A day in the life of Luca Nocita sees him start the day in the hair salon and finish the day in a hockey rink. Passion for both hair and hockey is what drives the Kanata Lasers star forward.
Nocita, an 18 year old kid from Kanata, Ontario grew up playing hockey in the Ottawa area – spending time with the Senators, Blazers and Upper Canada Cyclones Midget AAA before joining the Lasers Midget AAA program in 2016 as a 16 year old.
Growing up through different minor hockey organizations, Luca gives all of the credit to his father, Dino Nocita for making him the player that he is today “I did a lot of skating with my dad when I was younger. He would always rent the ice and bring me out to practice”.
“My dad also had synthetic ice built in my basement and it helped a lot with my game” noted Nocita. “I spent lots of hours down there, working on my stick handling and putting pucks down the ice and trying to stick handle through them”.
Through a tough schedule at the hair salon, Notica says that his farther dedicated his time to him and his brother “He coached me when I was younger and obviously busy with work, it was hard for him but he would rent the ice for us and go out with us at 6am. I remember Smiths Falls, Kemptville, we would go wherever we could find the ice and he definitely did a lot for me”.
After being drafted by the Kanata Lasers in 2015 out of the second round, Nocita quickly began to have a lot of success in their U-18 Program. He scored 25 goals, 51 points and most importantly an HEO Midget AAA Championship in 2016.
“It felt really good to win” mentioned Nocita on winning the championship. “I didn’t really know where I stood coming off maybe not the best minor midget year. I didn’t know if I would be on the team but it was a tough tryout and I made the team. Obviosity we all had a good year”.
Outside of playing in the CCHL, Luca has a passion for hair which sees him working for his father’s salon during the day and heading to the rink for a practice or game at night.
“So I go 9am-2pm every day and then I’ll go to practice from 4pm-6pm and then I’ll go back and close the shop from 7pm-9pm” says Nocita.
Nocita works at the front desk and does the paper work at Fernandino Hair Salon in Bayshore. He says, he would like to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a hairdresser if hockey doesn’t work out.
“I was always in the shop sweeping hair from when I was four years old” explained Nocita. “I have never really thought about doing anything else except from hockey and hairdressing so we will see where this takes me”.
Working a full time job and juggling practices and games just adds to how remarkable his season has been. Nocita currently has 38 points in 39 games which is 9th among league leaders in scoring.
“Well every guy on the team is deep” said Nocita on reasons to his success. “We got Jack Quinn on the team who is easy to play with, which is nice for me”.
An average Jr. A hockey player inside the Central Canada Hockey League begins their day by waking up, going to school and going to the rink. Nocita has to carry his family’s tradition by running the hair salon and playing hockey at the same time. His dedication to his family and team is what makes him the person he is today.
A quiet young man that carries himself beyond his years, with talent on and off the ice.
Dante De Caria, CCHL Communications Manager (@Diamond_Dante)
