Charline Labonté

Charline Labonté (born October 15, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Labonté played professionally for the Montreal Stars/Les Canadiennes de Montreal of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. She was a member of the Canada women's national ice hockey team that won three gold medals at the Olympics and two gold medals in the World Championships. She is an alumnus of the McGill Martlets hockey program.

Charline Labonté
Labonté during a Montreal Stars game in November 2014
Born	October 15, 1982 Greenfield Park, Quebec, Canada
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight	157 lb (71 kg; 11 st 3 lb)
Position	Goaltender
Caught	Left
Played for	Les Canadiennes de Montreal (CWHL) McGill University (CIS)
National team	Canada
Playing career	2000–2017
Medal record Olympic Games 2006 Turin Team 2010 Vancouver Team 2014 Sochi Team World Championships 2007 Canada 2012 United States 2005 Sweden 2008 China 2009 Finland 2011 Switzerland 2013 Canada 2016 Canada

Labonté with McGill Martlets

Labonté now lives in Montreal, and graduated from McGill University with a degree in Physical Education. Labonté was named to the 2014 Olympic roster for Canada.[1] She would be the winning goaltender for Les Canadiennes de Montreal in the final of the 2017 Clarkson Cup.[2] In September 2017, she retired from Les Canadiennes and the Canadian national hockey team, as the goalie ranking second most all-time in games won (45), shutouts (16), and games played for Canada, with three Olympic gold medals, 2 world championship wins and 6 world silver medals.[3]

Playing career

Hockey Canada

Labonté was one of two goaltenders playing for the Canadian women's hockey team in the 2006 Turin olympics. At the Torino Games, Labonte and Kim St. Pierre allowed a combined two goals in five games played. Labonte logged 180 minutes of ice time and led all goaltenders with a goals against average of 0.33 and a save percentage of .976, respectively. In 2010, she served as the third goaltender for the gold medal winning Canadian women's team.[4] Prior to this she played for the Montreal Axion and Laval Le Mistral, Teams of the National Women's Hockey League.[5] She was awarded Top Goaltender honours at the 2009 world championships.[3]

QMJHL

She was one of the few women to play Major Junior hockey, appearing in 28 games with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League between 1999 and 2000.[6] Her play for the QMJHL club was featured on a hockey card issued by Upper Deck in their 1999–2000 UD Prospects set (card #54). She competed for Team Quebec at the 1999 Canada Winter Games.[7] She was a member of the Montreal Axion in 2004–05, and one of her teammates was fellow Olympian Gina Kingsbury.

McGill Martlets

With McGill, she competed in five CIS National tournaments. On December 31, 2010, Labonte required only 13 saves to post her 59th career shutout with McGill as the Martlets defeated the nationally ranked fifth overall Alberta Pandas by a 3–0 mark in the final game of the Bisons Holiday Classic tournament at Max Bell Arena. In the game, the Martlets held a 31–13 edge in shots. Gillian Ferrari was credited with the game-winner on the power-play at 5:49 of the first period. Jasmine Sheehan, a fifth-year defender scored the second goal of the game. Logan Murray, a freshman from Calgary, scored the last goal of the contest.[8] In an October 29, 2011 contest against the Montreal Carabins, Ariane Barker scored on Labonte with 71 seconds left in a 3–2 win versus McGill. Labonte took the loss for the Martlets, giving her a 69–2 overall record in her CIS career.[9] It marked the Martlets first loss to a Quebec conference opponent for the first time in 108 games.[10]

Awards and honours

• Top Goaltender, 2006 Esso Women's National Hockey Championship Pool A: Charline Labonte [11]
• Top Goaltender, 2009 world championships[3]
• 2015 CWHL Goaltender of the Year Award

Career stats

CWHL

Year	Team	GP	MIN	W	L	OTL	SOL	SO	GA	GAA	SV	SV %
2012-13	Montreal Stars
2014-15	Montreal Stars[12]	16	952:26	9	7	0	0	2	30	1.89	380	.927

Personal life

In June 2014, Labonte publicly came out as a lesbian.[13]

References

1. Nick Zaccardi (December 23, 2013). "Canada names women's Olympic hockey team".
2. "Clarkson Cup Game Summary". CWHL. March 5, 2017. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
3. "Longtime goalie Charline Labonte retires from Team Canada". CBC Sports. September 25, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
4. Podnieks, Andrew. Canada's Olympic Hockey History 1920–2010. Toronto: Fenn Publishing. p. 242. ISBN 1-55168-323-7.
5. Brian R. Johnston (April 15, 2006). "NWHL Championship eludes Thunder". Brampton Thunder Hockey Club. Archived from the original on May 3, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
6. "Charline Labonte player statistics". The Internet Hockey Database. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
7. Canadian Gold 2010, Andrew Podnieks, p. 170, Fenn Publishing, Toronto, Canada, ISBN 978-1-55168-384-3.
8. "Athletics event". McGill University. December 31, 2010. Archived from the original on February 1, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
9. Montreal Gazette Retrieved October 31, 2011.
10. McGill University Retrieved October 31, 2011.
11. "2006 Esso Women's National Championship Award Winners Announced". Hockey Canada. March 20, 2006. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
12. http://cwhl_site.stats.pointstreak.com/teamplayerstats.html?teamid=277086&seasonid=13281
13. "I am Charline Labonte, Olympic hockey player and proudly gay". Outsports. June 11, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com
• Charline Labonté at the Canadian Olympic Committee
• Charline Labonté at the International Olympic Committee
• Charline "Charlie" Labonté at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Charline Labonté on Twitter
• Player profile on hockey Canada
• Charline Labonté: McGill's golden goalie in McGill reporter, February 21, 2008.
• Charline Labonté, le dernier rempart in Cyberpresse, March 10, 2011. (in French)