In Hainsight: Caroline Ouellette Enters the Hockey Hall of Fame

There are not that many women in the Hockey Hall of Fame so far. Only ten of them have managed to receive the great honor of being inducted — Cammi Granato, Angela James, Geraldine Heany, Angela Ruggiero, Danielle Goyette, Jayna Hefford, Hayley Wickenheiser, Kim St-Pierre, Riikka Sallinen, and, as of two nights ago, Caroline Ouellette.

In her 14-odd minute induction speech, Ouellette was humble as ever and took the time to thank almost every person who had a hand in making her, not only, the hockey player she became, but also the woman that she is today. She recalled how, from a very young age, she knew she wanted to play hockey. But had such a hard time convincing her dad, until her mother took matters into her own hands and bought her very first pair of hockey skates. From then on, her dad was fully on board and both of her parents supported her as she played in minor hockey, always being the only female on the team.

She skated for the Concordia Stingers, registering 19 points in seven games before joining the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. Ouellette spent three seasons, captaining the team for the last two. As a rookie, her team won a third NCAA title in a row and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. By the time Ouellette left the NCAA, she was fourth all-time in league scoring, 229 points, making the WCHA All-Decade Team in 2009. Today, she’s still third in all-time scoring for the Bulldogs.

When Ouellette reached the higher levels and started playing for Team Canada, she was lucky enough to have experienced veterans show her the way. France St-Louis was 40 years old when a young Ouellette made the team on talent alone, and she had the guts to tell the rookie she would have to shape up if she wanted to be a fixture on the team. Wise words that resonated with Caroline Ouellette.

Those words allowed Ouellette to have the career she had, winning the gold medal in four different Olympic Games. In 12 World Championships, she’s won six gold medals and six silver ones. Thanks to the rivalry with the United States, Ouellette and her teammates did experience some adversity.

Full Press Hockey’s own Jim Biringer spoke to her about what it was like eventually scoring the game-winning goal in the gold medal game after a rough start getting blown in the first game of the 2012 World Championships.

“Oh, that was a lot of fun. That tournament was special because we lost 7-2 I think. Yeah, seven or nine. I tried to block it out. Yeah. And so again, I remember the meetings after that. And now we came together and we reset. And we decided to become one from that moment and to become unstoppable and to play for one another. And sometimes you need that level of adversity to wake up and realize that you’re not there yet. And from that moment, you know, we get better and better and better.

And of course like when you play the Americans it’s so close, like it can go either way. And that was to this day, one of the best games and my career. It was back and forth and was physical there was chirping. Yeah, that was a good game. Lots of penalties and deserve one and, and back and forth and just, you know, to be able to take them to overtime. And you know, it is I think the biggest goal in my career. Because you get to make your team win a world championship. One of my closest friends is Kim St. Pierre, and she often talked to me about what it felt like to be under a pile of celebrating people. But now I felt what it felt like that day and it was an unforgettable moment.”

Well, I think I remember we met with our sports psych Peter Jensen was an incredible, who is an incredible, incredible man and really helped us along the years,” Ouellette told Full Press Hockey.  Work for one another because it is tough. You’re all superstar wherever you play in college, or in the pro league, and now you come together and it’s a short-term event. So becoming one and playing for one another is something really important. It’s a process that sometimes take time that takes adversity and sometimes defeat. Dan Church was the coach and will always remember Lisa Haley, they did a fantastic job guiding us making sure we felt value in whatever role we had. So when that final game started, we were ready and we were ready to do it for one another.”

When a young Marie-Philip Poulin joined the fold, Ouellette took her under her wing, just like St-Louis had done for her years ago. By the time she retired from the National Team in 2018, she was the captain and third all-time in games played with Team Canada. In 220 games, she scored 87 goals and gathered 155 assists.

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On the local scene, Ouellette played in the original National Women’s Hockey League both before and after her time in the NCAA. She won league Championships, a scoring title, MVP awards and was the first player to reach the 300-point plateau.

On top of being a gifted hockey player, Ouellette was also an inspiring role model for so many members of the LGBTQ+ community. After she won the 2017 Clarkson Cup, Ouellette announced that she was pregnant with her first child with partner Julie Chu, a former Team USA player. The couple now has two little girls and are coaching the Concordia Stingers together. After years of competing against each other, it must be a great feeling to be able to celebrate wins and championships together rather than be weary of your partner’s feelings as they were on the losing side.

Working on building the women’s game and passing on her love and knowledge of hockey, Ouellette is happy in her role at Concordia University and will not be embarking on the PWHL adventure. She did however speak about the new league in her induction speech:

“I think it’s a very exciting time with the PWHL coming along. Finally, we have one united professional women’s hockey league and I really believe this is the right time. This is going to work. It’s going to be incredibly high level with six teams, with players from all around the world coming together. I think it’s going to close the gap worldwide in women’s hockey for sure. However, I would have loved to be in that League to make a living out of hockey. I want to be their number-one fan. I want to go to games. I want my daughters to grow up and see that it is possible if they choose to play hockey that they can make a living out of it. So, I’m super proud. I’m super thankful for all the women that came before me that paved the way that had it even harder than I did. And now it’s going to happen and it’s going to be incredible.”

When asked by Jim Biringer of Full Press Hockey about the feelings she will have when she sees the puck drop in the new league, her response was very emotional.

“A lot of pride and a lot of joy and emotions. It’s gonna be an emotional moment. I’ve wanted this moment for years for our best. I feel sad that they haven’t had that for years. I love what we had in the CWHL in the sense that there was the Clarkson Cup, there were rivalries, we had coaches, we had cities that we cared for and played in and fans that followed us. And yes, I think showcases are important because they have grown the game everywhere and in new cities, but I think belonging to a team in a city is really important and I can’t wait. It’s going to be unbelievable and it’s going to be fantastic hockey.”

With the new league just about to launch, the timing of Ouellette’s induction couldn’t have been better. I’m sure that if she hadn’t been in the perfect job right now, she would have loved to work for the Montreal team, perhaps it will happen sometime in the future.

For now, though, all we can do is applaud this tremendous woman and athlete for her past accomplishments, but also for her future ones as she’s still working on shaping tomorrow’s professional women hockey players.