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Senators centre Turris grew up on a varied sports diet

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Ottawa Senators centre Kyle Turris makes a handsome living playing hockey.

It came quite by surprise. Turris wasn’t born into a hockey-mad family that pushed him into the game. Hockey was something Turris played when it wasn’t lacrosse season.

Turris 27, from New Westminster, grew up in an athletic household. His father, Bruce, is a lacrosse legend in British Columbia and a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Kyle’s mother, Vikky, was a high school sprinter.

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With that genetic head start, Kyle developed as much from backyard play as he did playing box lacrosse as a youth. Often, the family dog got into the act.

Conditioning coach Chris Schwarz works with Ottawa Senator forward Kyle Turris (R) at the CTC on March 14, 2017.
Conditioning coach Chris Schwarz works with Ottawa Senator forward Kyle Turris (R) at the CTC on March 14, 2017.  Photo by Errol McGihon /Postmedia

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“Our golden retriever, growing up, was just obsessed with any ball,” Turris says. “Lacrosse or tennis. Playing lacrosse at a really young age, my dad would give me the lacrosse ball and the family dog would chase me, trying to get the ball off of the stick. So, I would have to roll off him and he’d jump up to it. I had to try to protect the ball enough to keep it away from him.”

These days, note how well Turris protects the puck in traffic, despite the fact he’s not the biggest player on the ice. Of course, going one-on-one against the dog wasn’t his only drill for agility and hand-eye co-ordination. Kyle and his father used to stand several metres apart and hurl lacrosse balls at each other, forcing the partner to make spectacular, sometimes diving catches with a lacrosse stick. They named their game, ‘If you can touch it, you can catch it.’

Perhaps it’s easier to avoid the trap of year-round hockey in B.C., where the weather outside can be alluring even in fall and winter (not so much this winter). Turris enjoyed a range of sports growing up, plus a lot of just freelance fun.

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“I played lacrosse a ton when I was young,” he says. “I played hockey. We golfed in the summers. We’d always go out and throw — football or baseball. Just playing with any ball and getting outside encompassed a lot of my childhood.”

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By 15, Turris was playing Jr. ‘B’ hockey. He would go on to become the first Jr ‘A’ player (Burnaby Express of the BCHL) to top the Central Scouting rankings. Ultimately, he was drafted third overall in 2007 by the Phoenix Coyotes. Phoenix traded him to Ottawa in one of the best deals then-general manager Bryan Murray of the Senators has made.

Turris owed it all to a varied sporting background and the outstanding complement of lacrosse with hockey.

“Box lacrosse is fast-paced,” Turris says. “You have to time things well, cutting through the middle. You have to get the ball, and you’re rolling off checks. There’s a lot of traits that cross over really well.”

wscanlan@postmedia.com

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