By: Casey Roehl

Bloomington, IN-- It’s an early Saturday morning on this campus of Indiana University and leading the charge into Frank Southern Ice Arena, is one of the most prolific goal scorers in IU Hockey history. Donned in his signature green New Jersey Devils beanie and an unbuttoned dress shirt, Christian Schurmann-Colicchio is business as usual.

The son of a vice president at a pharmaceutical company and a church volunteer has etched a legacy in Bloomington that has quietly risen to prominence.

For one of the greatest hockey players in IU history, Colicchio’s journey to an aspiring professional hockey career took an unlikely detour, to a place that taught him more than just being a hockey player. For the first time in his life, Colicchio would play for a program where hockey wasn’t a thought, let alone, a blimp on the athletic radar.  

“He’s one of the top three players I’ve ever played with or coached..” said IU head coach Andrew Newman. “He’s got all the physical tools to move on {to the next level} in hockey.”

Colicchio, a native of River Edge, NJ, just recently wrapped up a career-best season which included the 25-year-old forward netting the all-time goal scoring record at IU (84) and the second highest career point total (161) in program history.

In a year that has been hailed as one of the best in IU history, Colicchio tallied a career-high 57 points, tied for 15th most in the country among ACHA, (American Collegiate Hockey Association) D2 programs. He also netted 31 goals, the most in his IU career, including a team-best eight multi-goal games, with three games of at least three goals scored.

“He’s a gifted goal scorer who has abilities that many kids can only dream of,” Newman said. “His abilities to put the puck in the net or creating high scoring chances are almost unrivaled at this level.”

For Colicchio, the origins of his goal-scoring prowess began in an unlikely fashion. His father Vin, a Rutgers University graduate had played club hockey for the Scarlet Knights.. as a goalie.

“It was funny when I began playing hockey because he and I both knew that I was going to be scoring goals instead of stopping pucks,” Colicchio said. “Having someone to shoot pucks on and having someone push me to reach a goal was one of the best things for me.”

Fast forward to his third season of junior hockey as a member of the USPHL Premier’s Portland Pirates, the then 20-year-old began looking into collegiate options to continue his hockey career with his final year of juniors upon him. Schools which included NCAA Division III offers, and ACHA D1 looks, Colicchio would soon stumble upon Indiana University.

However, it was another sport that brought Colicchio’s attention to Bloomington.

“I was sitting and watching an IU basketball game during my last year of juniors, and my buddy who got into Ohio state said “dude you should look into IU’,’’ Colicchio said. “The atmosphere of the basketball game was awesome and seeing pictures of the campus, I took a trip Wednesday through Sunday and I knew that this place was where I was supposed to be.”

During the college application and campus visitation process, Colicchio had narrowed down his options to two schools, Ohio University, and IU.

“I looked at schools with academics along with athletics. I got looks from a couple NCAA D3 schools, but they couldn’t offer what some of the bigger schools like IU could.” Colicchio said.

It was during a trip to Athens, Ohio when Colicchio received an email which would secure his enrollment at IU. Within minutes of the news, Colicchio knew he wanted to be a Hoosier.

“You’re playing juniors for three years and taking online classes, but when you see the academic and athletic prospects and from there {IU} I knew that I was going to be here,” Colicchio said.

Prior to Colicchio joining the Hoosiers program, IU was in the midst of its second season as members of the highly touted Great Midwest Hockey League (GMHL) in the ACHA D2 classification, coming off a 9-15 record in their first season in the new league. Despite unfamiliarity with the region, former IU head coach Greg Benz noticed how Colicchio seamlessly adjusted to collegiate hockey.

“Coming in as an older player, I think that he did a really nice job in focusing on adapting to the environment and allowing himself to just play his game,” Benz said. “He did a nice job this summer at focusing on getting to where he needs to be to become a better player, it’s good to see the progression {since his freshman year}.”

On a program with highly talented players, some sporting top tier 1 junior experience such as the USHL, (United State Hockey League) and others in the tier 2 NAHL (North American Hockey League), Colicchio managed to snag a 40-point, 20-goal campaign, the second highest on the team as a freshman during the 2015-16 season.

Despite accolades and statistics, Colicchio has bigger goals that he strives to attain.

“I’ve always wanted to continue to see how far hockey can take me, and it’s been a dream to play professionally since as long as I can remember,” Colicchio said. “All I need is a chance.”

In the offseason this past summer, Colicchio tried out at the ECHL’s Indy Fuel’s 2018 Free Agent camp, a three-day event for prospective hockey players to earn spots on the Fuel’s roster. The Fuel, now in their fifth season as an ECHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, has had two former ACHA alums on their roster over the last two seasons.

To get himself into playing shape, Colicchio enlisted the help of multiple trainers and dietitians to get him into top physical condition. Throughout enhanced dietary regiments and multiple workouts per day, it was his work ethic which was the most improved facet of his repertoire.

 “He was never late for a workout, never late for an appointment, 110 percent when he was here, took his diet seriously, that’s just a growth of a player knowing that he had to have a lot of dedication to get to the next level,” said Colicchio’s strength and conditioning coach Bill Katinsky.

Katinsky, Colicchio’s trainer since his final year of junior hockey, had realized that Colicchio’s attitude towards improving as a hockey player had immensely improved when he realized that he was at times outworking others in higher leagues.

“He’s working as hard as someone who’s playing division one hockey or someone in professional hockey on a daily basis during the summer,” Katinsky said.

As the end of Colicchio’s time at IU draws near, he doesn’t view playing club hockey as a deterrent despite the lack of scouts giving looks to ACHA products; instead, he sees his time at IU as something which helped him realize how big being part of a brotherhood could be.

“This year was the best year we’ve had at IU and everyone knows that,” Colicchio said... “To see how the team and the game here at Indiana has changed, I couldn’t be happier to be a part of it.”

When reflecting on his career, Colicchio was most proud of how the program at IU has started to gain more traction in the community.

“It was amazing to see some of the games that sold out at times, and it made it really fun,” Colicchio said.

For Colicchio, an unlikely journey to an even more unlikely place ends without notoriety or national acclaim, but in the memories that were forged playing in the shadows of a sports capital of the Midwest. 

“I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”