The Daily Orange

Media Credit: Carly Piersol

When Syracuse ice hockey coach Paul Flanagan began recruiting Isabel Menard, one of the most highly-touted prospects in the country, he knew very little about her twin sister, Talia.

But once he made the trip to Canada to watch the Ottawa Senators women's club team, an idea popped into his head. The Orange needed forwards heading into the program's second season, and coincidentally, both of the Menard twins played that position.

After Flanagan found out that the sisters were willing to stay together for college, he decided to bring both of them to Syracuse (4-5-1, 1-1 College Hockey America). This season, Isabel has become a big part of the Orange offensive attack, and Talia has played in all 10 games thus far.

Flanagan believes the timing of his recruiting find could not have been any better.

"I think it was the perfect time for us, bringing in four or five forwards," he said. "The fact that we needed a lot of forwards made it pretty easy. We just felt that for all the different variables put together it just made a lot of sense for us."

The Menards have never played on opposing teams. Still, they said the plan was not always to go to the same school. But after Syracuse gave both an opportunity to play for the Orange, the decision became very easy.

Both have different styles of play. After all, they are fraternal twins, not identical. The similarities on the ice include skating style and not much else.

Isabel, the older twin by two minutes, has a strong finesse game. Flanagan said she is very gifted with the puck, with quick hands and good instincts. She has played with the under-18 Canadian national team. This year at Syracuse, she has two goals and five assists in 10 games.

The younger Menard plays a more physical game than her sister. Her strengths are on the defensive end. Flanagan said he would like to see her continue to develop her offensive skills. She has played sparingly in all 10 games for the Orange this year, registering two shots.

"We're different players," Isabel said. "Tal (Talia) is hard on the puck, hard in the corners. I'm more of finesse."

Flanagan made it clear, though, that he did not just bring in the younger twin to try and entice Isabel. He believes both Menards will be able to help the team.

"What I like about them is that they're both extremely hard working, and they like to have fun and laugh a lot," Flanagan said. "I think they bring a good sense of camaraderie to the locker room."

Continued...

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