Scinocca pursues career in Vermont

When Shayla Scinocca heads to Vermont to play college hockey in the fall, she can put a giant checkmark on her to-do list.

The 18-year-old Brandonite, who graduated last month from Neelin, is heading to Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt. “I’m very excited,” Scinocca said. “I think it’s going to be a real fun experience playing college hockey. This has been a dream of mine for my entire life so to see it finally come true is a really big deal for me.”

In a way, she can thank her younger brother Talon. The pair, whose parents are Dave and Sherrie and older brothers are Daylan, Broden and Tyson, are part of a sports family, and that’s what led her to the game at age six.

“I actually got into hockey because of my little brother Talon,” Scinocca said. “My parents were putting him into hockey and I just thought ‘Oh, I kind of want to do that too.’ They also signed me up and me and Talon played on the same team in Timbits in our first year of hockey.

“I’ve just loved it ever since.”

She had already done figure skating by the time, so she was a good skater at age six, something that is still a strength of her game.

The right-shooting forward actually played defence until she was in U15, when she decided scoring goals was more fun. But the switch up front has given her a unique perspective of both positions and helped round out her game.

“Playing defence helped my defensive game as a forward,” Scinocca said. “It helped me see both points of view for both positions and understand what the defence has to deal with too. I feel like forwards don’t always understand how much defence is doing for you.”

Hockey was always been her top sport, but she played softball, volleyball and was in dance, and understandably since her father is a golf pro, she likes to get out her clubs.

She’s thankful her folks have always been quick to help out.

“My parents have always been there for me and always supported my goals,” Scinocca said. “I owe them everything for them giving me the opportunity to move away from home to play for bigger programs, which helped me a lot with my development and where I am today.”

She continued to play hockey with the boys growing up — something she credits with making her even more competitive and aggressive — finally branching into girls hockey in her minor U15 season when she was in Grade 8 in 2020-21.

A year later, the under-15 AAA Brandon Wheat Kings captain had 14 goals and 16 assists in 33 games as the team won the U15 AAA Manitoba Female Hockey League’s inaugural championship in the spring of 2023.

She jumped to the Westman Wildcats for the 2023-24 season in her rookie season in U18 and posted nine points in 38 games.

“That was a super fun team to play for and a really good group of girls,” Scinocca said. “I realized I needed a change and a bigger opportunity to pursue my goal of playing Division 1 so I made the choice to play for the CSSHL in Winnipeg for RHA.”

The Canadian Sport School Hockey League has become a major producer of players in recent years, so she moved to the Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg for the 2024-25 season, posting 10 goals, 11 assists and penalty minutes in 29 games.

“I enjoyed it a lot,” Scinocca said. “I had a lot of fun there. I ended up doing really well there, scoring some goals and getting a good amount of points. I did better than in my first year U18.”

After the season, the five-foot-four teenager moved to Penticton, B.C., to join Talon, who is a prospect of the Western Hockey League’s Penticton Vees. Both teens attended the Okanagan Hockey Academy prep school.

OHA provided the added benefit of another change of scenery to test herself against the tougher teams in the B.C. Division.

In 30 games, she had four goals, four assists and 10 penalty minutes as the team finished 10th in the 14-team prep league with a record of 11-16-0-3.

“It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting for the overall outcome of the season,” Scinocca said of the losing season. “It was still a good experience and I learned a lot and met a lot of really great girls out there. It helped me get to the school I’m going to now.”

Saint Michael’s College is a private Catholic college in Colchester, Vt., which is located two hours straight south of Montreal and minutes from Burlington in a community of about 18,000. The school has an enrolment of more than 1,100 students, with more than 90 per cent living on campus.

Its 22 varsity teams compete in NCAA Division II.

In Scinocca, the team is getting a multidimensional forward who can fill a number of roles.

“I’m a hard worker,” Scinocca said. “I am a playmaker, I can set people up in good positions and I’m also a goal scorer. I usually have a shoot-first mentality. I’m a strong forechecker and backchecker, I skate really hard.”

The Saints roster was about one-third Canadian last season as the club went 1-27 in conference play to finish last in the eight-team New England Women’s Hockey Alliance.

After speaking to many, many schools, she had a call with St. Michaels coach Meghan Sweezey that went well, so she headed east for a campus tour. That’s when she knew it was where she needed to be.

“Everything just felt right about it,” Scinocca said. “It’s a smaller school, which was a factor for me. I talked to a bunch of the girls on the team and they’re super nice, and they only had really good things to say about their program and their coaches. They were closely knit team.

“They also have a really good psychology program, which is what I’m going to be majoring in, with the goal of becoming a sports psychologist.”

It will certainly qualify as a major move when she heads out next month.

Colchester is a long 2,600-kilometre drive from home, but Scinocca thinks the experience she’s had before has equipped her for the change.

“I’m feeling excited about going down there,” Scinocca said. “I’ve grown up independent so I’m not too worried about it, and living in Winnipeg last year, I was on my own. I know it was still close to home but I was still doing everything on my own.

“I’m feeling really ready for another new experience. Playing in the different cities definitely helped me get a feel for what it’s like to be away from home and away from all your friends and family and everything you’re used to.”

While it turned out to be a bit of a winding road with a few stops along the way for Scinocca, she thinks the destination is worth it. So is the fact she knows what her plan is and can start mapping her next route.

“It feels so great,” Scinocca said. “It was a very stressful process in my opinion. I wish I had started reaching out to schools a lot earlier in my high school career but everything worked out the way it was meant to.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com