One of her coaches won gold in hockey at the 2010 Olympics.
The other was a former college star who made Canada's under-22 national team.
And just like Daniella Calogheros, both left their homes as young teenagers to enrol in a full-time hockey schools.
So is it any wonder the 17-year-old from Prince George considers herself fortunate to be following a similar path as part of the Okanagan Hockey Academy? Since September, Calogheros has been in Penticton, where she attends PenHi for half a day of classes before she tackles her hockey studies.
"It's pretty sweet, you get up, go to school, and play hockey every day, I can't complain about that," said Calogheros. "We're on the ice five times a week for an hour or an hour-and-a-half and that's still not enough. It's been everything and more that I thought it would be."
Her ultimate goal is to make the women's national team, but right now her main ambition is to solidify her future in university hockey. Being fully immersed in the OHA program offered by coaches Gina Kingsbury and Rebecca Russell has Calogheros thinking about what could be just around the corner next season when college and university scouts from the NCAA and CIS start looking for new recruits.
"There's a lot of opportunity out there," said Calogheros.
Calogheros's work ethic on the ice is also showing up in the classroom and she's maintaining a B average in her Grade 11 courses. Assuming she keeps up with her studies, Russell says her hockey skills are bound to attract attention.
"She's here every day focused on not only hockey and training but she's become a focused student, something Daniella needed to work on from past years," said Russell.
"In order to play NCAA or in the CIS you have to be a complete student athlete, you can't just be a hockey player. You have to succeed at both and she's definitely on the right track."
As a defenceman, Calogheros has good size (five-foot-four, 170 pounds) and uses her strength to her advantage. Although bodychecking is illegal in women's hockey, body contact is inevitable, and that suits her style.
"She's improved a ton with her skating and she's got quite the shot," Russell said. "She's becoming a lot more smart with the game and she's always one of the most physically strong players out there. If you want to play at the higher levels, you need physical strength and you have to be strong on the puck and she uses that to her advantage."
Off-ice conditioning is a big part of the OHA and workouts are built around developing speed, agility and strength. Stretching is emphasized and the players also practice yoga to improve flexibility.
Calogheros has lived away from her home in Prince George for two years. She attended the Pursuit of Excellence hockey academy in Kelowna during the 2010-11 season.
Being part of the OHA midget team under head coach Russell gave Calogheros a chance to travel with the team to Montreal and the OHA team is planning roadtrips into the U.S. for next season. Visiting population centres is essential to finding higher-calibre teams to play. That's the reason she left Prince George.
"It was very difficult sending her away," said Calogheros's mom, Michele. "But that girl has, from the day she was five, never had to be poked to get out of bed to play hockey for a 6 a.m. practice. She lives and breathes the game."
Calogheros is now down to the third stage of tryouts for Hockey B.C. female under-18 team. Fifty players survived the cuts and will gather for the final camp, a jamboree-style tournament set for next weekend in Salmon Arm.
