Featured Player: Tyler D'Agostino
Over the past four years, senior forward Tyler D’Agostino has built a hockey career filled with awards, accolades, and new records.
• Freshman year: D’Agostino was named the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference (BRHC) Rookie of the Year and selected for the All-Star game after helping Mason win its first-ever championship.
• Sophomore year: He led the team in scoring in the regular season, recorded the game-winning goal Mason needed to reach the semifinals in its first season as a member of the Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference (DVCHC), and played in the All-Star game.
• Junior year: D’Agostino was named an alternate captain and an Atlantic Region Academic All-American, and helped lead Mason to its first DVCHC championship and Nationals appearance.
• This year: He is 15-11—26 in 24 games and is one of four players on the team to record a hat trick. D’Agostino is the only player to score shorthanded, which he has done three times.
His numbers explain what kind of person he is. D’Agostino, known as “Dags” by his teammates, holds the record for all-time PIM (232) because he can always be counted on to stand up for his teammates. He is second in all-time games played (114 games) because he doesn’t let anything stop him from playing when his team needs him – even if that means playing with a broken hand for a couple months.
Because he has been there for the team every step of the way for the last four years, D’Agostino was named captain this season.
“Tyler is the definition of a leader,” said Associate Head Coach Tony Cordova. “His hard-nosed play on the ice mixed with his fantastic work ethic in the classroom makes him the ideal leader for any team. I am so proud of Tyler and his accomplishments; he has developed into an outstanding young man during his time at GMU.”
GMU Hockey alum Kyle Dewhurst, who played with D’Agostino for three years, noted D’Agostino’s maturity both on and off the ice has made him a “fantastic captain and [a] great model for the younger guys on the team.”
He is a consistent, well-rounded player who truly loves the game, Dewhurst said, and it shows every time he steps onto the ice during practice and every shift during games.
D’Agostino also is shouldering the responsibility of club president this season, essentially turning his dedication to the hockey team into a part-time job. He acts as the liaison between Mason Club Sports and the team and deals with all the little details that aren’t normally thought about when looking at the team’s accomplishments but are critical to its success. This includes lining up funding from the school and organizing buses and hotels for road trips.
Despite the extra work, he is glad that he is club president and captain. He feels he has come full circle. Nick Baker, the captain and club president when D’Agostino joined the team, was his best friend and mentor. D’Agostino says watching what Baker did in those positions helped prepare him for his current roles.
Reflecting on his time at Mason, D’Agostino’s favorite memories are the progression of the hockey program over the last four years – from winning its first BRHC championship and being ranked 15thin the Atlantic Region his freshman year, to going undefeated in its new conference, winning the DVCHC championship, and making its first Nationals appearance as the third-ranked team in the region last year.
He also greatly values the bonds he has formed with his teammates. Those tight-knit relationships often translate to on-ice success. Mason has won every game when D’Agostino has played with two of his current roommates, Trevor Mack and Jared Lechner, on the starting line. He has an extensive game-day routine with his teammates, performing elaborate handshakes with Mack, Lechner, and Christian Nelms before taking the ice for each period.
D’Agostino graduated from Xavier High School, a private all-boys school in Manhattan, in the spring of 2015. He played for his high school’s varsity team, where he held the record for most career points for a year after he graduated. He also played for a travel team, the Long Island Arrows 16U and 18U-AA, and was a captain.
The Brooklyn, NY, native is not embarrassed to admit that he actually learned how to figure skate before starting hockey. (His favorite NHL player is Jeff Skinner, a center for the Buffalo Sabres, because he also figure skated before moving to hockey and won Rookie of the Year after his first season.)
Since trading in his figure skates for hockey skates when he was ten years old, D’Agostino has never looked back. His dad played hockey in high school, and he passed down his love of the game to his son.
D’Agostino chose Mason because, after his small high school, he knew he wanted to go to a big school with a hockey team and a change of scenery. He finished his Biology degree last fall after completing a research project studying the effect of fetal alcohol syndrome on zebrafish eyes, and he is wrapping up his Business minor this semester. He recently joined Mason’s event crew, helping set up for various events around campus.
The 21-year-old already has his future figured out. Inspired by his dad’s job as an optician, D’Agostino will take the next step towards his goal of becoming an optometrist when he begins the SUNY College of Optometry’s professional doctor of optometry program in the fall – one of the best optometry programs in the country and his top choice.
