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E T E M A R O f i g u r e d t h e c h a p - t er i n h i s l i fe t h at i n v o l v e d p l a y i n g professional hockey wa s closed forever after he suited up as a n emer genc y goa l- ie w it h t he D a n bu r y Whalers in 2011. But five years later another Federal Hockey League team based out of Danbury, Conn. , came calling. This time it was the Titans, a team coached by Maro's former teammate Phil Esposito—not the former NHL and hall of famer—that needed a goalie to bail out his injury-ravaged roster. Maro jumped at the opportunity, signing on as an emergency goalie before being thrust into action against the Brewster Bulldogs. He didn't give up a goal in a peri- od's worth of work, but figured that good fortune wouldn't last the following night a g a i n st t h e l e a g u e - l e a d i n g s q u a d f r o m Port Huron. "I felt it was going to be a shellack ing," Maro recalled as he drove through a bliz- zard that hammered Western Connecticut on the day of the game. On most nights, 1,500 fa ns would pack i nto t he Da nbu r y A rena . On t h is snow y night only 450 showed up, but they made t hei r pr esenc e felt a s t hey i n spi r ed t he Titans to victory. "The guys played their butts off in front of me a nd we won t he ga me, 3 -2 ," Ma ro recalled. "I had to make a penalty shot save aga i nst t he top scorer i n t he leag ue a nd finished with 30 saves." Not bad for an or thodontist one month shy of his 51st birthday. Ma ro, who r uns his ow n practice, Blue Wave Orthodontics, has always seized the opportunity to play the game he fell in love with as a boy growing up in New Jersey. He s t a r t e d out pl ay i ng s t r e et ho c key before moving to the ponds where he and his friends spent every day after school in the winter months. "I g rav itated towa rd the net because I was catcher in baseba ll," said Maro, who began playing organized hockey at the age of 11. He wa s soon play i ng aga i nst older players because he wanted to face better shooters. He spent his first three years of hig h school at Pa ra mus Catholic in New Jersey a nd played h is sen ior yea r at t he Taft prep school in Watertown, Conn. Yale University eventually took notice, but without the opportunity of earning an Pete Maro's colorful career away from his orthondist office has garnered the attention of several publications. JUNE/JULY 2020 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM // 37 P athletic scholarship from the Iv y Leag ue s c ho ol M a r o op t e d t o at t end t he St at e University of New York at Potsdam. After getting a taste of college hockey, the 19-yea r-old freshma n spent his summer work ing out w ith the New Jersey Dev ils. The following spring he was able to get on the ice with the NHL team at the invitation of veteran Mel Bridgeman. " I'm 20 yea rs old a nd I go th roug h my f irst f ull N HL practice," sa id Ma ro, who would later transfer to SUNY Geneseo. That 's when scouts began to take notice going into his junior season. They paid even more attention after Maro was named MVP of the SUNYAC tournament that year. "It was because of a lucky break of being at the right place at the right time," Maro said. The New York Rangers invited Maro to t r a i n i ng c a mp i n 1987 a nd he played i n several exhibition games. At 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, he was bigger than most at his posi- tion, and his goalie coach, Eddie Giacomin, loved it. But it wasn't enough. "I got brought in to [Phil] Esposito's office one day thinking I'm going to be assigned to Flint and I got cut," Maro said. The move didn't sit well with Giacomin, who made a call to the Devils, who took a chance on Maro and assigned him to their farm team in Utica, N.Y. It was there that he started looking at his future beyond the game following a conversation with team captain Murray Brumwell. "He knew I had been accepted to dental school [at the University of Louisville] and asked what I was doing here still," Ma ro recalled. "I told him I was having fun, and he said don't have fun for too long or you'll end up like me hanging on for a paycheck. It was great advice."