WAVERLEY: A paddling coach from Waverley is among the six announced as the 2022 Hall of Fame inductee class for the N.S. Sport Hall of Fame.
Laszlo “Csom” Latorovszki, born in Hungary (birthplace), but calls Waverley home coached out of the Cheema Aquatic Club.
Latorovski developed and coached nine Olympians, including Hall of Famers Karen Furneaux, Michael Scarola, and Richard Dalton. He led the Cheema paddling club to three consecutive national titles between 1994 and 1996.
He was also coach of Team Canada at four Olympic Games (2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012.
The athletes who will be enshrined are Olympic snowboarder and Canadian Champion Sarah Conrad, NHL player and Stanley Cup winner Jon Sim, and three-time Paralympic medallist and two-time World Champion sailor Paul Tingley.
The Hall will also welcome the 1994 Dalhousie Women’s CIAU-Championship-winning soccer team. In the builder category, CIAU Championship-winning hockey coach Tom Coolen.
Induction Night 2022 will take place on Saturday, November 19 at 8pm, at the Halifax Convention Centre. The ceremony will be hosted by long-time event emcee, Hall of Fame CEO and CBC broadcaster Bruce Rainnie, and, thanks to a continuing partnership with Eastlink Community TV, this will be the third year that the ceremony will be broadcast live.
Tickets are available for purchase online through Eventbrite and nsshf.com— $40 for adults, $10 for students, and children 12 and under are free.
Here is a closer look at the Nova Scotia sport heroes who make up the new class:
Athletes
Sarah Conrad, Snowboarding, Dartmouth: A two-time Olympian (2006 and 2010), Conrad was the only Nova Scotian to attend the 2006 Winter Games. She is also a two-time medal winner on the Snowboard World Cup circuit, and nationally she was Canadian champion in 2009, runner-up in 2007, and claimed third place at the national championship in 2006 and 2008.
Jon Sim, Hockey, New Glasgow: Before being drafted to the NHL, Sim was the all-time leading scorer for the Sarnia Sting of the OHL. He went on to play 469 career NHL games, scoring 75 goals and 139 points, and winning a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999. He later played for the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL, becoming a Calder Cup Champion in 2005.
Paul Tingley, Sailing, Halifax: Tingley is arguably the most accomplished sailor in Canadian history, spending 18 years as a member of the Canadian Sailing team. He competed in five Paralympic Games, winning gold at the 2008 Games and bronze in both 2000 and 2016. He also received Sail Canada’s Sailor of the Year award in 2008, followed by gold medal wins at the 2009 and 2010 World Championships.
1994 Dalhousie Women’s Soccer Team: In 1994 this team became the first Dalhousie Women’s team to win a national championship in soccer after defeating UBC 3-2 in the CIAU championship final. The victory was made even sweeter by the fact that the team lost the national championship final on the 11th penalty kick the year before.
The team contained four CIAU Tournament All-Stars, and 17 of the 21 players on the roster are Nova-Scotia-born.
Team Members: Eva Al-Khouri, Mito Duong, Laura Fielding, Andrea Foreman, Kate Gillespie, Amy Harding, Dana Holmes, Karen Hood, Sue Hunter, Val Hutchings, Meghan Johnson, Suzanne Jones (Manager), Amy Joseph, Pam MacDonald, Dara Moore (Assistant Coach), Carla Perry, Maureen Riley, Tara Schiebel, Allison Sears, Dana Skinner, Neil Turnbull (Head Coach), Leahanne Turner, Jane Walton, Cindi Wilson.
Builders
Tom Coolen, Hockey, Halifax: As coach of the Acadia Axemen hockey team from 1986 to 1994, he led them to Nova Scotia’s first-ever CIAU Hockey Championship title in 1993.
Coolen was a two-time winner of CIAU Coach of the Year and a three-time winner of the same honour from Atlantic University Sport. Outside of the CIAU, he has coached in the NHL, AHL, and NCAA, including serving as assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres in the 2014-15 season.
