Phil Mazzone and Rick Gorman were instrumental in the formation and continued success of the Career Enhancement Program (CEP); a service many professional hockey players consider to be the best non-collectively bargained program offered by the Professional Hockey Players’ Association (PHPA). 

In recognition of their longstanding efforts, Mazzone and Gorman were named co-recipients of the 2016 PHPA Curt Leichner Distinguished Member Award, voted unanimously by the PHPA Executive Committee.  Named in honor of former PHPA Executive Director, Curt Leichner, the Award is presented annually to a member(s) of the hockey community who has made significant contributions towards the advancement of professional minor league hockey, and has continued to diligently serve the sport. 

During the mid 1990’s at the behest of many PHPA Members, newly anointed PHPA Executive Director, Larry Landon, sought to develop a continuing education program to assist players with their eventual transition to life after hockey.

In 1997, Landon enlisted his long-time mentor and friend, Phil Mazzone, who had recently retired from a career in education and who was experienced in helping high school students transition to post secondary education or the workforce.  In fact, it was Mazzone who was instrumental in helping Landon obtain a hockey scholarship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he majored in Business before embarking on his professional hockey career. 

Mazzone was originally contracted for 90 days to help design, develop, and execute the career transition program.  The PHPA player Executive Committee then approved the proposed concept put forth by Mazzone, and asked him to roll out the program to the PHPA Membership during the annual Fall Enrollment Tour where PHPA staff meet with players from each team for a one hour presentation about the PHPA.

“When we first rolled out this program, my goal was to get 1 player on each of the 21 teams we represented at the time to register for the program,” said Mazzone.  Once all 21 team meetings were complete, 105 players had registered for the program.  We didn’t realize the beast that we created at the time.  A lot of players would line-up and talk to me about their individual situation after each team meeting and ask if we could help them out.”

Mazzone then contacted various post-secondary institutions and eventually contracted the University of Athabasca, University of Phoenix Online, and a number of other accredited online programs that could help players advance their education while they were still playing.

The process began by providing players with a questionnaire, inquiring what they wanted to achieve after their hockey career.  Mazzone admits he received some unusual responses.  “The career aspirations were all over the map ranging from professional wrestler to opening a serpentine facility, wilderness guides, doctors, teachers, real-estate agents, all different requests.  The one thing they all needed, however, was some form of certification.  So I would research the process to get certified, the cost for each, made as many contacts as I could, and helped get the guys started on their career path.”

A key step in the process developed by Mazzone was to provide players with a psychology/personality test to determine matches between the occupation players said they wanted to pursue and what the test results suggested they do.  He hired a certified career counselor and test administrator, Stan Drobnich, to oversee the testing, after which Mazzone would then contact the player to discuss the results and reaffirm if the career path selected by the player was indeed going to be the correct path.  “Based on the test results, I would tell players ‘if this is what you want, this is what you’ll need, and this is where you’ll go.’  And the process unfolded from there.”

Mazzone’s original 90-day contract morphed into a full-time position with the PHPA due to the overwhelming response from players.  By the end of the program’s second year, 220 players had enrolled.  

The added workload warranted the hiring of additional staff to assist Mazzone, who sought out a former teaching associate, Rick Gorman, who had recently retired after a lengthy teaching career including a background in co-operative education job placements.

“In late 1999, I was approached by Phil as my skills and knowledge were found to be a perfect match to the CEP structure being delivered to Members of the PHPA, so I gladly accepted,” recounted Gorman.

Gorman worked alongside Mazzone for four years before Mazzone retired from the PHPA in 2004, leaving the direction of the program up to Gorman.  “I was tasked with continuing the program by myself.  There was no question I could not fill the void left by Phil, but gave it a good run for another 11 wonderful years.”

This past August, Gorman announced his retirement from the PHPA and reflected fondly on his accomplishments.

“I am very proud of the growth of the Career Enhancement Program over all those years which will continue long after I have left the PHPA,” said Gorman.  “And I know that many, many players are better off today for all the help we offered.  I would never have been able to share in the successes we experienced without the foresight and support of Larry Landon and all my other colleagues in the office.  To build such opportunities that were offered over the years was huge for players, alumni, and their spouses – the post-secondary studies with Athabasca University, the small business management program (Basics Business Online – BBO) with Niagara College, and now the Fire and Emergency Services Training Institute (FESTI) certification program at the Toronto Pearson International Airport (training facility).” 

Since Gorman’s departure from the PHPA, the program’s reigns have been turned over to another recently retired educator and former professional baseball player, Larry Downes. “Phil and Rick built a solid foundation for me to continue the success of the Career Enhancement Program. The process they developed and the contacts they made will allow me to move this program forward from 2015 and beyond.”

Nineteen years after Mazzone designed and implemented the Career Enhancement Program, over 1500 players have been actively part of the program.  Many of whom have experienced a great degree of success following their hockey career thanks to the CEP.

The pair will be presented with the 2016 Curt Leichner Distinguished Member Award this June during the PHPA Annual Meeting of Player Representatives.