Trading professional hockey for a career as a Rome, New York firefighter is working well for Tim Sestito.
Particularly for athletes, life can appear to move quicker than for people in other professions. For Sestito, grinding out a career in hockey for 13 seasons went in what seemed in a flash. Training camps, regular seasons, playoffs (including the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals with the New Jersey Devils), off-season workouts, the battle for a roster spot was a continuous competitive cycle. Since skating his last season in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League with Dinamo Riga in Latvia (2016-17), Sestito has dedicated himself to a new set of teammates, in a new arena.
Now in his fourth year as a member of the Rome Fire Department, Sestito is all in on serving the citizens of the city in which he grew up. The 101 NHL games credited to him are long in the former pro's rearview mirror.