They’ve battled to make it to the pros
Ancaster’s Taylor and Hunter Accursi set to take their sister act to the NWHL
Before they even step on the ice as the first siblings to play together in the National Women’s Hockey League, they’ve already got the Tshirt. The one being sold by the team.
It’s A Sister Thing say the words that wrap around a photo of the pair smiling so lovingly and sweetly you just know they’ve never had so much as a harsh thought toward each other in their lives.
“Little do they know,” Taylor Accursi chuckles.
Her sister, Hunter, doesn’t even respond with words. She just bursts out laughing.
Hearing them describe it, their Ancaster home during their childhood might’ve been among the most intense and most competitive places on the planet. You would have found fewer fights among hungry hyenas around a fresh zebra corpse. Everything was a contest. And when they say everything, they mean everything.
Doing math problems was a race. Who could finish a book first mattered. Who could arrive at the dinner table first or grab the TV remote was a battle for superiority. Who could shoot a puck harder, hit targets better, shoot baskets more accurately, and score on the other in road hockey was a contest.
And playing Monopoly? Forget it. If someone landed on Boardwalk, it was game over. They say they never finished a game.
“She does not lose well,” laughs Hunter.
As you might expect, mom and dad had to step in all the time and direct them to their rooms to cool off. But at least the girls never actually, y’know, fought. As in, physically.
“Oh, absolutely,” Taylor says. “I lost my two front teeth from getting a nice pop in the face,” Hunter explains.
That was the result of a heated Mario Kart race right before Christmas when she was about eight. Apparently she won because the next thing she knew her incisors were on the floor and the family’s Christmas photos featured someone who looked like Bobby Clarke circa 1973.
It’s OK, though. They were baby teeth. They grew back.
More importantly, the pair (of sisters, not teeth) get along just fine now. Now that they’re adults, they’re so close that Taylor — at 25, she’s the older one by three years and a veteran of the NWHL — actually suggested to the coach of the Buffalo Beauts that he take a look at her sister who was playing at Brock University last year.
Hunter had been ready to hang up her skates and get on with her career. But when the chance to skate with her sister was presented, it was too much of a lure. The only other time they ever had an opportunity like this was when Taylor was in her last year of high school and Hunter was in her first. A teachers’ strike that winter cancelled the season.
Plus, Taylor is now team captain and just one point away from becoming the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. So when a pro deal was offered, Hunter took it.
Of course, it’s a strange season. COVID-19 has interrupted everything. The entire schedule and playoffs will be contested in a twoweek period at Lake Placid later this month while the players are in a bubble. All those games in rapid succession are going to be a grind. Toughness and an ability to battle through adversity will be more important than ever.
So, those childhood competitions actually served a purpose. They somehow produced a version of Taylor that’s all skill and hard work. And a version of Hunter, who was constantly fighting to keep up which has made her game all about grit and speed. And hard work, too.
And rather than being a bad thing, this short burst of hockey is actually convenient. Taylor is an OPP officer. Hunter is a nursing student. With work and school taking up so much time, this may be their only year to play together.
On top of everything else, they’ll soon get the cool T-shirt. More than one if they want.
So, they won’t have to compete for it. For once.