ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
St. Mary’s forward Aylah Cioffi skates ahead of Medway defenders in the Spartans’ home opener this season.
By KATIE MORRISON
LYNN — For most middle school athletes, playing on a high school varsity team is a goal that seems far away.
For St. Mary’s Aylah Cioffi, it’s a dream she realized last year, as a sixth-grader, playing for the Spartans girls hockey team.
Cioffi, a 13-year-old from Revere, is now in seventh grade, and has been playing hockey since she was three years old. She’s worked hard at her sport, and it paid off last season, as she scored five goals and logged four assists for St. Mary’s as a middle-schooler.
“Our thing here is that whether you’re in sixth grade or you’re a senior, we have to put the girls out there that give us the best opportunities to succeed,” said Spartans coach Frank Pagliuca.
Ever since joining the varsity squad, Cioffi’s been one of those girls.
In order to play at a high level at such a young age, Cioffi has had plenty of role models who have helped guide her.
She credits her father, Gerard Cioffi, with coaching her and supporting her wherever she’s played. She also looks up to her oldest brother, Gerard Cioffi Jr., who played hockey at Revere High.
And at St. Mary’s she plays with couple of teammates who can relate to where she is in her varsity hockey career.
Nahant’s Sarah Ryan and Lynn’s Ashley Wojewodzic, both senior captains on this year’s squad, know first hand the challenges of being a middle-schooler playing with girls four or five years their elder.
Both Ryan and Wojewodzic were eighth-graders on the Spartans’ last state championship team in the 2012-13 season. Ryan saw regular shifts and played significant minutes in the Spartans’ playoff run, and Wojewodzic, who didn’t see much regular game action that season, scored the winning goal in the state semifinal matchup against Woburn in the 10th round of a shootout, propelling St. Mary’s to the state final.
Pagliuca says that Ryan was a big part of the state championship team.
“She was thrown in there right away as a middle-school kid,” he said. “(Her success) says a lot about her mental approach to the game, since it’s all about controlling nerves and emotions, and she did that.”
“It was kind of intimidating,” Ryan said about her time on varsity as a middle schooler. “You’re scared to speak up to the older girls, scared to try too hard at practice. But I thought it was a good thing for me because it made me want to skate harder and be like them. It pushed me to be a better player.”
Wojewodzic, now 18, shared a similar sentiment. She said in the state semifinal game in 2013, she didn’t expect to be thrown into such a high-pressure situation.
“(Coach Pagliuca) looks at me and says you’re up. I didn’t move. I was freaking out.”
But both agree their experiences from five years ago make them much more aware of what Cioffi is going through as a seventh-grader.
“I remember (Aylah’s) first shift last year, she didn’t show how nervous she was, but I thought about my first shift halfway through seventh grade, and I was like a deer in the headlights,” Wojewodzic said. “She acts so calm, and now she’s comfortable on the ice, and I was so nervous, and it’s kind of crazy that she’s as young as I was then.”
“They’ve been through the experience of the highs and lows, and learned to control their emotions,” Pagliuca said about Ryan and Wojewodzic. “It’s a tough transition, when you’re 13 playing against 17 and 18-year-olds, it’s a tough, unique experience.”
And to achieve success in that situation, it takes a tough and unique player. Cioffi is remarkably calm and collected for a 13-year-old, and has a quiet confidence that shows on the ice.
“I never really felt uncomfortable last year,” Cioffi said. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work and sacrifice, and it’s helped me to feel comfortable on the ice. “
Cioffi also said that she’s always felt like part of the team.
“St. Mary’s feels like a second home to me,” she said. “When I’m with the girls on the ice, we’re all trying to work to achieve our goals.”
Having been through adjusting to a team of high schoolers as 12- and 13-year-olds, Ryan and Wojewodzic actively try and make the locker room and the ice a more welcoming place for girls of all ages.
“You don’t notice she’s a sixth grader, we try to be just one team,” Ryan said. “We all get along really well.”
Wojewodzic said that when she was in seventh grade, she felt like she barely knew her teammates.
“It was really hard,” she said. “I wouldn’t talk to anyone, I didn’t really feel like part of the team.”
But her parents stayed involved, “to make sure everything was OK, and that I wasn’t hearing things I shouldn’t be at that age.”
Now, Wojewodzic says her parents are still on her.
“Now they ask things like ‘are you including (the middle-schoolers)?’ We want them to feel included in a way that we didn’t feel when we were that age,” Wojewodzic said.
On her end, Cioffi is taking in all she can from the older girls.
“They’re great role models,” she said. “Both on and off the ice, they try to fit everyone in and they always make me feel comfortable, and I’ve learned to listen more and say less.”
But making sure Cioffi and all of the younger girls feel included is paying dividends, because Cioffi isn’t afraid to let her natural talent take over on the ice. Cioffi already has seven points (4 goals, 3 assists) through two games this season.
“Aylah’s blessed with a lot of natural ability, and she doesn’t play like a seventh grader, she plays a lot older,” said Pagliuca. “She’s growing as a player and a person, and learning new things every day. She just keeps getting better.”
With the right people by her side and a good work ethic, Cioffi has the potential to flourish.
“She works really hard at her game, and you can tell,” Pagliuca added. “The sky’s the limit for her if she keeps working hard. She’s a pleasure to coach.”
But even at her young age, Cioffi’s staying grounded.
“I’m just trying to work hard and be the best I can,” she said, “on and off the ice.”