Rochester Junior Americans 19U Tier II
Mia Shaw (left) holds up Howie’s brand stick wax for Kayla (right) to sniff in the locker room.
Kayla celebrates towards her team's bench after scoring a goal. The Rochester Jr. Americans head coach, Bridget Hamlin, says this game was Kayla's best performance all season. Kayla was excited for this game since her mom, Christie, promised to buy her a new stick if she scored.
Kayla talks to the Rochester Jr. Americans parents and coach, stalling before participating in the team’s off ice warmups.
Kayla poses for a picture with sunglasses on under her helmet before the start of the game. She had lots of energy and wanted to have fun with her teammates going into the states championship weekend.
Kayla (left) and Jessica Nappi (right) fool around on the ice during scrimmage drill in practice. She considers Jessica one of her closest friends on the team. Kayla feels like she can be herself around them.
Kayla celebrates with her teammates after scoring a goal.
“Once I met them I found that they are my favorite people to be with. They are very fun ‘pick me up’ people. We argue like sisters sometimes but I wouldn't trade it for the world. We mess around a lot during warm ups or in between drills at practice and it's the funniest thing ever. If I'm having a bad game or a bad day they make me feel better about it. We genuinely care about each other; it's nice”. Majority of Kayla’s social life comes from this travel team as they practice and have games multiple times throughout the week. Some of her teammates play on their own boys high school teams as well to get more ice time. They all go varsity games at times to cheer each other on from pregame in the girls locker room to post game in the rink lobby.