Former Penn State hockey player Nate Sucese looks to excel at the next level

It’s no surprise to those close to Nate Sucese that he would sign a professional contract with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes upon graduating from Penn State.

“I can tell you from personal experience, there’s not many individuals — if any — that have worked harder on their game consistently day in and day out than Nate Sucese,” former Penn State hockey teammate Ricky DeRosa said. “He was rewarded, obviously, with an NHL contract.”

DeRosa, who graduated from the program in 2017, had only one year of overlap with Sucese. As a freshman, Sucese looked up to DeRosa, in addition to former mentor Andrew Sturtz.

“From a leadership standpoint I don’t think there’s a better guy that’s come through the program than Ricky DeRosa,” Sucese said. “He’s still one of the guys I talk to every day, day in and day out, and he’s always there when you need help.”

DeRosa was just one person who saw potential in Sucese, who went on to graduate as Penn State men’s hockey’s all-time leader in points and goals.

“When you look at Nate Sucese, you see a guy that’s not shy — but he’s a guy that lets his kind of play talk for itself. He’s the guy that’s on the ice early, he’s staying late. He’s doing all the right things, he’s doing all the right things away from the rink,” DeRosa said. “His byproduct of having 30-point seasons, pretty much throughout his entire career at Penn State ... a lot of people didn’t see the work that he actually put in, they only saw the final product.”

Former roommates Peyton Jones and Brandon Biro agree that Sucese did “the right things.”

Sucese would arrive early to practice with Jones to shoot on him, and after practice would spend time working on his breakaways and stickhandling. Outside of the rink, Sucese prioritized eating well and taking care of his body.

“He’s so healthy with what he eats, and he takes care of himself. I think that goes a long way when you get to a higher level,” Jones said. “A lot of people are good, but it’s the little things that really make you the best and he did the little things.”

Jones added: “He watched hockey all the time, he watched the best players — always finding ways to learn.”

For Sucese’s roommates, the sounds of a hockey game or game highlights on TV were constant. A longtime Buffalo Sabres fan, Sucese made a point to watch every game that he could, and Jones, Biro and Liam Folkes found ways to make game nights more interesting.

“So there was a time in our junior year, where every time the Sabres would score, he would get up and cheer,” Jones said with a laugh. “Me, Liam and Biro decided that whenever the other team would score we would get up and cheer. It was kind of a rivalry, because he’d always cheer when the Sabres scored and for us any time the other team scored, no matter who they were playing, no matter who scored — we’d celebrate like we won the Stanley Cup.”

Biro, who was Sucese’s roommate all four years of his collegiate career, joked that he watched a Sabres game every night. But, the two linemates used the games they watched, Sabres or not, to get creative on the ice together.

“You learn a lot from watching, so we learned a lot together,” Biro said. “As linemates for the last couple years, obviously his on ice impact I think really helped me get where I am in terms of hockey.”

As fate would have it, Biro will be starting his pro career by playing in the Sabres organization this season.

Sucese, who ended his career with 140 points and 61 goals, has been preparing since March for the 2020-21 season.

“Right after I signed, I immediately got on a training program,” Sucese said.

In March, Sucese started training with his brother, Jonathan Sucese, who owns Top-Tier Performance Training in Virginia. In June, he moved back to his hometown of Fairport, New York, to begin training in Rochester.

“I’ve been training and skating here in Rochester with the people I’ve trusted the last six or seven years,” Sucese said. “We’re actually about to finish our last week of summer training … and then we’re taking a week off and it starts to move forward into more training for the season to get started.”

Getting ready for training camp, which is supposed to start in November, has been different for Sucese and hockey players everywhere.

“It’s gonna ramp up a little bit, but you gotta stay fresh,” Sucese said. “You have to do things outside of the rink and the weight room to keep your mind busy. I enjoy nature a little bit, I love being out on the water and enjoying the lake house that we have. Then, when you’re in the gym, at the rink it’s work. It’s all business.”

Eager to get things going with the Arizona Coyotes, Sucese has been keeping in frequent contact with the organization.

“With so much uncertainty, it’s kind of hard to stay mentally prepared knowing that you don’t really have a start date,” Sucese said. “It kind of gets dragged on — waking up every day and putting in the work and not having an end date. I think they’ve done a really good job of just trying to keep us on track and telling us to take some time for ourselves as well, but ultimately still getting work done.”

His friends and former roommates are confident Sucese will succeed within the Coyotes organization because of his dedication to the sport, work ethic and drive.

“He was a guy who was going to give it 100%, even in practice,” Biro said. “He was always one of the guys that was working harder than everyone else and competing at all times when other guys might not have been going 100%.

“I definitely think that’s just the kind of guy he is.”