By Mike Loftus, The Patriot Ledger

Ryan Warsofsky's hockey career didn't work out as a player, but he has made a successful jump into coaching in just a few short years. Warsofsky is a second-year assistant coach with the South Carolina Stingrays, who are competing in the ECHL playoffs.

In this case, Plan B has turned out to be Grade A.

Ryan Warsofsky's career as a hockey player stalled out much sooner than he wanted, but he could see it coming, and was wise enough to think ahead.

And, he admits, he was also fortunate that people gave him the opportunity to prove he could do what he thought he'd be good at, even though he had no experience.

All that has added up to Warsofsky, only a few years removed from his last game as a player, coaching in the ECHL playoffs this weekend in Reading, Pa. The 27-year-old from Marshfield handles defensemen and the penalty-killing unit as an assistant coach with the South Carolina Stingrays, who got the hockey world's attention this season with a 23-game winning streak.

"It's happened real quick," said Warsofsky, whose younger brother David is competing in the AHL playoffs with the Providence Bruins. "It's not exactly the path most people take. I've been pretty lucky, for sure."

Technically, Warsofsky's coaching career began where his collegiate career ended – at Curry College, where the puck-moving defenseman led the 2010-11 Colonels in scoring (9 goals, 27 points in 27 games) in his first full season after transferring from Sacred Heart University. Hip and knee injuries curtailed his lone pro season (he played in The Netherlands, as well as the now-defunct Central Hockey League) in 2011-12, so he applied for an assistant's position under Curry's new coach, T.J. Manastersky, in the offseason, and got the job.

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