Ties Between Warsofsky, Penguins Run Deeper Than Usual

PITTSBURGH — The ties between Ryan Warsofsky and Mike Sullivan run deeper than usual, even in the small world that’s hockey.

When Warsofsky was born in 1987, his parents Mark and Dawn asked their next-door neighbors in Marshfield, MA to be the godparents.

George and Myrna Sullivan are Warsofsky’s godparents — and their son, Mike, played on the expansion San Jose Sharks, and as head coach, has steered the Pittsburgh Penguins to two Stanley Cups.

“Known him since I was two. His sister taught me how to skate,” Warsofsky said, beaming, at morning skate on Saturday.

For the first time, Warsofsky will face the veteran Pittsburgh Penguins bench boss as a head coach. In the last two years, Warsofsky was an assistant coach on David Quinn’s staff.

“One of my biggest role models growing up, not just in coaching, even when he was playing,” the new San Jose Sharks head coach said of Sullivan. “It’s almost a pinch-me moment to be opposite benches of him.”

Sullivan was also, in Warsofsky’s words, a “big part” of his career.

Just one example of that, when Warsofsky, out of Curry College, was applying for his first pro coaching position with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays, his two references stuck out to Stingrays head coach Spencer Carbery: Mike Sullivan and Hall of Famer Ray Bourque.

Warsofsky and Sullivan remain close, but not tonight.

“It’ll be special,” Warsofsky said. “And then the puck drops, we get going.”

The same could be said about the match-up with Quinn tonight.

Quinn and Sullivan played at Boston University together, and when the San Jose Sharks sacked Quinn over the summer, Sullivan tapped his good friend to become a Pens assistant coach.

“He’s obviously a great man, and I’m grateful for him, because he brought me into this league. He hired me,” Warsofsky said. “I did learn from Sully, it’s a great game, but a shitty business. That’s something that is hard about it, right? The business side of it. But the relationships at the end of the day, 15, 20, 30 years from now, really, that’s what you have in this game is the relationships. And the friendships you’ve made.”