ITHACA, N.Y. – Shane Talarico has been named director of hockey operations for the Cornell men's hockey team, head coach Mike Schafer announced on Friday.
 
"He has a solid reputation as having a great hockey mind," said Schafer, who enters his 25th season as the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey. "He's a tireless worker, and he's been very well respected wherever he's been."
 
Talarico joins the Big Red after serving as the associate head coach at Skidmore for the past two seasons. Last year, he helped the Thoroughbreds post the program's best record in 12 years. Talarico ran the penalty-killing unit, which finished the season with an 84.8% success rate, and he helped Austin Rook to placement on his league's all-rookie and second all-star team. In all, he recruited 16 players to Skidmore.
 
Prior to Skidmore, Talarico spent two seasons as the head coach of the Syracuse Stars Elite of the United States Premier Hockey League. He posted a 53-27-8 record in that span, with a 9-4 overall record in the postseason. The Stars made the USPHL Final Four in both of Talarico's seasons as the head coach. He also served as an assistant coach of the Syracuse Stars Premier teams.
 
Talarico competed for four years as a goaltender at SUNY Potsdam. He had a career .897 save percentage as well as a 3.80 goals against average, while his teams made two trips to the SUNYAC Tournament. Talarico earned three SUNYAC Goalie of the Week nods and also earned the Coaches Award in 2015. He graduated in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in education.