URL:http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoSports/9704030015.html

April 3, 1997

TRIO PACKS AN ATTITUDE
                                    
SCARBORO PALS PROPEL CANADA
  
By STEVE BUFFERY

Toronto Sun KITCHENER --

What happens when you bring together three girls from Scarboro and
they're all packing blades and an attitude?

In the case of the three amigos, usually a lot of goals are scored.

When Laura Schuler was seven, she used to play floor hockey in Vicki
Sunohara's basement. By the time they were 11, the two pals played on
the same hockey team, the Scarboro Firefighers, with Karen Nystrom,
another girl from the neighborhood. A couple of years after that, all
three played on the same soccer team, Scarboro United.

And now, almost two decades since they first started hanging out and
backing each other up on the ice and grass, the three amigos, as they
were dubbed on a sign hanging from the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium
rafters, are all members of the Canadian women's hockey team playing
at the world championship this week.

Schuler calls it a dream come true.

"It's really something special," said the amiable right-winger. "I
always have to step back and think about how lucky I am playing with
two of my best friends at this tournament.

"This is a real treat."

The most intriguing part of the story isn't that Schuler, Nystrom
and Sunohara are all playing on the national team. They're all
extremely talented. The rub is that all three have been cut from the
Canadian world championship team at one time or another, so they've
never actually played at this level together until this year. Nystrom
was cut from the 1990 squad, Sunohara wasn't around for the 1992
tournament and Schuler failed to crack the 1994 lineup.

Now they're reunited and it feels so good as the terrific trio has
recorded 10 points for the Canadians in blowout wins over Switzerland
and Russia.

"It's just incredible," Sunohara said of the experience. "We've
played floor hockey together, soccer together and we've been playing
pretty much on the same hockey team together forever, and yet it just
hasn't clicked up until this time (for the worlds). And now we're all
playing in the world championship together."

At the 1996 Three Nations tournament, Canadian team coach Shannon
Miller placed the three friends on the same line. What a kick. And
they still often form a unit.

The ultimate kick would be to play on the Canadian team at next
winter's Nagano Olympics.

On the strength of its two wins so far in Kitchener, Team Canada has
qualified for the Games, but there are no guarantees that the three
Scarboro buds will all be on the team.

Still, if these worlds are any indication, don't bet against it.
There's a bond between the three that won't be broken easily.

"My brother was actually engaged to Vicki's sister," said Schuler,
27. "They went out for about seven years, so our families are very
close."

TORONTO SUN 

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