GRAND FORKS, N.D., Feb. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Gold medal Olympic ice hockey players Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux announce their retirement from USA Hockey effective February 9th, 2021. This week marks the 11th anniversary of their arrival at the Olympic Village in 2010 after making their first of three USA Olympic Hockey Teams. The ice hockey journey that started with skating on a frozen pond by their home in Grand Forks, North Dakota with their four older brothers and their friends led them around the country and the world, where they became two of the world’s top female hockey players.
The decade long national team career of the Lamoureux twins concluded with nearly identical accomplishments. They played in every major IIHF event from 2009 to 2018 and Olympics together, winning 1 Olympic Gold Medal, 2 Olympic Silver Medals, 6 World Championship Gold Medals, and 1 World Championship Silver Medal, combining for 20 major international medals. Their individual statistics were also comparable. Jocelyne played in 135 games combining for 138 points, and Monique played in 133 games combining for 143 points. Fifteen of those were Olympic games, where they each netted 16 points.
It was the one-two punch of the Lamoureux twins that helped secure the gold medal for the United States in the 2018 Olympics in South Korea – the first gold medal for USA women’s ice hockey in 20 years. In that gold medal game, Monique scored the game-tying goal in the third period which was followed by a scoreless overtime. Jocelyne scored the eventual game winning goal as the sixth shooter in the sudden death portion of the shootout, becoming the most important goal in USA Women’s Hockey history.
Their extraordinary story is all the more remarkable because of the work and sacrifice they and their teammates contributed to secure more equitable support and treatment for American female hockey players from their national governing body (USAH). They and their teammates were willing to sit out the 2017 World Championships to provide a better landscape for female hockey players in the U.S. The rest is history.
The Lamoureux Twins have not only advocated for equitable treatment for female hockey players of every generation, they have become advocates for women in the workplace, working moms, and disadvantaged youth through their recently created foundation, The Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux Foundation.
“As we began to reflect on our future, we realized that, over our careers, we have achieved all of our hockey dreams. Winning three national championships at Shattuck. Check. Helping to turn around the women’s hockey program at our hometown university, the University of North Dakota. Check. Making countless national teams—and winning twenty international medals between us. Check. Playing in three Olympics – together – and winning two silver medals and one gold medal. Check. Proving we could work ourselves back into Olympic shape and make a national team after giving birth. Check. As our dad told us in high school, sometimes you have to make choices in your life. In college, we chose hockey and academics over our social lives. We are blessed today to have at least three fantastic choices—our young sons and families, our community engagement, and hockey. In the end, ordering our priorities is actually pretty easy,” said Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux. They continued: “Our book “Dare to Make History” launches later this month; it is both a look back, and a look forward, as we focus on our next life chapter with our families, community commitments, work to fight for gender equity, efforts to advance the sport of women’s hockey, and the work of our foundation.”
The Lamoureux twins expressed thanks to their fans, their supporters, their families, and the opportunities they have been given. They are excited about their next big play – the ongoing push for women’s equity in sports and in life, and continued commitment to inspire and empower young kids everywhere to dream big.
Press contact: Emily Malmstrom at [email protected]
DARE TO MAKE HISTORY launches February 23rd and is for sale on the Lamoureux twins’ website. http://www.lamoureuxtwins.com/
SOURCE Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux
