Once a lost dream, Marshfield's David Warsofsky to get long awaited Olympics shot

For David Warsofsky, the dream of playing in the Olympics for the United States men’s hockey team seemed to move further and further out of reach with each passing year.

Months ago he was the longest of longshot candidates, with the USA hockey brass going to opt for the star talent provided by the NHL rather than selecting the 31-year-old journeyman defenseman from Marshfield, who bounced around the NHL and AHL and spent this season playing professionally for ERC Ingolstadt in Germany. 

But when the NHL came to the decision that its players wouldn’t participate in the Winter Olympic Games in China, that gave Warsofsky a glimmer of hope.

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He clutched onto it and when Warsofsky takes the ice for his next official game on Feb. 10, he’ll do so as a member of the U.S. Olympic hockey team, living out a long-awaited moment. 

“Before I ever made it to college or the NHL, I obviously wanted to play in the Olympics and represent my country on the highest stage,” Warsofsky said. “As my career progressed – majority in the AHL, but playing in the NHL and now overseas – I kind of thought that dream was lost. 

“The circumstances that we’re in right now with the NHL players not being able to go and this opportunity being selected, it’s a dream come true that I obviously had as a kid and growing up. Maybe didn’t seem realistic the last couple years, but I’m excited for it now as it approaches.”

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With no NHL players on Team USA’s 25-man roster and with 15 of those slots going to players currently in the collegiate ranks, Warsofsky comes onto the club as one of the squad's more experienced and older players.

The 5-foot-9, 170-pound Warsofsky, who describes himself more as an offensive defenseman, has 55 career NHL games under his belt, including playing 10 contests for the Boston Bruins during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.

Warsofsky, a former Boston University standout, then spent time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche and their AHL affiliates, but hasn’t seen any NHL action since the 2017-18 campaign.

Warsofsky though is one of only six players on Team USA who has NHL experience – Steven Kampfer, a teammate of Warsofsky during their Providence Bruins days is another – thrusting him into an elder statesman position.

“I’ve been in a leadership role the past couple of years wherever I’ve been and throughout my whole career it’s been an opportunity and a role that I’ve always enjoyed to take,” said Warsofsky, who has tallied 5 goals and 14 assists in 34 games for ERC Ingolstadt this winter. “We have a good group of older guys on this team if you want to say and I think we can hopefully lean on us a little bit with some experience, obviously not at the Olympic level, but the NHL level and other international levels that we all played on. I think that will be important.”

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In his role, Warsofsky can give guidance to the team’s abundant young crop of players, including two in particular who hail from the South Shore like Warsofsky.

There’s over a 10-year age gap between Warsofsky and Hingham’s Matty Beniers and Drew Commesso, of Norwell, with Beniers and Commesso both only 19 years old. Beniers is the youngest player on Team USA, which hasn’t had this type of overall youthfulness on the roster since 1994.

Warsofsky said with the advanced talent those two and the younger generation possess, they are already “pretty wise beyond their years,” but when called upon, Warsofsky can impart some wisdom that can serve beneficial, too. 

“Just give them the best advice that you can and tell them to enjoy it,” Warsofsky said. “I’m in my eleventh year of pro hockey and I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by. When you’re 20, 21, 22, you don’t realize that hockey doesn’t last forever and you kind of think you’re a little bit invincible at that point. Kind of tell them, ‘Hey, take these moments for what they are because it’s not all the time you’re going to get on the Olympic stage again. You’re not going to get these times back at this age.’”

Sharing the ice with Beniers and Commesso will bring back memories for Warsofsky as he sees the young duo on the same path he once took. 

Like Beniers and Commesso, Warsofsky came up through the USA pipeline and is a product of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. Warsofsky captained the bronze medal-winning U-18 U.S. team at the IIHF World Championships in Russia in 2008 and two years later, won gold at World Juniors.

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There’s obviously much more at stake with this international competition than any the trio have ever experienced. The elevated Olympic stage not only gives them a chance to represent their country again, but also put a spotlight on the same region of the state from which they come from.

“The hockey talent I feel like in the South Shore is growing year by year,” Warsofsky said. “With Drew and Matt on the team also, it’s one of those things where you feel like every couple years there’s more players from the South Shore going Division I or making it to the NHL. It means a lot for me to be a part of that.”

Warsofsky added: “I think everyone (back home) is excited about it. I’m proud to be from that area of Massachusetts and I take that pretty seriously.”

Warsofsky understands what this Olympic opportunity offers, and what it could potentially lead to as well. Warsofsky was content on playing in Germany this year, but it's hard for him not to think that if he shines bright during this grand event, a call from the NHL might await.

Warsofsky looks to use some of his own advice though, focusing on staying in the moment while in Beijing and putting thoughts of the future to the side.

“If it opens another door, another avenue back to the NHL I would definitely be open to it, but going to enjoy the experience and play for my country, do the best we can,” Warsofsky said. “Whatever happens after that or next year, it’s kind of in the back of my head right now, but we’ll worry about (it) when the time comes.”

While Warsofsky isn’t looking ahead, the Olympics give him a chance, even if it's just for a fleeting moment, to look back on what he called a “ little bit of a rollercoaster” of a career.

Warsofsky has experienced plenty of ups and downs, but there will be nothing quite like playing in the Olympics and having his dream finally turn into a reality.

“It’s probably my greatest accomplishment and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to represent my country again,” Warsofsky said.