Jan. 28, 2005

by Katie Baker '05

Nick Shalek is late, as usual. He finally blows into the diner, cheeks flushed, and sits down with a hasty apology before launching animatedly into a story about the Yale Entrepreneurial Society, of which he is president.

Listening to him describe a recent event held by the organization, which he planned and which featured a keynote speech by John Thain, the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, it is impossible not to feel both overwhelmed and incredulous.

He chats about a number of other topics, from hockey to the grand strategies seminar he is taking, before looking at his watch and announcing that he has to leave for practice and lift. And just like that, he's gone in a whirlwind of energy to the rink, where he will meet up with the hockey team that he walked onto three and a half years ago and of which he is now the captain.

"He manages to squeeze a lot more out of life than most people," remarks teammate Christian Jensen, who has known Shalek for over 10 years. "Now that I've been in school with him I've realized just how smart he is and what a talented person he is."

That the 6-foot, 185-pound player is even still on the team, let alone the captain, is a testament to the work ethic and determination he has displayed over his four years at Yale. Having walked onto the team his freshman year, Shalek did not see playing time in a game until midway through his sophomore year when the team traveled to Notre Dame; he finished his second season with just four games under his belt, and played 12 contests the following year as a junior.

This season, he has already surpassed his game and point totals from the first three, seeing action in 18 games and contributing three assists.

"I don't know if I have ever seen anyone be as quietly resilient as Nick," says Yale assistant coach Bruce Wolanin '91. "He's making us all stand up and take notice this season, and he's been very important on the ice as well as off it."

Shalek spent the early years of his life in California, where he began playing hockey at age eight after seeing his two best friends play each other in a Mites game. (One of them, Grant Goeckner-Zoeller, is now one of Princeton's leading scorers.) After moving to Purchase, N.Y., several years later, Shalek spent time in the local tri-state area hockey circuit, playing with other Yale athletes such as Jensen, Ryan Trowbridge, and Chris Brooks.

As a student at the Rye Country Day School, Shalek excelled academically and athletically, captaining the soccer, hockey, and lacrosse teams while winning a laundry list of academic and merit awards.

An injury that kept him off his skates during the summer after his junior year precluded him from appearing in such showcase events as Hockey Night in Boston, and he was forced to take the initiative to contact college coaches to gauge their level of interest.

"It was pretty much me and my mom banging on doors, and getting the same answer every time: `Go play in juniors for a few years and then we'll look at you,'" Shalek recalls.

One of the coaches he spoke with was Yale head coach Tim Taylor, who did not guarantee Shalek anything but mentioned that as an academically gifted student-athlete Shalek could make a strong addition to the Yale team. Shalek applied early to Yale, got accepted, and followed a workout regimen over the summer to prepare for the challenge of walking on to a Division-I ice hockey program.

"It's pretty rare for a kid to appear out of nowhere and crack the lineup," says Wolanin. "He was clearly someone who had a big capacity for improvement."

Fast forward three years, and it is obvious that Shalek has filled in many of the gaps that were in his game. He is a strong, smart skater who has grown increasingly aware on the ice and handles the puck with much greater confidence than he once did.

"Shalek is the hardest worker on the team," says linemate Nate Jackson, who along with Bobby Burns has been playing with Shalek for most of this season and some of last year. Senior Pete Cohen, who has lived with Shalek for the past two years, agrees.

"He definitely leads by example out there," says Cohen. "He tries to do all the little things right."

The senior's ability to work as hard as he can earned him the respect and admiration of his teammates, enabling him to be an effective captain without being the best player on the team.

"It can be hard to know that I'm captain partly because [Joe Callahan and Chris Higgins] left and also despite the fact that 75 percent of the guys on the team are better than me," admits Shalek. "But I'm sort of dependent upon the people who are the talented guys on the team for their leadership as well."

While Yale's record leaves much to be desired, the captain explains that he is more focused on seeing continued improvement over the course of the season and going into the playoffs. His own positive outlook has spread to his teammates.

"I've been incredibly impressed by the attitude of our team," Shalek says. "The team is closer than it's ever been since I've been here."

His teammates note that his off-ice ideas have resulted in the team being as close as it has been in quite some time, as Shalek has placed a high priority on team unity and a positive outlook. In the locker room, the players now sit by their numbers, meaning that the freshmen are spread around the room instead of being clustered in the corner; in addition, the players hold weekly meetings just to joke around and catch up with what is going on with their lives.

So, what is happening in Shalek's life? Aside from being the hockey captain, president of YES and an incredibly motivated student, Shalek is also something that most seniors envy: employed for next year. Having eschewed numerous job offers from Wall Street investment banks, Shalek accepted a job at the Yale Investments Office working for Yale CIO David Swensen--an ardent Yale hockey fan who attends nearly every game.

Shalek's teammates tease him about his financial inclinations, and it is a common joke on the team that he is going to run the world someday.

"He's pretty integral to the economy," joke Cohen and CJ Nibbe, who is one of Shalek's other housemates. "He spends a lot of time at the YES center running New Haven from his hub."

According to his teammates, Shalek's promising future of world domination and financial mastery could only be hampered by one thing--his tendency to take frequent catnaps or, as Jensen dubs it, his "low-grade narcolepsy."

Shalek, in his characteristic fashion, laughs off these claims, and turns instead to focus on my question about his favorite hockey memory. His answer is telling in its focus on his three best friends, and touching for its selflessness.

"I wasn't playing, but when Higgins scored against Harvard freshman year I was so excited," he recalls, breaking into a broad smile. "Actually, I think my favorite time was sophomore year, when Higgy and Joe were two of our best players and Pete was starting in goal--even though I wasn't on the ice, I was really into the team."

It is easy to wonder with disbelief how Shalek was able to do the near impossible and rise from a walk-on spectator to an inspirational captain. But when you hear him say something like that, everything suddenly makes perfect sense.