One of the most interesting aspects of the 3ICE league is undoubtedly the storylines. Players from all walks of life take the stage every week to battle it out in a high-energy summer league. While there are plenty of players who were former all-stars in their respective professional leagues or descendants of NHL legends, there are no skaters like Chad Costello.
Costello has an incredibly unique opportunity that separates him from his fellow skaters: he is currently the head coach of the Allen Americans in the ECHL. This job opportunity was presented to him after his legendary career as their captain, which involved multiple 100+ point seasons. In fact, he won the league’s most valuable player award two times and led it in points three consecutive years. Now, Costello looks to bring his professional coaching and playing experience to 3ICE.
Costello’s Love for Competing Continues to Drive His Career
If there is one thing that is undoubtedly true about Costello, it is that he holds a massive passion for hockey. After his playing career came to an end, he was not ready to give up the sport. Luckily enough for him, he was given multiple opportunities to keep hockey the central focus of his life. After retiring, he accepted a position as the American’s head coach, but he was also able to continue playing through 3ICE.
“I have always wanted to do something with hockey,” Costello said. “At a certain point, my body started to slow down a bit because of a few unfortunate injuries, but I was fortunate enough to keep going with 3ICE and still be involved as a coach.”
Costello has a love for competition that continues to drive his game to this day. Although competing as a coach is entirely different than competing as a player, he still continues to find the value in both. He claims that the competition as a coach is less directly involved, but it continues to fuel his love for hockey as a whole.
Costello Continues His Legendary Leadership Ability With 3ICE
Despite a bit of a learning curve, Costello had absolutely no issues transitioning his game to 3ICE in his first year. He helped lead Team Trottier to the first-ever Patty Cup against Team Mullen while also winning the Brian Trottier Most Valuable Player Award. However, one of the most challenging aspects of the league is the league-resetting draft that takes place each year. As a result, Costello found himself moving to Team Johnston with a new roster around him. Despite the change, he enjoys finding new chemistry with his teammates.
“I honestly think building new chemistry with the guys isn’t too bad,” Costello said. “I like being able to have a veteran position to help the new guys transition to the league. The league has gotten a lot wiser as a whole, so enough changes have to be made that it evens out a bit.”
While Costello continues to help his team shoot for the playoffs, the opportunities to make an impact have decreased significantly. Each team only plays half of the scheduled weeks as opposed to every week like last season, so getting out of the gate running has become much more important. While Team Johnston has to wait until the end of the upcoming week to learn their playoff fate, Costello is confident that they’ll be able to go on a run if they can just make it in.
Related: 3ICE’s Chris Bourque Finally Gets to Play Under His Dad
The 3ICE season began on June 28 and will be broadcast live by CBS Sports, TSN and TVA Sports. The season will run for six weeks before the championship game takes place on Aug. 12 in Philadelphia. Stay tuned for more content about 3ICE as the season progresses, and make sure to tune into 3ICE this summer to enjoy the best part of hockey each and every week.
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