LAURA HURD: SHE DID KINGSTON PROUD

Just a short message of condolence to pass along to the family, friends and teammates of Laura Hurd, a Kingston native and recent all-American hockey player who died in a car crash in New York state last Friday.

Laura, who was just 24, played in the Kingston Kodiaks organization for many years alongside Trina Sager, Official Sister and Goaltending Expert of Out of Left Field. If you spent any time around my sister and her teammates, you quickly picked up the vibe that they were not only teammates, they were friends and to a large extent they had become a family.

Over the years, they all enjoyed being together -- there were lots of shared jokes and little quirks you can't explain to befuddled outsiders, like we all have with our social circles -- and that in no small way contributed to a lot of their success. Laura and Trina were teammates on teams that captured Ontario Women's Hockey Association championships in peewee and midget, and in between, they reached the provincial final in bantam.

One can only imagine it was much the same at Elmira College in New York state, where Laura helped christen a new start-up program by helping the Eagles win two NCAA Division 3 national championships and reach the title game in her senior season, 2004-05. (There's an audio clip of an interview Laura did during her final season at Elmira, and it's telling that she uses the word "family" when talking about her team.)

In that final season, she was the national D-3 women's player of the year. Almost as a reminder that you're never too far from home, one of the finalists for the honour was another Kodiaks alumna, Elizabeth Gibson, who played at SUNY Plattsburgh.

Deepest sympathies to Laura Hurd's family -- and her hockey family.

Elmira College hockey standout killed in a car accident (Elmira Star-Gazette)
College hockey star killed in car crash (Kingston Whig-Standard)
Four-time All-American Hurd killed in a car accident (U.S. College Hockey Online)
Laura Hurd interview (from 2005)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.