John Marino is having the most productive season of his NHL career.

The 28-year-old Easton, Massachusetts, native has become a key contributor to the Utah Mammoth, a team that debuted in the 2024-2025 season after the Arizona Coyotes relocated.

Marino, who made his NHL debut for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2019, is in his second season with the Mammoth. The defenseman has a career-high 26 assists through 68 games and a team-best plus-37 rating. That means his team has scored 37 more goals than it has allowed with him on the ice.

NewBostonPost conducted a Five Questions interview with Marino last week with the help of the Mammoth media relations team.

It is below:

1. You grew up in Massachusetts, where hockey culture has been part of life for generations. Now, with the Utah Mammoth playing in front of sold-out crowds in Salt Lake City, have there been any moments with fans or around the city where you’ve really noticed that hockey culture is starting to take hold there?

I feel like the enthusiasm of the fans has been pretty similar. I know it’s a new fan base, but you can tell how passionate they are about the team and how excited they are that we’re there.

2. You and your brother started skating at about 18 months old to help improve your brother's legs. At what point did you and your family start to notice you might have a real knack for hockey, and do any early memories from those days stick out to you?

Maybe 19 months? Just had a love for the game right away.

3. You played college hockey at Harvard. What did it take to get your SAT or ACT scores high enough to get into an academic powerhouse like Harvard while also putting so much time and work into hockey?

You don’t think about the balance too much when you’re in the moment. You just have to put certain things aside and worry about one thing at a time, but hockey is obviously good for time management and being able to control different things all at once. College hockey really helped prepare me for life down the road.

4. You had a Sidney Crosby Fathead growing up, and later you ended up being teammates with him on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Have there ever been moments where you were a little starstruck playing with or against guys you watched growing up? Does any specific moment come to mind?

All the time, from the first time meeting him and everything like that. And then obviously being able to play on the same team as him, you pinch yourself sometimes. Just because you look up to these guys and watch them growing up, and then one day you’re playing with them. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

5. You and your twin brother seem to have taken different paths in hockey — you as a player and him more on the analytical side. How much have the two of you learned from each other over the years?

He for sure thinks about things more on the analytical side, where sometimes we’ll butt heads, but it’s interesting to see the other perspective. Even for me, I can explain certain plays that he might not understand, and then he basically just runs me the numbers on them. It’s actually a good conversation with him each time, seeing where he’s coming from and where I’m coming from, and hopefully we’ll find some common ground.

Bonus: You scored your first NHL goal at TD Garden in Boston with family and friends in the building. When you look back on that moment, what do you remember most about that night?

That was pretty special, just having friends and family around – first NHL game in the Garden, too. You couldn’t have really drawn it up any better or asked for anything more, so that was a special night.