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SanGiovanni Leads Co-op Hockey Squad as Goalie and Captain

Ice hockey has always been a big thing for the SanGiovanni family and, from the time she was little, Julia SanGiovanni knew that she wanted to continue the family tradition. Julia’s father Rick and her uncle Mike both played hockey throughout their lives, influencing her to play. Several years later, Julia is carrying her family’s torch quite well as the East Haven junior is in her third season as the goalie for the Branford-East Haven-North Branford (Bfd-EH-NB) girls’ hockey squad.

“My dad got me on the ice early,” says Julia. “My dad was a goalie and they always said, ‘Why don’t you try it, too?’ and, in kindergarten, I started playing goalie.”

It turned out that the goalie position was a perfect fit for Julia, who played it throughout her years in the East Haven Youth Hockey program.

“Once I was a goalie, that was it. Being a goalie really kept me in it. You’re the last resort and everyone relies on you,” Julia says. “Stopping the pucks is just such a great feeling. You’re the last one to keep your team in the game.”

Julia actually took a brief break from hockey, but when she was in 8th grade, Julia learned about the newly formed Bfd-EH-NB girls’ team. One of Julia’s older brother’s friends was on the team and encouraged Julia to join. After attending one of the games, Julia knew that she wanted to be on the squad.

“Once I heard there was a girls’ team at the high school, I really wanted to play again,” says Julia. “I had always played on a boys’ team growing up, so it was really different going from boys to girls with the speed and how hard the shots are. Those years made me so strong. There are girls with really powerful shots and, if I was never on the boys’ team, I’d never have been ready for it.”

Julia’s years of experience paid off as she earned the starting spot on the co-op squad in her freshman year. That season, Bfd-EH-NB won the SCC Division II Tournament title, boosting the program to Division I for the next two years.

Co-Head Coach Jack Norton says that Julia’s play in net was “one of the keys” to the team winning that title and adds that she “still played incredible” when the club played a harder schedule during her sophomore year. Julia faced more than 600 shots and stopped more than 90 percent of them that season on her way to All-SCC Second Team honors and Bfd-EH-NB’s Defensive MVP Award. As a junior this year, Julia was elected as a captain by her teammates and coaches.

“That says a lot about her leadership. She leads by example on the ice by giving 100 percent in every game,” Coach Norton says. “She has been our MVP so far this season with her best performance against East Catholic.”

Bfd-EH-NB is 2-2-1 thus far this year with Julia’s highlight coming when she made 57 saves in a 0-0 tie against East Catholic. Julia sees strength on her team and wants to the squad to get back to the State Tournament.

Julia has been influenced by a number of people throughout her career, including her family members, teammates, and coaches. Julia also extends thanks to former teammate Julia Schatz, who graduated from East Haven last year; as well as Sydney Hogan, the starting center on this year’s team.

“Julia had a big influence on me,” she says. “Sydney and I push each other. I push her to score goals and she pushes me to keep us in it.”

Even though Julia’s focus is currently on hockey, it isn’t the only sport she plays. Julia is also a member of East Haven’s volleyball and softball teams and helped the latter squad win the Class L state title in her freshman season. Julia has played year-round softball for several years.

“Softball was always my No. 1 sport when I was younger,” says Julia, an honors student. “Hockey and volleyball are a nice break from softball and I like having that. Softball has always been more serious, but since continuing hockey, I’m now seeing what I can do.”

Julia is on a college showcase team for softball and, while she’s always thought that she’d like to keep playing that sport in college, she now has designs on continuing with hockey, too. Ideally, Julia would like to play both sports at the Division II level in college.

“When I got to high school, I realized I could actually go to college for these sports,” says Julia. “I really enjoy playing.”