Local hockey star dreams of playing professionally

MOTIVATED-Max Nicastro gives 110 percent effort on the ice.

Earlier this month in Rochester, N.Y., Max Nicastro, a sophomore at Westlake, realized a life dream.

Nicastro's ice hockey team, the California Wave out of Lakewood, won the USA Hockey National Championship in the 16 and under AAA division, defeating a New Jersey team in a stunning 3-2 overtime win.

Nicastro, a hard-hitting defenseman for the Wave, has been preparing for this kind of victory his entire life.

Max strapped on his first skates as a kindergartner and his passion and talent for the sport quickly attracted attention. On the ice, his dark brown eyes glare out from behind a caged mask with an intensity rarely matched by his opponents.

He's played on competitive travel teams since he was 8, including the Ventura Mariners, Channel Islands Riptide and most recently the national champion Wave.

Nicastro is known by teammates and coaches alike as the skater who is always first on the ice and last to leave. He spends countless hours on and off the ice preparing his game for the next level.

Nicastro's revered as a toughchecking defenseman with the wicked slap shot. At the National Finals, he was scouted, becoming one of only three California players to be drafted.

At age 15, Nicastro was offered a full college scholarship to play for the Prince Albert Raiders in Canada's Western Hockey League (WHL).

Still in high school, Nicastro is on target to play for either the WHL or a United States Hockey League (USHL) team.

Long term, Nicastro aspires to play hockey on scholarship at an NCAA college and then make the leap to the National Hockey League.