From The Archives: Vitucci ECHL's 10-Year Man

By: John Packett

Were it not for a phone call during the Christmas holiday in 1988, Nick Vitucci might be well on his way toward earning a pension with General Motors.

Instead, the 30-year-old Welland, Ont., native is celebrating his 10th anniversary as the grand old goaltender of the East Coast League. In fact, he’s the only player in the league who was also there for the very humble beginnings of the ECHL’s reincarnation in 1988-89.

“I always thought I’d go to work in the factory and play in the beer leagues Tuesdays and Thursdays,” says the Toledo Storm stopper.

A long-distance call from Joe Selenski, one of four coaches the Carolina Thunderbirds had in 1988-89, changed his life.

“I’d finished juniors and was playing in the beer leagues as a forward,” Vitucci says. “I was working with my father (plumbing and heating business). I was ready to get hired by General Motors of Canada. Selenski, who had known me from (the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario League), called me the day after Christmas.

“He asked me if I’d be interested in coming down to (Winston-Salem, N.C.),” Vitucci recalls. “I told him, ‘Joe, I haven’t even put on goalie equipment this year and here it is Christmas.’ He said they would give me as much time as I wanted to get in shape.”

Vitucci weighed that offer with a much more lucrative one from General Motors. After talking it over with his parents, he chose hockey.

“My parents sat me down and said, ‘Listen, Nick. You’re 21. You’ve got 44 years before you retire in the factory. What’s one or two years difference going to make? Why don’t you go, and you won’t have to kick yourself in the butt and wonder, what if, what if?’

“So with the support of my family, I was off to Winston-Salem and it has been a dream.”

Vitucci helped the Thunderbirds win the first ECHL title in 1988-89 and was named playoff MVP. The 5-foot-9, 170-pounder has played on three other league title teams and won more than 200 regular season games, by far the most in ECHL history.

He has played for five teams in his career-Carolina, the Greensboro Monarchs, Hampton Roads Admirals, Charlotte Checkers and Toledo. After winning the league title with Carolina in the first year, he also picked up championships with Greensboro in 1989-90, Toledo in 1993-94 and Charlotte in 1995-96.

Although Vitucci has played in just two of the league’s five All-Star Games and has not won a top goalie award, he was playoff MVP in 1989 and ‘96. In The Hockey News’ 50th Anniversary edition earlier this season, Vitucci was named the best ECHL goalie ever and the first team all-star.

With a 10-5-3 record this season, Vitucci improved his career mark to 204-100-29.

When Vitucci donned the pads and mask for the first time, there were only five teams in the league. Now, it has mushroomed into the biggest minor pro league in North America, with 25 teams and three more set to join before 2000. “With expansion and affiliation with NHL clubs, this league got a lot more professional,” Vitucci says.

"I remember the first couple years with the broken-down buses and older arenas. (Ten years later, we have) respect from other leagues, the NHL, the International and the American League. I don’t think they thought too much of the East Coast League in the early years. They’re not afraid to send players here now.”

Most ECHL teams have working agreements with NHL teams.

“The talent level now of these kids is a tribute to the league and how far it has come,” Vitucci says. “It seems like every year it gets better. I don’t know whether that has something to do with me getting older and slower or not.”

Vitucci went through the early bench-clearing brawls of the formative years of the ECHL.

“You don’t want to see that happen, but it did and the fans loved it,” he says. “They liked to see the gloves drop and guys throwing ‘em. People wanted to see tough hockey. We outdrew (in Greensboro) what the NHL is drawing in that same arena today.”

Coaching has also made a difference, says Vitucci. “Jeff Brubaker demands toughness out of you. Chris McSorley is a great tactician. Greg Puhalski is probably one of the best Xs and Os coaches I’ve played for. John Marks is an emotional leader. John Brophy doesn’t accept losing.”

Vitucci never got an opportunity to play beyond the ECHL level, something he regrets.

“That’s the one thing I wish would have been different,” he says. “I was under contract with Peoria (IHL) for a couple of years and I really didn’t get a good opportunity to play. I was kind of an insurance policy and I knew my role as a third goalie in that system.

“I wish I had been given a chance to get comfortable in that league the way I was here.”

Now in his second stint with the Toledo Storm, Vitucci has no plans to hang up the skates any time soon.

“This is not going to be my last year,” he says. “In the long run, I want to stay in the game, preferably as a GM. From where I came from and where I grew up playing, I never thought I’d be a pro hockey player. I think I overachieved.”