Hockey: Dignazio siblings’ excellence coincides on ice for Strath Haven

WEST GOSHEN — Hardly a Strath Haven hockey shift goes by without at least one Dignazio on the ice, and they’re not hard to spot.

Nick Dignazio wears the “C” on his chest, an effortless skater who is all over the ice, a converted defenseman playing as a centerman in what appears to be a hybrid position to suit the Panthers’ needs in his senior season.

Annie Dignazio stands out for the blond hair flowing over the nameplate on her jersey, the speedy sophomore who isn’t bashful about mixing it up in the corners.

For two siblings who between them have five varsity sports, games like a 3-2 overtime loss to Lower Merion at Ice Line on Feb. 1 are a rare and special chance for their immensely busy schedules to coincide in the most special of ways.

“I come here to play with him,” Annie said. “I think I like this more because of him. It’s just more fun to be playing out there with Nick and watching him and learning from him on the ice. It’s a really cool experience.”

The siblings followed similar sporting trajectories. Nick started with soccer at a young age and followed the prevailing Delco winds to the lacrosse field. While many of his friends turned to wrestling around second grade, he got a nudge toward hockey and “fell in love with it.”

Annie traced her big brother’s footsteps and has starred in all three sports at the varsity level at Strath Haven before the halfway point in her college career. Even with her exemplary track record, she expresses a reverence for what Nick has accomplished.

“Growing up, I kind of did whatever he did,” she said. “It’s kind of monkey see, monkey do. And we come from a very athletic family, so everything is like a competition. So I saw him get into hockey and I was like, ‘wow that would be cool if I got into it.’”

Both have the athleticism to excel in whatever athletic endeavors they had chosen. Nick gave up lacrosse in eighth grade, but he’s continued in the other two sports. An All-Delco last year on the blue line, he earned All-Delco honors as a center back for the Panthers’ soccer team in the fall with a defensive instinct and knack for positioning that seems to transcend the actual sport he’s playing. His twin sports passions factored into his college decision: He recently committed to Ithaca College, in part for the level of soccer they played but also because he could also play club hockey in the winter.

Annie’s eventual college choice will be even more difficult. She was an All-Delco soccer forward in the fall, pumping home nine goals and eight assists. She scored 30 goals and had 10 assists as a do-everything midfielder for the Panthers’ lacrosse team last spring, helping them to the District 1 Class 2A final and PIAA semifinals.

And then there’s hockey, which might be her true passion. Like Nick, she plays Tier 1 club hockey – Nick with the Little Flyers, Annie with the Junior Flyers – and travels the country for tournaments. Trying to zero in on a favorite sport is a moving target.

“Right now, it’s hockey,” she said. “If you asked me three months ago, it would’ve been soccer. And if you ask me in two months, it’ll be lacrosse.”

Both are outstanding hockey players. Though the Panthers are struggling near the bottom of the Central League standings, Nick leads them with 21 goals and 34 points in 16 games. A defenseman by trade, he’s become something more akin to a two-way midfielder on the ice, picking up the puck deep in defense and leading rushes like a forward, then recovering to the middle of the rink as almost a third D-man. It’s not uncommon for him to top 40 minutes of ice time – high school games are three 17-minute periods – relying on the endurance borne on the soccer pitch.

“I flow wherever the team needs me,” he said. “I’m just trying to help out the team the best I can. It’s challenging, but I’m up for it.”

Annie’s winter schedule is daunting. She does three days a week of club hockey practice, two days a week of soccer practice, plus hockey tournaments and lacrosse on the weekends. She’s played 10 games with the Haven boys varsity team plus eight leading the combined Penn-Haven girls squad. In addition to five points for the boys’ squad, she’s got 15 goals and 21 points in girls games.

The competition in the girls league isn’t quite the level she’s used to, and diminished numbers make for slower-paced games. So stretching the schedule to accommodate the boys games stokes her competitive fires.

“Girls high school, it’s kind of just people playing for the first time, whereas with the boys, everyone is technical out there,” Annie said. “… My club hockey team is faster than high school hockey, but if you go from high school boys to girls, it’s just easier to get my legs under me in the boys game.”

Difficult as managing her schedule can be, it was tougher when the slate was wiped clean in the fall of her freshman year, a broken collarbone in a hockey game costing her most of her first varsity soccer campaign.

“I was really mad at myself, but it made me realize why I’m out there playing,” she said. “I missed it so much, and that’s kind of why I don’t want to focus on one sport because I can’t imagine quitting my other two.”

When the two are on the ice together, Nick always has an eye out for his younger sister. But he also knows she can take care of herself in most instances. (To start the 3-on-3 overtime against Lower Merion, for instance, Nick won the draw at center and Annie bee-lined to the net front, anchoring her skates on top of the blue paint against a much bigger defenseman.) Nick’s smooth-skating game makes him a magnet for open-ice hits, and he’s cultivated a certain toughness to preempt opponents who opt to lay the hit instead of trying in vain to skate with him.

Annie falls under the umbrella of that intimidation.

“A lot of stuff I’ll let slide, because she chirps back,” he said. “And you have to expect that she’s going to get hit and get trash-talked to. But I’m very protective of her, and if anything ever went down, I’d be the first one there.”

Both Dignazios grasp how fleeting this opportunity is. To play a sport they love, together, at such a high level, is something few brother-sister tandems get. Their on-ice dynamic — the encouragement, the razzing, the occasional bickering — reflects the joy they share, one rooted in a mutual admiration.

“I’m kind of in awe,” Annie said. “Everything he does, I try to take a mental note of it and I’m like, wow, that was sick. And I feel like definitely when you do something, I’m your loudest supporter on the bench.”