By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Ashland native Oliver Lareau laced his skates up for the first time around the age of three and immediately fell in love with the sport of hockey. It was around seventh or eighth grade when he realized he had a talent for the game. During those middle school years, he grew into his body and began playing club hockey for the North Stars out of Westboro. 

Playing for the North Stars, Lareau found that he was playing against much older, bigger and stronger players and, not being the biggest of players, he realized he had to make sure he kept his head up all the time while on the ice.

Upon entering Ashland High School, he was hoping to make the Varsity team but found that, despite having a good tryout, he was assigned to the Junior Varsity team.

“I was a swing player my freshman year and really didn’t get a lot of playing time,” Lareau said. “I had the mindset that whenever I got the chance I just had to go out and work hard for everything. I knew that I could be a better player if I got consistent ice time.”

After continuing to work hard during the off-season, Lareau found he was able to take that next step with Ashland and found himself being elevated to the varsity team his sophomore campaign. That year, the Clockers made it to the Elite Eight in the State Tournament and Lareau netted 15 goals along the way. By his standards he had a good year, but he still wanted to improve more as a leader. 

“My game started to get better my sophomore year and I was dialed in as a varsity player,” he said. “I was so excited to be playing for the varsity and I knew that this is where I belonged and I could be an asset to the team. Although I was where I belonged, I still wanted to improve my game.

Once again, during the off-season, the winger worked hard on his game. He wanted to come into his junior year using his speed to blow by defenders and score goals to help his team. Unfortunately, about six weeks before the season was to begin there were rumors that Ashland didn’t have a team.

“I got a text from a Holliston friend saying that they were talking about Ashland hockey combining with Holliston,” Lareau said. “I figured it was out of my hands, so I wasn’t going to worry about what was being spread around, I just continued to focus on getting better.”

Eventually, he found out that the rumors were true and Ashland was going to co-op with Holliston on the ice. Lareau didn’t care where he was playing hockey as long as he was. Having known some of the Holliston players, it wasn’t all that tough and he said they treated the Ashland players like family right from the start.

“I’m sure it was really tough going to a new team, never mind a Tri-Valley League rival,” Coach Derek Bedard said. “He bough in day one and helped bring other Ashland players with him. It was probably really hard for him to put on that Holliston jersey, but he just wants to play hockey.”

During his junior season and first with Holliston, Lareau believed that he had himself a decent season where he was able to create a lot of opportunities for his new teammates. Playing as a forward for Holliston-Ashland, the junior recorded 22 goals and 8 assists and was the team’s leading scorer.

“Oli really helped this team to its best season in a number of years,” Bedard said. “He helped make this team better. He had three games with a hat-trick and was one of the big reasons we were able to win those games.”

Lareau and his new teammates were able to get into the State Tournament as a 26 seed, but unfortunately they were squared off against the number seven seed Melrose and on paper were seriously outmatched. Lareau did everything in his power to help his team by scoring two goals but it just wasn’t enough, and Holliston-Ashland fell in overtime 3-2.

“Losing in the first round is never our end goal, but the effort this team gave was awesome and it gave us hope for next year,” the coach said. “This was the first year that I got to coach Oli and I cannot wait for next season.”

Upon becoming a co-op team with Holliston, Lareau found things to be tough in the beginning as he was coming to play for a new coach with a new system. He also had to get used to his new linemates.

“Playing on the first line took some time getting used to the Holliston player,” he said. “I didn’t know them all that well and had to figure out their style of play.”

The Ashland and Holliston players seemed to gel nicely this past season and Lareau is looking forward to improving next winter, although he wishes he could have done more for the team this year.

“Losing in the first round hurt, we could have won that game, we were in it all the way. It was a long ride home and I kept thinking what I could have done to help this team,” Lareau said. “Next year, I want to become more of a leader while getting stronger and faster on the ice. I think that this team can do some damage in the tournament, we have some great talent and some up-and-coming players.”

In addition to lacing up the skates, Lareau also dons a uniform for the Ashland football and baseball teams. Hockey and baseball are his top sports and which one is the very top all depends on the season. Lareau is hoping to take his talents onto the collegiate level following his senior year at Ashland. He is currently looking at Division 3 colleges to play baseball, but he may venture out to look for hockey as well. In the meantime, he will continue to play for the North Stars this summer and hopefully catch some college coaches’ eyes. 

“I honestly don’t know where I will be going or which sport I will be playing., they are both my passion and I love them both,” he said.

With Holliston-Ashland slated to lose 13 seniors Bedard will be looking to Lareau to make the jump into a leadership role come next season.

“This year he didn’t have to worry about that sort of thing, I just wanted him to go out and play his game,” the coach said. “Next year I want him to take on more of a leadership role, while improving his skill. This year he was named to his first TVL All-Star team – maybe he can shoot for league MVP, he definitely has the talent.”