Reality set in for the Capitals prospect blueliner when he was living on his own this past year with Hershey.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — At this time last year, reality struck for Washington Capitals prospect Vincent Iorio.
He'd just touched down in Hershey for his first pro season with the Capitals' AHL-affiliate Bears. As he stood in front of his new home, a three-bedroom house he'd be renting with teammates Hendrix Lapierre and Henrik Rybinski, he had an epiphany.
This was adulthood. And he was on his own.
"It was our first time, I guess, away from home without billets or guardians," Iorio told The Hockey News. "It was just the three of us."
Then, thinking on it for a moment, he grinned.
"We learned a lot of stuff. A lot of mistakes were made," he laughed, before turning serious again, "A lot of good things happened from it. And I think that's important. It's part of playing professional hockey."
The move-in process gave Iorio and company their first taste of "adulting." Wi-Fi, electricity and more utilities had to be set up and paid for. The house was unfurnished, and the kitchen wasn't stocked. One bedroom was bigger than the others, and the housemates were left wondering, "Now what?"
They started from scratch. Iorio paid a bit more to secure the bigger bedroom, and then the three split the duties: buying furniture, building it and getting the utilities hooked up.
It was an adventure, one that included a couple of trips to Hershey's Interior Furniture Resources store, Costco and Target. And ultimately, it paid off, as the trio was thrilled with the final product.
"Setting everything up was a lot of fun," Iorio explained. "Obviously, very stressful, but just the joy of like, buying your bed stuff and buying all the kitchen stuff and living room furniture and then finally seeing all the hard work put together, you just have a picture in your head, and when that picture turns out to be pretty cool, it's a lot of fun."
The next dose of adulthood came in the form of food. In 2021-22, the then-19-year-old was living with his billet family and didn't have to worry too much about meals or chores. Now, it was up to him.
"You gotta cook on your own, you gotta clean up everything. You're pretty much reliable on yourself," Iorio said.
To learn to cook, Iorio turned to HelloFresh and also phoned home to his billets, parents and grandmother for some tips.
"I'm a mama's boy," Iorio admitted back at the rookie showcase, adding, "My mom back home cooks everything for me."
For the most part, though, Iorio kept things simple.
"Vinny was just like, 'salmon and rice,'" Lapierre, who was said to have the more complex recipes, cracked.
Over the course of the year, the 6-foor-4 blueliner got the hang of things, and he'll be living the house life in Hershey again this season, this time with Rybinski and Ryan Hofer. Lapierre is moving in with his girlfriend.
Not only did living on his own help Iorio grow up a bit off the ice, but on the ice, he became more experienced and more sure of himself as he helped the Hershey Bears to the Calder Cup.
Going into this season, Iorio wants to continue to grow, and his next lesson will be in finance and budgeting.
"I want to learn more about business and just how to be smart with your money and manage your money. As a young guy, I never went to college, I never really got to learn too much of that stuff," Iorio said. "I want to start reading more books and really kind of giving myself as much knowledge as I can to be as successful as I can. Hockey doesn't last forever, and you have to be smart with what you do with your money."
Now, at this training camp now, as he remains in the fight for a roster spot, he said that he feels more confident, and though he's still the same "Vinny" — the fun-loving kid from Vancouver — but now, he's more confident, more mature and ready to prove his worth.
"Just the fact that I had a year pro and going on the run that we did and winning, I think that goes helps you wonders. It does a lot to your confidence. and you're able to trust your ability that much more, whereas coming from junior last year, you're pretty green. You don't really know what professional hockey is like," Iorio reflected. "I guess from that stance, things have definitely changed."