiple injections, surgeries and one full season (2021-22) missed for rehab. At one point he went more than 600 days without playing a game.
That final season in Toledo, with the playoff run (and an injury), left him on good terms with his playing career, though.
“When I finished in Toledo, I loved my last game, loved my last team. They brought that passion out of me,” Sturtz said. “That was the last team I wanted to play with. If I wasn’t going go to be in the NHL, I’m glad it finished the way it did.”
A Return Home
His return to Penn State offered another chapter and opportunity. He arrived on campus with, admittedly, perhaps not the highest academic profile or the most recruiting accolades.
In his three seasons at Penn State, the team won the Big Ten Tournament in 2017 and reached the NCAA Tournament twice. He left as the program’s all-time leading goal scorer and only the second Nittany Lion to eclipse 100 career points.
Sturtz thinks his experiences help him as a coach (he’s in charge of recruiting, skill development and power play during games), and especially so at his alma mater.
“As a coach, you can game plan, you do your work, but when the lights come on its up to the players. You want to put them in the best position to succeed,” he said. “And, as a guy who played at Penn State and knows how much fun it is to win here, I want these guys to have those experiences too. This place was life-changing for me, and I hope it can mean as much to them.”
Sturtz missed graduating in three years only because of some missing internship credits. But he earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State in 2020 while playing in the ECHL.
“I just love the fact that he’s an overachiever. I love his story,” Gadowsky said. “He’s a guy that, yes, is very gritty and an overachiever, but he is skilled and he’s passionate about skill development. He sort of mirrors everything that makes Penn State special.”
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