Currently ranked No. 1 in the ACHA D2 southeast rankings and No. 2 in the ACHA D2 national rankings, there’s a lot that makes the NC State club hockey team special, but one person who often doesn’t get a ton of recognition is team president and senior forward Parker Szarek.
Born and raised in Raleigh, Szarek said it wasn’t a hard choice to come play for NC State.
“My family has a lot of connections to NC State, just being big fans and having graduates in my family so NC State, regardless of hockey, was a school that I knew I might want to attend,” Szarek said. “And then I had some friends I had played with in the past that played for the team and had enjoyed it so far, and I thought it would be nice to stay local in Raleigh and also be able to play competitive hockey.”
As part of a transformational senior class that has turned this team from a smaller program to a nationally recognized one, Szarek has taken an important leadership role as team president.
Working alongside head coach Tim Healy, Szarek is in charge of booking hotels, buses and ice time while managing a significant budget and negotiating contracts with individuals such as security and athletic trainers. These are all typical responsibilities of backend staff one would see in a Division I varsity athletic department, but as a club sport at NC State, this is all run by the team, taking the time some would compare to a full-time job.
“It’s a lot of making sure that the team is kind of set in stone for each weekend and ready to go, and we can basically have a season so it’s a lot of work, but it’s also rewarding work because it helps us be able to play a season,” Szarek said. “I’ve had a lot of fun, like I’ve said it’s been a little stressful at times but it’s definitely important and I think it’s something that a lot of people kind of overlook cause they see us as more of a varsity level team, but they don’t realize that it’s a lot of player led work that goes into it so it’s definitely something pretty cool.”
As hard as he works off the ice, he puts in just as much work, if not more, on it. Despite not receiving the same publicity as some of his teammates, Szarek has been one of the top players on the Icepack all four years of his career.
“He’s a guy that when he’s not in the lineup it’s really hard to replace him, and we saw that at nationals last year when he got hurt,” Healy said. “He’s our top penalty killer. He’s arguably our top faceoff guy. He’s our fastest player on a team that likes to play with a lot of speed. He just does everything the right way in terms of character, grit, work ethic. He’s a great role model for the freshman when they come into the program.”
Even from the start of his career with the Icepack, he’s been making a huge impact on the ice.
“His freshman year we had a ridiculous stat where we scored more shorthanded goals than we gave up power play goals, which is absurd, and half of those shorthanded goals were scored by him,” Healy said.
That same year the Icepack went 25-0 and took its first of multiple trips to Nationals during the time Szarek has been at NC State.
Earlier this season he reached the milestone of 100 career ACHA points, a feat he describes as a side product of everything else the team has been able to accomplish during his time here.
Constantly producing in the big moments, Szarek gave the Icepack its first goal of this season in a big 10-3 opening night victory against rival UNC-Chapel Hill. In the Icepack’s most recent matchups against No. 11 Cincinnati, he opened the scoring in game one and grabbed another just before the end of the second period to put his team up by five.
As seen this year with the injury to senior forward Riley Johnson, no matter who is added to his line, that line will keep scoring thanks to the way Szarek is able to initiate play in the offensive and defensive zones.
Described by his head coach as a special player and a quiet leader respected by his teammates, Szarek has made a huge impact on and off the ice for the Icepack and has solidified himself as an important member of this incredibly talented Icepack roster.
