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Tom Sestito played for 11 teams in his 12-year pro career, and the veteran tough guy admitted when he’s made return trips to some of those cities with an opposing team, he was booed.
Will the same thing happen in Wilkes-Barre when Sestito returns on Sunday as a member of the Toronto Marlies?
“I’m usually the villain coming in. Hopefully the fans aren’t too rough on me,” said Sestito, who spent the majority of the last three seasons with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
“It’s going to be different than going back to other places I played. My wife and I started our family in Wilkes-Barre, so it holds a special place in my heart.”
During his time with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Sestito was a fan favorite and a respected veteran in the room. On the ice, Sestito appeared in 111 games with the Penguins, registered 17 goals, 45 points and 320 penalty minutes.
The fact that 31-year-old Sestito is returning to Wilkes-Barre is a bit of a surprise considering he retired after parting ways with the team before the start of the 2018-19 season.
The opportunity to play again came as somewhat of a surprise to Sestito himself. He was back home in New York, enjoying being home with his family every day and wasn’t even skating or working out when the opportunity arose in December.
“I wasn’t looking to play anymore. My agent called and said Toronto asked if I had any thoughts of playing again,” said Sestito, who signed a professional tryout offer with the Marlies. “They said come in and work out for a month and we’ll go from there. It’s been a big turnaround and I probably feel as good now as I ever have.”
In his first seven games with the Marlies, Sestito has picked up right where he left off. He has a goal and two points to go along with 20 penalty minutes, including two fighting majors.
Sestito hopes his current time with Toronto will allow him to keep playing for another year or two. The competitiveness is something he missed, he said, as is the role of being a leader to younger players.
The latter is an element he learned while playing with Tom Kostopoulos in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
“I learned a lot from TK as he would help the young guys out as much as possible,” Sestito said. “I started doing it last year, especially with Daniel Sprong, driving him to the rink and having him over for dinner.”
The return to Wilkes-Barre on Sunday will mark the second time this weekend that Sestito hits the ice in a rink where he’s well known. On Friday, the Marlies played the Bears in Hershey — a place where Sestito engaged verbally with the fans as much as he did opposing players.
“Hopefully they forgot,” he said. “But it was all in fun and I think they know that.”
And there’s a good chance that the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fans will know just how much the area means to Sestito when he returns to the Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday.
“After last season we decided to go our separate ways because (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) had young guys coming in and they had Patty (Patrick McGrath) there. It was best for both of us,” Sestito said. “But Wilkes-Barre was a good three years of my life. I kind of wish it was longer.”
NOTES
— The Penguins kick off a two-game homestand this weekend with a crucial contest against the Providence Bruins on Saturday. They trail the Bruins by four points for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. On the injury front, forward Patrick McGrath and defenseman Chris Wideman are out for the weekend, while winger Ryan Scarfo may return.
