Brianna Haviland grew up playing boys hockey in the New Jersey Junior Titans organization.

 

The experience was beneficial. Now she plays only girls hockey and is a dangerous goal-scorer for the U19 Tier-1 New Jersey Rockets, of the New England Women’s Junior Hockey League.

 

“Brianna is a sniper. She has a quick release on her shot. She can score from anywhere,” said Rockets coach Mark Hurle, who watched Haviland compile 63 points in 56 games last season after joining the team in November.

 

Haviland’s goal-scoring acumen will eventually take her to college hockey. The 17-year-old Wall (N.J.) High School senior made a verbal commitment last month to play at Division 1 Providence College.

 

“That’s my dream school,” she said. “I love the coaching staff, the environment and the community.”

 

Haviland isn’t going to Providence right away. She’ll start there in 2018 after attending a prep school next year. She said she wants to hone her academic and hockey skills at prep school before going to college.

 

Haviland began playing hockey at the Mite level. She started playing girls hockey when she was 13 and became strictly a girls hockey player when she was 16, but she practices these days with the Junior Titans 16U and 18U boys teams.

 

“Competing against and practicing with boys through the years has really helped me,” she said.

 

What’s also helped is hockey has always been a huge part of her life. Her father George Haviland is director of hockey operations for the Junior Titans. Her uncle Mike Haviland is coach of the Colorado College hockey team and a former assistant coach for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks. He was on the coaching staff when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010.

 

“Brianna has a great hockey pedigree and a tremendous amount of hockey sense,” Hurle said. “She does things on the ice you can’t teach. That comes from being involved with hockey starting at a young age.”

 

Haviland agrees hockey is part of her DNA.

 

“It’s in my blood,” she said. “Our family owns the Junior Titans rink, so I’m there a lot. When I’m not playing hockey, I’m watching hockey.”

 

Speaking of family, Haviland’s sister Jessica Haviland also plays for the Rockets and the two sisters are on the same line. Jessica, 18, also a forward, has signed to play college hockey at Division 1 Union College starting in 2017. She’s a senior at Lawrenceville (N.J.) School.

 

“Brianna and Jessica aren’t twins, but they play like twins,” Hurle said. “They always know where the other one is on the ice. My job is to find the best person to join them on a line.”