Nick Parillo
Number: 11
Position: Forward
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 170
Birthday: 1-16-78
Hometown: Schenechtedy, NY
Last team: Castlegar Rebels

Player Biography

Nick joins the Bucs from the Castlegar Rebels of the Rocky Mountain Junior (British Columbia) League, where he scored 25 goals and had 43 assists last season. He is a sportsman off the ice as well, and enjoys golf and baseball. This Mark Messier fan from Schenectedy, New York says that he always wears a charm around his neck for good luck.

Player Interview

Steve: Nick, where were you born and where do you call home?

Nick: I was born in Schenectady, New York. Actually, I live in a town called Niskayuna, which is just inside Schenectady.

Steve: So what was it like growing up there?

Nick: Well, it was all right. It was just a little town atmosphere; just like in Des Moines. Not too much difference. A lot of people think up-state New York is a city, but it isn't like that all. There is a lot of farmland in up-state New York, and it is a real nice area. It is just town life, I guess. You know, like anything else.

Steve: A lot of rolling hills up there and trees?

Nick: Yeah, they are pretty. I like to get up to the Adirondack Mountains during the summer. It is nice up there.

Steve: Now the Adirondack is the nation's largest national park, I believe, isn't it? It is huge.

Nick: Yes, one of the biggest - Yellowstone maybe.

Steve: It is real wilderness up there.

Nick: It is.

Steve: Tell me about your family.

Nick: Well, I have a father, mother. My father is a photographer and teacher, and my mother is a florist. I have a sister who is in California right now studying to become a psychiatrist. She can help me out after she gets done! I have a brother that is 15 at home. He is playing junior B hockey right now.

Steve: Has any of your family been able to see you play as a Buc?

Nick: Just recently over the past weekend; my parents came out. They saw the North Iowa and Omaha weekend. I think it was a couple weeks ago.

Steve: What did they think?

Nick: They were pretty excited to watch me play. They haven't seen me play in four or five years. My dad enjoyed himself, to say the least.

Steve: They will probably come back and see some more now?

Nick: Yeah. He wants to come out and see the nationals, that's for sure.

Steve: How did you start playing hockey?

Nick: Well, I used to watch games on TV when I was, believe it or not, when I was two or three years old. I used to know what was going on out there. I had a favorite team. I remember the broadcast of the Boston Bruins games and the Rangers games all the time in New York. I used to especially like Rick Middleton for the Boston Bruins back when. I think it was like '84 or whatever, a long time ago. I told my dad I wanted to play hockey as soon as I could talk. He took me down to public skate and I remember falling on my butt quite a few times, but I got up and, you know, stuck with it. Once mites started, which was the youngest age you could start playing hockey, I got right in then and I just took onto it ever since. It is a great game.

Steve: Are you the first in your family to play hockey then?

Nick: Yes, I am.

Steve: When did you know or decide that you wanted to pursue hockey full time?

Nick: As soon as I started playing. I just look forward to the weekends. It is just something to look forward to; getting on the ice and playing.

Steve: Have you always played your current position?

Nick: Anywhere on forward. I have played everywhere - center, right, and left wing. Just forward though. I haven't played any defense. I played goalie once when I was younger, but I didn't like it.

Steve: What teams have you played for?

Nick: Junior teams?

Steve: Let's start with like the most recent teams.

Nick: Well, when I was 17 in Canada, I played for the Weyburn Red Wings. It was kind of a big step cause I just came from high school hockey. So they put me with their affiliate for awhile because I was a little over my head at the time. I played with the junior B team, the Grenfell Spitfires, which is 45 minutes south of Weyburn, Saskatchewan. They were in the SSJHL, the Southern Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, which is a junior B. It is also the affiliate for the SJHL, which is a junior A league.

I played with them for about three months and came back up and finished a year with the Weyburn Red Wings. That was my 17th year. The following year when I was 18, I played the whole year with the Weyburn Red Wings. Then when I was 19, I went to the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League to try that out. I was just taking a tour of Canada here! That was beautiful country up there. I fished every day.

Steve: Did you really?

Nick: That is what I love doing. I sure got to do that. I did that while I was 19, and then I had an opportunity to come here when I was 20.

Steve: Now when you were 19, what team did you play after the Weyburn Red Wings? Who did you play for?

Nick: The Castlegar Rebels.

Steve: For those of you that are reading this interview, they all have web sites that are really good. So you got to fish a lot?

Nick: Oh yeah.

Steve: Beautiful country?

Nick: Oh yeah. Every morning before practice we used to go down to the river and just get these pink colored magnets. Just put them on the hook with a marshmallow and throw it out there, and every five minutes you would pull in a big rainbow trout. It was great!

Steve: So how did you come to play for the Bucs then?

Nick: Actually, they got in touch with me. Steve Nelson was down scouting a summer tournament that I was playing in. He ended up going back to Scott and discussing the players he saw at the tournament or whatever, and I guess they figured that I would fit in on this year's team. They gave me a phone call and told me this, and I had to make a decision between going back to Castlegar or coming here. There's a lot of college scouts in this league so I figured, you know, that is the route I wanted to take. Most of the guys in the other league were going down to the Western Professional League or the East Coast League. You know, I wanted an education to fall back on. It was kind of a last minute thing. I decided to come here, and fortunately I did.

Steve: Had you known about the Buccaneers before this? Had you heard of them before?

Nick: Well, I have a good friend, Mike Lephart, that played on the Lancers for a few years. I had heard about this league from his family. I always played on his team and I always looked up to Mike because he was such a good player, and I just didn't want to do what he did. I wanted to be different, you know.

Steve: Is Mike Lephart still playing for Omaha?

Nick: He plays at Boston College now. He was the leading scorer last year for the USHL. He was a real good player.

Steve: Was he from your area?

Nick: Yeah. He is from Niskayuna also.

Steve: Now before juniors, you said you played high school hockey. Where was that?

Nick: I played high school for La Salle Institute in Troy, which is a military kind of school. I got put there when I was in 9th grade. I played there for three years. It was an experience!

Steve: Pretty strict?

Nick: Oh yeah. They had a couple of green berets that ran some of the classes, old timers. I am a kid that laughs at everything, and they used to always be on my case.

Steve: What are some of the things that you like about playing for the Bucs?

Nick: Well, definitely the crowd here. They really get into the game and get you going. I haven't ran into a jerk in Iowa yet. There are such nice people out here. My housing family, Candy Adamson, is just a nice lady. I haven't really had a bad experience here, to be honest with you. Everything has been pretty smooth. That is why I really enjoy playing here.

Steve: What are the differences between playing a road game and a home game for you?

Nick: Well, you don't really get up for a road game as much, I guess, because you are on the bus. Basically, it depends how long the trip is. The longer the trip, the harder it is to get your legs into it once you get off the bus. That is the biggest difference. Except for, of course, the home ice advantage and your hometown crowd. You know, I miss that when we play on the road. But, you know, you have to win on the road too, so you've got to put that behind you.

Steve: What are your future hockey plans?

Nick: Well, right now I am talking to a couple of schools and I haven't really decided where I am going to go. I am pretty sure, it is almost definite, Merrimack College in Boston is where I'm going to end up. That will probably be decided within the next week. So I don't know what will happen after that.

Steve: What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you in hockey?

Nick: My first year in Saskatchewan I came right out of high school, you know, I thought I was a high school show boat. You know, I didn't know what junior A hockey was all about and I was kind of cocky. I thought I could handle it and whatever. I played an exhibition game, and I remember everybody was dropping their gloves and fighting. I had never seen anything like it before because, of course, I am American and it is just not the norm in American hockey. It is in Canada and that is how you make the teams is fighting. I remember a couple of guys in the locker room saying, "Parillo, you know, if you want to make the team you've got to drop the gloves." I am thinking, hell yeah, you know, I was a tough guy in high school. I used to get in a lot of fights so I figured I would fight.

Steve: In high school hockey you fought?

Nick: No. In school or whatever, you know, but not hockey. It was never on the ice because that is just not what we did. So I ended up dropping the gloves at the exhibition game against this big guy. I remember his name is Greg Books. He actually played for Weyburn later on when he got traded from his team. I remember the drop of the helmet. He threw off his and the crowd was just going crazy. I loved it right then, and I said this is it. I remember going up to him and looking him right in the face and that was it, and then I was out. He hit me twice in the face. I had two black eyes. I remember on the way home the guys were playing around. I couldn't see where I was going on the bus. They were saying, "Your seat is over here. No, your seat is over there." That was pretty embarrassing though.

Steve: It looks like you've learned to fight a little more efficiently now.

Nick: Yeah. When I played there in junior B hockey for three months my first year, it kind of prepped me for that kind of hockey, big time! I got used to it, you know, the next two years. I don't think I've really lost a fight that bad since that one. It seems like I'm getting a little smarter now when I'm fighting.

Steve: What is your favorite food and dessert?

Nick: My favorite food has got to be fish fillets, any kind of fish. I enjoy eating seafood. And dessert, nothing in particular. I am not a big dessert fan.

Steve: Do people consider you shy or out going?

Nick: Oh, I think outgoing, but sometimes shy. A little bit of both.

Steve: What do you do in the summer? Do you go back home?

Nick: Yeah, I go back home and I find a job. Hang out with my friends on the weekends and I fish a lot. I have always got to fish!

Steve: The fans would be surprised to know that I . . .

Nick: Probably that I like country music. I think coming from New York, a lot of people think New York is all city or whatever. They wouldn't figure there is a lot of country there, and a lot of people listen to country music there. I just think they would be pretty surprised I listen to it. A lot of people tell me that too when they find out I listen to it.