The Violets 2023-24 season was highlighted by not only a strong on-ice record, but perhaps more impressively in the classroom as the team boasted a 3.64 team GPA. Leading the team both on and off the ice was Senior Assistant Captain Josh Stich.
Stich graduated this May with a degree in Neural Science from NYU’s College of Arts and Sciences. He impressively managed one of NYU’s most rigorous pre-med majors while performing at a very high level on the ice.
Upon graduating from NYU, Stich will enroll this fall in medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Einstein is one of the most competitive medical schools in the country, with an acceptance rate of 1.87% in 2024, and provides free tuition for all of its M.D. students.
Josh recorded 6 goals and 12 assists over 21 games this past season and anchored the defensive side of the puck as well. Assistant Coach Brian Zaffino spoke about Stich’s impact: “He’s a really skilled hockey player and it’s easy to see what he can do with the puck, but his best attribute was really how smart he was. He would pick the right spots to dive into the play and knew how to play without the puck so well. When you learn about how impressive he is on the academic side it makes sense and we’ll certainly miss him next year, but that’s the nice part about a school like NYU is we get to have really intelligent people like him come through the program. He’s been a terrific role model in every regard for the younger group and, most importantly, they couldn’t have asked for a better person to play alongside.”
(Josh Stich ’24 carries the puck up ice)
Prior to joining NYU, Stich played 4 seasons for Kent School (USHS-Prep) and spent 1 season with the Northern Cyclones (NCDC) before enrolling in the fall of 2020. Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of getting to hear more about Josh’s experiences at NYU as well as his plans post-graduation:
Can you tell us a bit more about your plans for medical school and your goals for your career after?
When I entered NYU, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in medicine, and NYU was immensely helpful in achieving this goal. Attending The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is something I am very proud of and grateful for. In medical school I will be conducting research in Pediatric Neurosurgery. I aspire to be the surgeon for a professional sports team, so I will likely pivot into something more tailored for that but as it stands, I am in the process of getting acclimated.
In terms of selecting a college, what drew you into NYU and made you ultimately decide to attend here?
I had a rather untraditional path to NYU. Leaving high school, I was determined to play collegiate hockey which led me to play for the Northern Cyclones NCDC program. Early into my season, I tore my ACL which made collegiate hockey seem like something unattainable. The NYU coach at the time had reached out during my senior year so NYU was on my radar, but it was my injury that made me really consider my life after hockey. As far as a mix of hockey and academics, NYU is hard to beat. Not only is it one of the top colleges in the world, but the level of hockey is really high, and it is in the best city in the world. Taking all of these things into account, deciding to attend NYU became a no-brainer and I’m so happy that my path took me to NYU.
What was your favorite part of going to NYU? Was there a particular class or professor who really enhanced your experience?
My favorite part of NYU had to have been the people and the opportunities. Coming to college, especially one in a city as big as NYU, is tough because you know few if any people. With NYU hockey you immediately have 25 friends which made the acclimating so much easier. Outside of the hockey guys, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet so many cool and interesting people because of just how diverse and global the school is. Also, the opportunities coming from NYU are top-notch. My experiences pertain to medicine so that’s all I can speak of, and in that realm being in New York is really the best place to be. NYU is an extremely strong research institution, so whatever you have an interest in there is likely someone looking into something similar to it and odds are they are at the top of the field. Beyond NYU, clinical and research opportunities are expansive with some of the top hospitals in the nation, like NYU Langone, Columbia, HSS, Weill Cornell, and Einstein being so close.
As far as a professor who really made a difference for me has to be Dr. Tom Carew. He taught one of the neural science elective classes and at the time was one of the top researchers in the field of memory and sensitization in the country. The neurobiology behind memory formation is something that really interests me, but it wasn’t so much the class that made the impact for me but rather him as a person. He was genuinely one of the nicest, understanding, and insightful people I’ve ever met. It was his immense level of care and investment in his students that made me enjoy my time with him so much. Dr. Carew is a great example of the caliber of people that NYU has and is just another reason why coming to NYU was the best decision I ever made.
(Stich will attend the Albert Einstein College of Medicine this fall)
How was your experience balancing this rigorous area of study with hockey? How did having teammates help navigate the experience?
I would honestly say it would be harder if I didn’t have hockey. Yes, hockey is a huge time commitment, but it served as a break from the rigors of pursuing medicine. The guys are amazing, so no matter how tough the day, knowing I got to hang out with my best friends at the end of the day at practice helped keep me balanced.
There were a couple other pre-med guys on the team so we would talk through lectures and prep for exams together so that helped having people in the same position as me. As I got further in my degree, I was able to pass on some of what I had learned to be successful to the newer guys. This was something really fulfilling because the older guys did the same for me when I started so it really brought things full circle. I wasn’t alone in this, with guys like Adam Svoboda and Jackson Oleson doing the same.
You did a very successful job in balancing challenging academic goals with hockey – what is your advice to younger or future players? Anything specific that you learned that you were not expecting?
I would say what made me the most successful was my ability to plan ahead. For anyone starting out, my advice would be to reflect on what you want to get out of school and what your goals are then to work backwards from that to know what you need to do. This helps give a step-by-step plan, which makes achieving your end goal that much more possible. I know a lot of people don’t necessarily know what they want to major in or what industry they want to enter post-NYU, so for those people just try things. There are so many cool classes and professors so don’t be afraid to reach out to anyone whose area of study or life story interests you.
As far as something I learned I wasn’t expecting was just how open people are to help. It is daunting to reach out to people via email, in class, or anywhere honestly because of the fear of rejection, but more often than not people will be willing to help. Even if they don’t have time to help for whatever reason, they likely will help you find someone who can which puts you that much closer to achieving what you want.
What was your favorite memory during your time with NYU Hockey? Any specific moments or games?
My favorite memory at NYU has to be the last game of last season. We had been dealing with injuries all year, so line-ups kept changing and on-ice cohesiveness was more difficult than we would’ve liked. During that last game, something seemed to click. It was arguably the most team orientated game I’ve ever been a part of. All of us Seniors were laying it out there to do whatever we could to win, and the underclassmen followed suit. One specific moment that sticks out from this is Stellios Bizekis diving to block a shot in the dying minutes of the game to ensure the point shot doesn’t make it past the first layer and it gets out of the zone. When I think back to moments like this, it makes me so happy that was how my hockey career came to an end; battling with my best friends to come out with a hard-fought win.
There are so many other amazing memories from my time with NYU Hockey, but this is one that sticks out.
Fellow alumnus Adam Peck ’23 added color around sharing the ice with Stich and the overall hockey experience at a high-level academic institution: “It was just so fun to have teammates like him. Guys have lofty goals in the classroom, but it makes it so much more fun to talk through the game when everyone in the locker room is smart. Stich was a perfect example of that, either he would point out things that I wasn’t seeing, or vice versa, and we’d get on the same page quickly. It was really unique to have teammates like him.”
We are very happy to have Josh joining our alumni mentorship program this fall, which pairs incoming players with an alumnus of the program as an additional source of guidance.
Thank you, Josh, for your contributions to the program and we look forward to following your continued success!