Big Apple Provides Big Lessons for Moldenhauer, Orrico at NY Career Venture
8/27/2025 10:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
By Jadyn Zdanavage
From June 14-21, juniors Nick Moldenhauer and Josh Orrico of the University of Michigan ice hockey team traveled to New York City for a career venture with the Graham Family Athletic Career Center, formerly the Michigan Athletics Career Center. Throughout the week, both players toured various companies, networked with alumni in the city, and got a chance to embrace all the Big Apple had to offer.
Preparing for Life After Hockey
Moldenhauer and Orrico aspire to play professional hockey in the future. However, the career venture gave them the opportunity to build their network and establish connections when their hockey careers inevitably conclude.
Off the ice, Moldenhauer, an economics major, is interested in real estate development. Meanwhile, Ross Business School student and business major Orrico has been exploring the world of finance, specifically investment banking. Luckily, the wide variety of companies that were part of the career venture allowed the duo to each dive deeper into their individual interests while also diversifying their knowledge of other industries.
A Mix of Student-Athletes
Many members of the Michigan ice hockey team have taken advantage of career venture opportunities available through GFACC, but this was the first time Moldenhauer and Orrico got the chance to take part in themselves.
Roommates since freshman year, both players have established a strong bond off the ice. This trip was no exception, as they turned to each other when it was time to work out early in the morning or to debrief their company takeaways.
A unique aspect of the career venture is bringing athletes from other Michigan teams together, including lacrosse, softball, soccer, and basketball, to name a few. Even though Moldenhauer and Orrico were there together, they still developed friendships with other athletes.
"You get to meet other student-athletes that you wouldn't have otherwise," Orrico said.
Learning from Elite Corporations
Throughout the week, the companies they toured varied across several industries. ESPN, Fanatics, and Excel Sports Management were a few of the all-star companies the group visited. Yet, the most memorable company for both players was Related Companies.
Related Companies is a global real estate development company specializing in a wide variety of sectors, ranging from affordable housing and urban development to property management and finance. Related has profound ties to Michigan, as philanthropist Stephen M. Ross founded the company in 1972.
The power Related has within the real estate world particularly intrigued Orrico.
"With the amount of power that they have in capital, they're able to truly make a difference in making homes affordable for so many people in New York and then all over the world," he said.
Moldenhauer echoed similar sentiments.
"What made [Related] so interesting is just how many different positions there are within the company, whether you want to just focus on real estate or you want to focus on affordable housing or anything in between," he said.
Dave Pearson, executive vice president at Related, spoke with the group of student-athletes for the majority of the duration they were there. Pearson was a former center on the Michigan football team, and continued his career playing professional football in the NFL before stepping into his current role.
"His story of playing football for Michigan and then moving forward into pro, and then switching and pivoting into real estate was super cool, and I thought that was just great exposure to be able to listen to how he got to where he is now," Moldenhauer said.
The personal touch companies like Related give to the student-athletes parallels the one-of-a-kind experience these student-athletes are exposed to on the trip. The companies on career ventures grant tours of their facilities and allow student-athletes to speak with employees, often those in executive roles, much like Pearson. Michigan student-athletes are treated as high priorities, even in the midst of a company's busy workweek.
Michigan Runs New York
Another aspect that makes the career ventures special is the alumni networking events. After meeting all the incredible alumni, the pair joked that "Michigan runs New York."
Specifically, the advantage of networking events is that they allow student-athletes to engage in meaningful conversations within a smaller and relaxed setting.
"They were more intimate and allowed you to talk a bit more about yourself and ask more personal questions to some people in some fields of interest who are also Michigan alumni," Orrico said.
The advice the alumni gave to Moldenhauer and Orrico was plentiful.
"I just wanted to focus on being a sponge in those and (I was) trying to absorb as much information as I could," Moldenhauer said.
Now, Moldenhauer and Orrico are tasked with maintaining their networks. Many alumni explained to Orrico that they could have advanced in their careers earlier if they used their networks better. For that very reason, Orrico explained that one of his biggest takeaways is the importance of utilizing his connections and building relationships with different professionals.
"The lesson is to use the network to our advantage, reach out to people that we think could help us, because everyone there said that I don't care if I'm busy, and I have a lot of 100 different things going on. If a Michigan person reaches out to me, I will answer the phone," Orrico said.
The willingness to put everything aside to help Michigan students encapsulates the "Michigan Difference." Student-athletes like Moldenhauer and Orrico are set up for life with the network and resources they can lean on as "leaders and best."
An Unparalleled ExperienceÂ
When asked to sum up the trip in one word, Moldenhauer settled on "irreplaceable." Recognizing the uniqueness of the GFACC, he said, "It's a trip that you can't get anywhere else."
And he is right. The resources at the GFACC are truly unmatched. Not many universities have the means to plan a single career venture, let alone five distinct trips in a single summer.
The duo recognized the gravity of the experience they took part in, but also acknowledged that there is more to the GFACC than just the career ventures.
One of the offerings available to student-athletes is the ability to schedule one-on-one mentorship meetings with either Graham Family Director of the Graham Family Athletic Career Center Maurice Washington or GFACC assistant director Julie Fielding, both of whose commitment to student-athletes at Michigan is unmatched. Aside from advising student-athletes during meetings, they plan workshops and networking events throughout the school year. And that is on top of coordinating and traveling on all the career ventures.
A Trip to Remember
Moldenhauer and Orrico will not soon forget their career venture experience. The lessons learned at companies like Related and connections built at alumni networking events made the New York Career Venture one to remember.
In the meantime, the pair is excelling on the ice. They will return to Ann Arbor mid-August to resume training with the rest of the Wolverines before returning to action at home on Oct. 3 against Mercyhurst.
