Defence partners Larocque, Fast bring 'unmatched' chemistry to PWHL Toronto blue line
Friendship between pair of defenders began in 2015 with a kind note in Fast's stall
With six new teams, the Professional Women's Hockey League's pre-season games in Utica, N.Y., this week have been a chance to get to know new linemates and start to build chemistry ahead of January's regular season puck drop.
But on PWHL Toronto's blue line, the top two defenders need no introduction with each other.
Jocelyne Larocque and Renata Fast have been defensive partners on Team Canada for the last three years, winning an Olympic gold medal and two world championships by each other's side.
They go together like peanut butter and jelly, or as most people who've played against them would probably say, a rock and a hard place.
Both are gritty, stay-at-home defenders, with Larocque bringing veteran leadership and physicality, and Fast adding world-class speed to the mix.
"I love the way they play and I love playing against it," said PWHL Ottawa forward Emily Clark, who said the two are who she's least looking forward to playing against this season. "But at the same time, I know that they'll make my life difficult."
Larocque and Fast's friendship started at the latter's very first senior Team Canada camp almost a decade ago, when the two were paired together on defence. Fast was nervous.
But when Fast arrived at the rink for their first game paired together, she found a note from Larocque in her locker stall.
WATCH | Fast describes her inspiring first encounter with Larocque:
In it, Larocque wrote that she was excited to play with Fast and told her to keep the game simple.
Fast had looked up to the veteran and the note gave her confidence in her new environment.
Fast didn't make those first couple of Team Canada rosters, and always found herself gravitating toward Larocque for advice on and off the ice. Larocque knew what it was like to not make the roster, having been one of the last cuts from the 2010 Olympic team that played on home ice in Vancouver.
"Joce is just such a calm, kind, caring person and I think that is something that makes her such a special person to be around," Fast said.
'The best D pair in the world'
In the now-shuttered Canadian Women's Hockey League, Fast and Larocque faced off against each other on two different Greater Toronto area teams — Fast with the Toronto Furies and Larocque with the Brampton/Markham Thunder.
On Team Canada, it took a few years after that 2015 camp before the two were consistently paired together again. Now, it's hard to imagine the red and white without them as a go-to shutdown option.
Since they've been paired together full time, Fast said it's been seamless. They've developed the type of chemistry where they can read each other's movements almost by instinct.
Montreal defender Erin Ambrose, who's played on the blue line with Fast and Larocque on the national team, described it as an organic relationship.
"They're not two peas in a pod off the ice although they are around each other a lot ... they just gravitate towards each other," Ambrose said.
"They play so well together, and I would have to say that they're the best D pair in the world."
Fast was one of Toronto's three marquee free agent signings in September, along with forwards Sarah Nurse and Blayre Turnbull. All three signed three-year deals to stay in Toronto long term.
"She is somebody that's so easy to play with," Larocque said about her D partner. "She's always in the right positions. She battles her butt off, so I've always enjoyed playing with her. Very happy that we're on the same pro [team] together."
When it came time for the league's inaugural draft, Larocque could have been selected by any team and she said she would have been happy to play anywhere.
But Toronto was her first choice, and that's exactly where she ended up.
Reunited at the draft
Toronto GM Gina Kingsbury selected the 35-year-old from Ste. Anne, Man., with the draft's second overall pick.
Speaking to reporters on draft day, Larocque said she was excited by the prospect of being reunited with Fast.
Larocque later signed a three-year contract with Toronto, giving head coach Troy Ryan the option to roll out arguably the best shutdown defensive pair in the new league.
He described their chemistry as "unmatched."
"They're so difficult to play against defensively," he said. "But they just problem-solve everything. If you're on the bench with them, you just see them constantly talking, constantly discussing things and working through problems."
Growing their games
Ryan has been impressed with how both have continued to grow even as veterans, broadening their skill sets to encompass more offence.
In Larocque's case, it was about shifting her mindset to try to look for more offensive opportunities, something likely made easier by knowing Fast is on the ice to handle the defensive workload. It was a pass from Fast that led to Larocque's first world championship goal in 2022.
On Tuesday, Larocque scored a goal in Toronto's pre-season loss against Minnesota.
"Her just believing that she does have something to offer offensively is all she needed to do," Ryan said. "The skills that she has on breakouts, the skills that she has defensively, they transfer offensively."
For both, this week has been the first chance to see how their Toronto team looks on the ice and how it stacks up to the competition.
It's the type of environment Fast said she hasn't experienced since she graduated from Clarkson University more than seven years ago.
That league folded in 2019, amid financial troubles, and was never able to pay players a living wage.
This week, as she stepped on to the ice with Fast and her other Toronto teammates, things finally started to feel real for Larocque.
"I just feel so honoured and blessed and grateful that I can be a part of the first real pro league for women," Larocque said.
Toronto will play its final pre-season game on Thursday afternoon against New York.
Those same two teams will face off again at Toronto's Mattamy Athletic Centre on Jan. 1, when the PWHL begins its regular season.
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