COmmunauté • COmmun i ty
Hockey pals in action at the nationals
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
“It’s like no other feeling,” Larose said, “just stepping out onto that ice. My dad played hockey all his life. My uncle (Claude Larose) played in the NHL for Montreal.” Larose grinned, recalling her early years learning to skate. “My dad’s side of the family was into hoc- key. Mom was a figure skater and she first got me on the ice for that, but I switched pretty fast to hockey skates.” Tarnowski got into the game, almost as the typical kid sister tagging along after her big brother. “I did whatever my brother was doing,” she said, smiling, and adding there were a lot of girls her age taking up hockey then. “I had a lot of fun.” Minor hockey was how Larose and Tar- nowski met and became ice pals, playing in the Novice house league, later for the Russell Coyotes when the girls’ hockey association
They became friends, sharing a love for Ca- nada’s game, when they were kids playing on the same teams in minor hockey. Now Coralie Larose and Tasza Tarnowski play together on both their local high school team and the Ottawa Lady Senators ju- nior teams and shared the spotlight at the National Women’s U18 Championships in Huntsville. The duo showed up for their interview on a blustery mid-November afternoon, each of them carrying a slushy-style crushed ice fruit drink. They both grinned. “We love the cold,” said Tarnowski. That is part and parcel of the overall im- pression the two athletes present.They love what they do and hockey is the only game in town as far as they are concerned.
Coralie Larose
Tasza Tarnowski
formed. Now they both play on their high school team, the Embrun Cyclones, and in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League for the Ottawa Lady Senators junior club. The highlight for them both this season was representing both their town and Onta- rio at the National Women’s U18 Cham- pionships in Huntsville. Larose on Team Blue shared a bronze-medal win with her team mates against B.C., while Tarnowski, on the Red Team, helped score a gold-medal victory over Manitoba. Larose was named a Player of the Game during the tournament preliminary round while Tarnowski was designated assistant captain and the lead alternate captain for the Red Team during the series. “That was just amazing,” Larose said, recalling the nationals. “We were the under- dogs coming into the tournament, because we were the youngest ones there.” Ontario’s Blue Team rocketed ahead on the scoreboard in the final match with B.C., leading 4-1 up to the last five minutes of regular play.The other teamhad a brief rally, pushing the score to 4-3 with about aminute left on the clock. “At the final buzzer, good relief,” Larose recalled. “A really good feeling.” Tarnowski and her fellow Blue Team mates found themselves pressed hard in the final match against Manitoba, with the score tied one-all at the end of the third and a 20-minute overtime period following right after. Tarnowski was taking a break on a bench when the winning goal for Ontario went in just a couple minutes before the end of OT. “It was awesome,” she said. “Lots of hugs. Lots of smiles.” Now the two of them settle down to their regular season games with the Cyclones and the Lady Sens. Both are looking forward to playing collegiate-level hockey after they graduate high school and head on to college or university. They share the same ultimate goals: get on TeamCanada and play Olympic hockey. “Hard work pays off,” said Tarnowski, smi- ling, as she repeats her favourite quotation. “It’s always stayed a game for me,” she noted, about her passion for hockey. “It’s always been fun. At the end of the day, we’re still having fun out there.”
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