TOGETHER AGAIN: Serdachny, Markowski life-long 'besties' reunited as Charge teammates

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With all that is new about stepping into the world of professional hockey, there is also a deep and comforting familiarity for Ottawa Charge rookies Danielle Serdachny and Stephanie Markowski.

Serdachny, a forward Ottawa selected second overall in the PWHL draft last June, and Markowski, a defender the Charge took in the fourth round, have been best friends since they went to pre-school together, growing up five minutes from each other in Edmonton.

Both of them also have played for Charge coach Carla MacLeod before, most notably when they were “young punks” (MacLeod’s words) at the 2019 Canada Winter Games on the Team Alberta entry that won gold.

“That’s one of our nuggets … we just try to draft friends,” MacLeod joked at the Charge training camp this week.

The reality is that while Serdachny could have gone first to the New York Sirens (who took Princeton standout Sarah Fillier), MacLeod said the decision to take Markowski was based on the work the Charge did leading into the draft.

“I don’t want personal Intel to impact the ranking,” said MacLeod. “I want the right players to be in the right spot for the right reasons.

“I knew when we were about to draft, I knew what was going to transpire. I knew the Serdachnys were going to jump up and be excited, but I also didn’t want that to influence how we were going to bring players into our program. We’ve got a great process there and it just worked out that those two were drafted.

“Both were incredible players for us (at the Canada Games). Danny was our captain, and Steph was a defender that was very hard to play against. That’s our mission this year. We’ve got to be hard to play against.”

Both 23-year-olds developed their talents honestly.

Markowski started going to hockey camps run by Danny’s dad Steve, who was the Edmonton Oilers skills coach for a dozen years, when she was five.

The two became best friends in the seventh grade and played against each other on boys’ teams until they moved to Kelowna, where they billeted together for two years while attending the Pursuit of Excellence prep school.

From there, Serdachny accepted a scholarship at Colgate, while Markowski went to Clarkson and then Ohio State.

During their college days, they stayed in touch daily.

“Texting, calling, we’re very close,” said Markowski. “Our families are best friends, they’re always at each other’s house. I go to Danny’s house even when she’s not there. We’re pretty much family at this point.”

While Markowski said she just kind of “blanked out” when Ottawa called her name at the draft, as she walked off the stage she saw Serdachny waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

“Then It kind of popped into my head: ‘Oh my gosh, we were drafted to the same team!’ ” she said, “We gave each other a big hug. “I think it’s a very low percentage that it was going to happen, we both went pro and then we both got drafted to the same team. We’re very lucky, and I think we’re both just soaking it in. We say every day how grateful we are to not only be here but be with each other. It really makes the experience awesome.

Said Serdachny: “Right after being drafted I was kind of doing a bunch of different things with the media and stuff, and I didn’t have my phone so I wasn’t really sure who was getting picked. But I remember coming back on the draft floor, around the same time she was getting drafted. Her dad was there, and then both my parents were there. Definitely it was a thought in the back of my mind that that would be pretty incredible. When I heard her name and Ottawa, we were definitely very excited.”

While MacLeod knows what both girls bring to the rink — and “they know my sarcasm,” said MacLeod — both Serdachny and Markowski acknowledge how much easier it will be to make the transition to pros and Ottawa knowing their coach.

Serdachny refers to winning the 2019 under-19 world championship in Japan with Markowski as her best hockey memory with her friend,

Serdachny says that Markowski has a great sense of humour.

“You might not always see that side of her through the media, but she’s hilarious,” said Serdachny. “She’s also very caring too. She’s been an incredible best friend for me and I’m excited to go on this journey together.”

As you would expect, the two are roommates again in Ottawa.

“It’s kind of a full-circle moment, to be honest,,” said Serdachny. “We lived together in grades 11 and 12, went our separate ways in college and kind of did our own thing but remained best friends. To through this together, I think, is really incredible and exciting, and it’s kind of nice to have someone you know. We’re both kind of experiencing the same things and living through it together.”

Markowski laughed about their trip to Costco earlier this week.

“We shouldn’t be shopping together,” she said. “We got two big squishmallows. We’re like, why do we need this stuff?

“We’ve got two Christmas trees already.”

But in seriousness, their friendship will be invaluable to them this season.

“I think it will help on the ice too,” said Markowski. “Even after practice, we know what each other needs to kind of be feeling our best, and I know just one one-on-one, we’ll go and shoot pucks and take one-timers and do the extra work.

“It’s kind of fun and easy when you’re doing it with your best friend. So I think it’ll help us this year.”