Only One Of Off Campus' Briar Hawks Star Athletes Can Actually Play Hockey

Most of the time, actors who play athletes on TV don't play their sport in real life, but "Off Campus" star Stephen Kalyn is an exception.

The new Prime Video hockey romance series follows the students of Briar University in Massachusetts as they navigate romance, friendship, and college life both on and off campus. During an interview with BuzzFeed, "Off Campus" star Antonio Cipriano, who plays John Logan, described what it was like stepping into his role as a non-hockey player and revealed why Kalyn was such an asset to have on set.

"We all played our individual sports, and we all thought we were super coordinated dudes," he said. "Then, to throw us on skates was a totally different experience. Very humbling, if you will. Stephen, who plays Dean [Di Laurentis], grew up playing hockey, so he was a big help with the culture of hockey — things like how you wear your helmet, tape your stick, and hold yourself as a player. The other three of us were Bambi on ice."

Introduced as Garrett Graham's (Belmont Cameli) trusted teammate, Stephen Kalyn's Dean begins a romance with Hannah Wells' (Ella Bright) close friend Allie Hayes (Mika Abdalla). The pair's love story serves as a secondary plot in Season 1, but Dean and Allie are set up to headline "Off Campus" Season 2 as its main couple. Kalyn's elevated role in the next chapter of the series should give him even more opportunities to show off his natural hockey skills.

In a conversation with Deadline, Kalyn spoke about training with his co-stars and recalled a funny clash he had with Jalen Thomas Brooks, who plays John Tucker.

"There is nothing more entertaining for me, as someone who's played hockey his whole life, to watch a bunch of grown men learn really how to walk again on the ice, and watch them fall and hit on their little tushies," Kalyn said. "There was a moment one time when we were practicing, me and Jalen, it's a drill where you kind of come around. And I remember I was just going at it. Always going, I'm coming around, and I see Jalen, and he looks up at me like a deer in headlights, and he goes, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa!' And I'm just like, 'It's over for you, man,' and I just completely run him over. And obviously [he's okay]."