When Pete Coluccini was a middle school student, he played hockey with his friends on the streets of South Salem, N.Y.

Coluccini always wanted to play goalie in hockey. Although his parents didn’t allow him to get in between the pipes on the ice, he would sneak in front of the net on gravel.

It turns out days fooling around with his friends on the roads developed skills Coluccini still uses in front of the cage, except in the sport of lacrosse.

The past two games, his hockey skills have been visible, as Coluccini made numerous kick saves and stops with quick hands. It’s resulted in two straight wins for the Orange and 34 combined saves for Coluccini. The freshman goalie will look to keep his hot streak when No. 12 SU visits No. 4 Cornell tonight at 7.

‘I make a lot of saves with my feet,’ Coluccini said. ‘It all comes from playing street hockey. I never took it seriously, but it’s helped me the most, especially with hand-eye coordination, being able to focus with the puck and looking up trying to see things.’

It has been Coluccini’s hot play that has stymied defenses lately, and much of his success stems from not only hockey, but football as well.

In high school, Coluccini was a three-sport star. Although modern athletes seem to be shying away from such a trend, Coluccini didn’t want it any other way.

‘Pete was one of the best athletes to come out of John Jay,’ John Jay Cross River High School head lacrosse coach Nick Savastano said. ‘It’s very rare nowadays to see a three-sport guy.’

In football, Coluccini played guard and linebacker, using his size and strength to his advantage. Listed currently at 208 pounds, Coluccini would beef up to 235 or 240 for football season. His weight propelled him to all-county honors in football in both his junior and senior year. On the ice, Coluccini trained to become more flexible, playing center and defenseman. And of course, he started at goalie for the lacrosse team.

‘I always loved playing different sports,’ Coluccini said. ‘It gives you a different outlet, more aggressive in hockey, being focused in lacrosse and really aggressive in football.’

The different sports not only gave Coluccini an outlet for his aggression, but provided him with the attitude and skills necessary to be a Division I goaltender. Junior defenseman Steve Panarelli said because lacrosse is such a mix of sports, experience in any other sport helps. He said he sees a football and hockey mentality in Coluccini.

‘He’s definitely tough, and you got to be a little crazy to play goalie,’ Panarelli said. ‘Guys are shooting balls at you at 100 miles per hour. I’ve seen him take a couple shots in bad spots and take it and suck it up.’

Syracuse head coach John Desko said he could imagine Coluccini being a standout hockey player. Desko mentioned Coluccini’s size, strength and great quickness with his hands that translate over into making him a solid lacrosse goaltender. His quickness and ability to stop shots with his legs has also come in handy stoning attackers on the lacrosse field.

Coluccini didn’t decide to play the other sports just to help with lacrosse. Until ninth grade, Coluccini dreamed of dominating in hockey. Two years later, thoughts of playing college football briefly crossed his mind.

‘He probably could have played college ball in all three,’ Savastano said. ‘But at the highest level, lacrosse-wise, Division I Syracuse, lacrosse was definitely it.’

An offer from the one of the most prestigious lacrosse programs was enough to lure Coluccini away from the other two sports. But they haven’t been lost within Coluccini. Competing in sectional finals in both football and lacrosse, and playoff games in hockey as well, Coluccini has seen three times the amount of pressure and competition that a one-sport specialized athlete would.

Such exposure has given Coluccini great experience and skills, and although he gave up hockey and football after arriving at Syracuse, the games haven’t truly left him.

‘I miss (playing three sports) a lot,’ Coluccini said. ‘But lacrosse is my true love.’

Published on April 9, 2006 at 12:00 pm