Dylan Vander Esch is the latest in a long line of talented Bears men's hockey players. For four seasons, the California native was about as clutch as anyone in the sport. The forward notched 101 points and many of them came in bunches. Vander Esch led Potsdam in scoring in each of his four seasons, guiding the Bears to three postseason berths and was a two-time All-SUNYAC selection.
Vander Esch grew up in a household full of athletes. His father Doug and younger brother Caleb each played football for the University of South Dakota, with Caleb later playing for the Arlington Renegades of the XFL. His mother Elizabeth, a teacher, was able to make sure that academics remained a focus as well. Vander Esch played soccer, baseball and lacrosse, while growing up. He even won a California State Club Lacrosse title in high school. However, hockey was his passion.
"It's always been something I've loved to do and it's been an escape from everything else going on," said Vander Esch.
While not a traditional hockey hotbed, the sport has been growing in California since the Los Angeles Kings began play in 1967. The state now has three NHL teams. The Sharks arrived in Vander Esch's hometown of San Jose in 1990, a few years before he was born. They played an important role in his development.
"They (the Sharks) brought an influx of hockey interest into the Bay Area," Vander Esch said. "And then fortunately for me, just by happenstance, my childhood home was only a couple of miles from the Sharks practice rink and a couple miles from their actual arena in downtown San Jose. That's where I grew up around the sport. And then always just seeing the players and the rink and everything, which is something that was super cool. I got really lucky. I mean, there were other kids that weren't as fortunate. They're driving a half hour, hour or even two hours to try to play on a high-level team growing up. Where as I was a couple minutes down the road. So for that part of it, it just worked out as the perfect storm."
As Vander Esch continued to develop his skills, he looked toward playing junior hockey. In 2011 he made the trip across the continent to play for the Connecticut and Hartford Wolfpack. Coaches recognized the forward's ability and multiple coaches from Division I and III programs reached out. Fortunately for the Bears, Vander Esch's former Wolfpack teammates Jake Rivera, a fellow Californian, and Vinny Caligiuri were already attending Potsdam.
"They did a good job of answering all my questions and kind of put my mind at ease," said Vander Esch. "And I was just ready to take that next step into college."
He was also pleased with what he saw when he visited the campus, from both Maxcy Hall and his future teammates.
"The facilities, first and foremost at Potsdam are second to none from what I saw for other Division III colleges," Vander Esch said. "That was a big thing. The camaraderie within the team that I was stepping into was a big factor as well. The couple classes ahead of me were really good about making the team a family and feel as one. So that was a cool thing to be a part of that. Also the vision that the program had and the potential that we had to be successful now."
In the preseason of his 2014-15 freshman year, Vander Esch quickly worked through the little anxiety he had and acclimated to his new team. The Bears opened the campaign with a pair of ranked teams at home. After falling in the opener to ninth-ranked Plattsburgh in a hard fought 4-2 loss on Halloween, Vander Esch and his teammates showed signs of things to come to following night. With 15th-ranked Hobart pressuring the Bears from the outset, Potsdam found itself tied 1-1 after the first period thanks to superb goaltending from Jon Hall. Just 36 seconds into the second period, Vander Esch jammed the puck into the net from the left post to get his first goal and give Potsdam the lead. The back-and-forth battle ended with the Bears on top 5-4. He remembers that his first marker might not have been as pretty as others, but 'they don't ask how? They ask how many.' His grandfather was also in the stands to witness the goal, making the moment even more special.
Potsdam won two of its next three games, including a 2-1 win at No. 4 Geneseo and was 3-2 through five contests. The team struggled in its next 10 games, posting just a 2-6-2 mark and was 5-8-2 overall and 2-4-1 in the SUNYAC. Vander Esch picked up his second goal in a 3-2 loss at Johnson & Wales on January 9, but he and his teammates had work to do to turn things around. Vander Esch admitted he was putting a lot of pressure on himself.
"That's with any athlete," said Vander Esch. "Everybody wants to succeed and you don't want to let people down. You don't want to let yourself down. You don't want to let your team down. You want to produce and I wasn't doing that."
Around that point in the season, Vander Esch had a meeting with head coach
Chris Bernard.
"I think the conversation we had was like, hey, just keep doing what you're doing," Vander Esch said. "There are certain things that if you play the right way, they'll come. And don't overthink just trying to score. Play hockey the right way and then good things will happen. And I think at one point, it was the winter session, I don't remember who we were playing and things just started to click."
On January 17, Vander Esch broke out for his first career hat trick and the Bears rolled to a 6-1 win over Western New England. Six days later, No. 9 Plattsburgh kept the forward off the scoresheet in a 6-2 loss. Vander Esch and his team responded with a strong run to finish the regular season. On January 30, he scored midway through the first period against Geneseo. Hall did the rest, shutting out the Knights with a 53-save performance. The next night, Vander Esch scored an extra-attacker goal with 42 seconds left to help the Bears forge a 3-3 tie with Brockport. He also had an assist in the contest. The Bears spent the final three weekends of the regular season on the road.
"Lines started gelling," said Vander Esch. "We were building chemistry with a certain line combination. I think I was playing with Vinny Caligiuri and Kenny Simon the rest of that second semester. We just clicked as a unit and everybody understood each other's roles. As an athlete, when you're able to just play on instinct and not overthink it, things tend to come a lot easier. And so, that was it's a pretty cool feeling when everything works out that way."
He scored a goal in a 2-0 win at Fredonia on February 6. Vander Esch registered all three of the Bears' goals at Buffalo State the next night, but the Bengals came away with a 5-3 victory. He had a goal and two assists in a 7-2 laugher at Morrisville on February 13. He scored the game-winner in a 3-1 decision to sweep the Mustangs the next night.
The Bears headed into the final weekend of the regular season with the playoffs and a shot at home ice on the line. Standing in their way were Cortland and No. 1 Oswego. Cortland roughed up the Bears 6-2 in Maxcy on December 5, and the Lakers ripped them 7-1 the next night. On February 20, Potsdam trailed early, but eventually shook off the Red Dragons with three third period goals for an 8-5 victory. Vander Esch had three assists. At Oswego, the top-ranked Lakers struck twice in the first five minutes and were on the brink of blowing out Potsdam.
"It's just a gut punch, especially on the road," Vander Esch said. "They had a massive crowd. It was their senior night. Just that typical type of scenario where it's like everything's kind of stacked against you. And I think we just kind of took it one goal at a time."
Vander Esch stopped the bleeding with a power-play goal with just 27 seconds left in the first to make it 2-1.
"That first one going into the first intermission was really big for us," said Vander Esch. "We settled the crowd down a little bit. You're going into the intermission with a little bit of momentum and that's something you can rally around."
With just over five minutes left in the second, he struck again to tie the score. The Bears scored twice in the third period to seal the win.
A 7-2-1 surge to finish the regular season gave the program its first home playoff game in seven seasons. Vander Esch was a key reason for the success, totaling 13 goals and seven assists for 20 points in the 10 contests. He was named SUNYAC Rookie of the Week four times during the stretch. Unfortunately, Buffalo State cooled off the red-hot freshman and his teammates, downing the Potsdam in the quarterfinals. The Bears finished the season 12-11-3 (8-6-2 SUNYAC). Vander Esch had 22 points on 15 goals and seven assists in his collegiate debut.
"It was kind of cool to be a big piece of that puzzle and that component to the team," Vander Esch said. "I appreciate that experience and obviously still wish some things went differently. But that's the way sports go. And you just got to try to go with it and take it as it comes."
Vander Esch and his teammates started the 2015-16 season as strong as they finished the previous one. The Bears reeled off six straight wins to start the season and found themselves ranked 12th in the nation. Now a sophomore, Vander Esch recorded his third career hat trick along with an assist in a 6-3 win at Morrisville on Halloween. He had two goals, including the game-winner at Cortland on November 13. The next night, Vander Esch added a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over No. 10 Oswego.
A 7-1 loss at No. 3 Plattsburgh halted formerly undefeated Potsdam and sent the team into a 1-5-2 spiral over the next eight games. Vander Esch continued to produce despite the rough patch. He scored six goals during the span, including his fourth career hat trick in a 4-3 win over Johnson & Wales on December 11.
After a one-goal loss at Curry to open the second half of the season, the Bears bounced back for a 3-0-1 mark in the next four games. Vander Esch had three goals and two assists during the stretch. He capped the run with two goals, including the overtime game-winner against Canton on January 23. The streak was the last highlight of the season as Potsdam faded down the stretch before falling at Geneseo in the quarterfinals. The Bears went 11-11-4 in 2015-16 and Vander Esch finished with 27 points on a career-high 17 goals and 10 assists. The performance earned him a spot on the All-SUNYAC third team.
"For me it's like, yes, it feels good to be recognized," said Vander Esch. "Just like this achievement (the hall of fame). But it's not necessarily just a testament to myself. It's a testament to the team and the people I was playing with. I was on the fortunate end of some of those statistics. But I was super appreciative."
The 2016-17 season was a difficult one for the program, but Vander Esch continued to stand out. He had three goals and an assist as Potsdam started the year 2-0-2. The Bears staged a legendary comeback against Morrisville on November 5. Down 5-1 midway through the second period, Vander Esch scored a power-play goal to start the rally. With 21 seconds remaining, he buried the game-winner to complete the 6-5 victory. He had four more multi-point contests over the rest of the season. A two-goal, one assist performance that included the game-winner, gave the Bears a 3-2 win at Nazareth on January 7. He had a goal and an assist in a 6-5 win at Canton a week later. Vander Esch registered two goals and an assist at Utica on January 21, and he scored two more at Buffalo State on the 28th. The forward finished his junior year with 15 goals and eight assists for 23 points.
Vander Esch served as a captain as a senior. Thanks in part to his consistency and his leadership, the Bears bounced back in 2017-18 and returned to the playoffs. Potsdam opened the year 7-1-1 and Vander Esch supplied 12 points on seven goals and five assists during the run. He picked up his fifth career hat trick in a 5-2 win at Saint Michael's on October 28. He then had a goal and an assist at Geneseo and Elmira along with two assists at Canton and Fredonia. Another cold streak brought the Bears back to earth, but Vander Esch picked up his sixth and final hat trick at Utica on January 13. He had an uncanny ability to score goals in bunches.
"I think for me, if you could score one, you play a little bit more relaxed," said Vander Esch. "Relaxed as in, all right, you can do your job. You don't have to worry about scoring another. I knew my role was to score goals . . . And that's how I helped the team succeed . . . I feel like everybody kind of gets a little bit more on edge when you don't score, because you're trying to break that seal. So once the seal's broken, I think everything from a momentum perspective just flows a little better. And I think that was a big thing for me."
He registered three assists at Morrisville on January 19. A tie at Fredonia followed by wins over #13 Buffalo State and #3 Oswego propelled Potsdam back into the playoffs. At Buffalo State in the quarterfinals, the Bears found themselves down 4-1 midway through the third period. Vander Esch led the final charge. He scored a power-play goal at 9:35. With 1:50 left he scored again, but the Bears bowed 4-3.
"We definitely battled till the final buzzer," Vander Esch said. "But that was a hard one because it was the last game in a Potsdam jersey for myself, for my classmates. It's the last time you're with that group of players. The last game was always very hard. You've battled and you've worked so hard to get to that point and put so much time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, whatever you want to call it throughout the summer, throughout the year. There's so much leading up to a season and that when it's finally over, it's never fun."
Potsdam closed the season with a 10-11-5 (6-8-2) mark. Vander Esch had his best year offensively, recording 28 points on 14 goals and 14 assists. He earned second team all-conference honors. Vander Esch had 101 points in 100 games. He ranks seventh in program history with 62 goals and fifth in power-play goals with 19.
The end of the 2017-18 season wasn't the end of his hockey career. Four days after the Bears exited the playoffs, Vander Esch made the leap to professional hockey.
"Right after the season, I signed with an agent and my agent called me and he's like, hey, we might have an opportunity with the Wheeling Nailers of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. So, I jumped at the chance to be able to do that. And they were playing Adirondack, which isn't too far. I think it's Glens Falls. So it just made sense. It would be easy to get there. I think I was there for one game. It was a cool experience, but any chance I get to play pro hockey I wanted to kind of jump on that."
In five seasons since leaving the North Country, Vander Esch has competed in 160 pro contests, compiling 90 points on 45 goals and 45 assists for the Nailers, Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Newfoundland Growlers, Florida Everblades and Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL and the Macon Mayhem, Knoxville Ice Bears and Fayetteville Marksmen of the SPHL.
"The professional hockey lifestyle is like no other," said Vander Esch. "It is stressful, yet rewarding at the same time. It's interesting because you're in the locker room, getting ready next to one of your best friends. But at the same time, you're fighting for the same job, and you want to out-compete them. You're also rooting for them, because if they're doing well, that means your team is doing well. So it's a very interesting dynamic in the professional sports world. And I think the big thing is everybody knows it's not personal. Everybody's just trying to fight for their own job and their own livelihood. And I wouldn't trade it for the world."
In 2020, Vander Esch was having a solid season with the Growlers. He had eight goals and nine assists for 17 points in 31 games, when the world shutdown for the COVID Pandemic. He didn't play hockey during the abbreviated 2020-21 season but moved to Atlanta and was waiting for his next opportunity. He was finally contacted by a former coach who was now with the Florida Everblades.
"We chatted it through and it made sense for me to go down there, and it turned out to be the best decision of my life."
The Everblades rolled to a 42-20-6-4 record to finish first in the ECHL's Southern Division of the Eastern Conference. They stayed hot in the playoffs. Vander Esch and his teammates defeated Greenville in six games in the Southern Division Semifinals. They swept Jacksonville 4-0 in the division finals before downing Newfoundland in five games in the Eastern Conference Finals. They polished off their title with a 4-1 series win against Toledo in the Kelly Cup Final. Not only had Vander Esch finally gotten his elusive championship, it was also his finest season as a pro. He played in 50 games and recorded a career-high 32 points on 15 goals and 17 assists.
"That championship run was literally the coolest experience ever," Vander Esch said. "That was surreal. And I'll remember that for the rest of my life."
It's tough to make a good living in professional hockey unless you reach the highest levels. Understanding that, Vander Esch wisely looked into another career. Still in Atlanta, he's been an account executive in software sales for more than four years. It was also a career he could do while continuing to play professional hockey.
"I actually talked to the company I was with at that point," said Vander Esch. "I was like, hey, look, I'm already somewhat working remote. And I have a chance to go play professional hockey. I said this has kind of been my whole life up to this point. I know this job. I know how to do it. I can make both work. And fortunately, I had a good track record with the company, so they worked with me. For that year in Florida, I was working a software job after practice and getting all my stuff done, but then also playing hockey full time too. That it was definitely a busy year."
After not playing in 2022-23, he filled in for the Atlanta Gladiators for eight games last season. He's now focusing on his career in sales.
Vander Esch has achieved quite a bit as an athlete, a student and in business, but admits he couldn't have done it without his family.
"The support I got from my family and friends was second to none," Vander Esch said. "I would have never been able to be here without my mom, my dad, my brother, my family as a whole, my friends. There were a lot of ups, lots of downs. Whether it be being undersized growing up, then recruiting in juniors, and then landing at Potsdam. Then after that, just up and down with the minors. All the moving and bouncing around. There's a lot of hard times we need help getting through. I can't thank my family, my friends, everybody enough for what they gave me in terms of support and encouragement. They're my biggest fans when things are going well. When things weren't, they're the first to pick me up. So, I'm super appreciative."
