With her family’s Olliebot fundraising campaign, Northern Selects forward Megan Smith is carrying on her brother Oliver’s legacy and raising money for Ewing sarcoma
Hockey runs in the blood of Northern Selects forward Megan Smith. Both of
her grandfathers played the game; her father, Bryan, played and is the
coach of St. Francis Xavier University women’s hockey team.
With a love of the game generations deep in her family, Megan knew she
wanted follow in their footsteps and laced up her skates at five years old.
“It’s like a legacy,” the now 18-year-old says. “My family has played
hockey and my brother [Oliver] just loved the sport so much.”
Megan’s younger brother, Oliver, would tag along to watch her games when
she began her hockey journey. Soon enough, he followed his sister and began
playing hockey when he turned five years old.
“He was so antsy in the stands. He just wanted to be on the ice,” Megan
says. “He was so eager to get on the ice and the minute you could put
skates on his feet, he was off, he was going. He had so much energy.”
Together with their older sister Emma, all three Smith siblings were very
close growing up in Antigonish, N.S.
“We were so competitive,” Megan says. “We were always playing mini-sticks
together, shooting basketballs outside, going hiking and fishing and
camping. We’ve always been so close. So even when Oliver got sick, we were
there to support him. We couldn’t be as active, but we made up for it
playing video games, watching movies and playing board games.”
When Oliver began his first year playing U11, his father Bryan noticed that
something seemed off while he was on the ice.
“He wasn’t as fast,” Bryan says. “He was very quick, very agile. Then when
the fall came for tryouts, he just didn’t have that same flexibility,
agility.”
Oliver was complaining about his leg and groin being sore, so he began
physiotherapy to try to strengthen his leg. Along with the…