By Austin Stanton
With a 3-1 defeat to Les Canadiennes de Montréal, the Clarkson Cup weekend didn’t end the way Geneviève Lacasse and her Calgary Inferno teammates wanted. But, being able to return to Ottawa and see her friends and family, was a treat in it of itself. Combine that with growing women’s hockey in the nation’s capital, and despite not coming away with a victory from the Mar. 5 contest at Canadian Tire Centre, Lacasse calls the event as a whole a positive experience.
The Team Canada goaltender trains in Ottawa during the off-season with Limoges as her summertime home, though she’s now based in Calgary most of the year, playing with the Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and training at the national team’s home.
She is currently in Plymouth, MI for the Mar. 31-Apr. 7 IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championships.
“I want to play in the gold medal game, so every game and practice leading up to that, I try to be in the best position to be the starting goalie,” underlines the #3 goalie from Canada’s Sochi 2014 Olympic triumph. “Obviously making the Olympic team and heading to South Korea is the long-term goal.”
The Providence University graduate broke into the CWHL 5 years ago with the Boston Blades. Back then, the team’s road trips to Toronto or Montreal were done via bus. She’s seen the league take tremendous strides since then.
“One thing that I have really noticed changing in the last 5 years is the parity between the teams,” indicates Lacasse, whose Inferno teammates won the Clarkson Cup last year before she joined the squad. “It’s been a real tough season, all the games have been really close.”
The CWHL’s emergence has given players a chance to develop after their university careers end, she adds. Take the Brampton Thunder’s Jess Jones, who tied Canadian Olympic hero Marie-Philip Poulin for the league lead in scoring this year, despite not being a national team player.
“You look at NHL players and not all of them peak in junior or while they’re in school,” Lacasse explains. “They get to work their way up to the NHL and peak in their mid to late 20s. Now with the CWHL, we’re seeing some of the players peaking later, whereas in the past, there wasn’t an opportunity to keep going.”
When in Calgary, it’s all hockey, all the time, for Lacasse. The 27-year-old is on the ice almost every day, whether that be for Inferno practices, Team Canada sessions, or individual goalie skill sessions. That’s on top of being in the gym for workouts three times a week.
When she’s back in the Ottawa area during the summer, Lacasse works on her strength and conditioning with Nick Westcott at Carleton University’s high-performance training centre. She does her on-ice sessions at Complete Goaltending Development in Stittsville with Charles McTavish and Paul Schonfelder.
“We get on the ice one-on-one or two-on-one, sometimes we have a shooter, sometimes we don’t,” details the military daughter who grew up mainly in Kingston. “We just focus on the little things. There are always new ways to learn how to do our job.”
Lacasse spends the rest of her summer getting physio and massage therapy downtown, and playing in a co-ed softball league in Orleans. She also travels to Kingston for some camps throughout the summer.
At first glance, it may seem strange that the CWHL decided to host their championship for a second straight year in a city that doesn’t have a team in the league (Ottawa was given the boot from the owner-free loop in 2010 after poor performances), but Lacasse sees value in exposing another area code of young women to the top players in the world.
“When I was younger, I wanted to win the Stanley Cup, and as I got older, I realized that might not be possible, then it changed to winning an Olympic gold medal,” recalls Lacasse, who served as a backup in the championship game on the heels of posting an 8-1 regular season record and 2-0 playoff mark. “I think the more girls are aware of the Clarkson Cup, and are able to interact with those role models, it will change to, I want to win the Clarkson Cup.”
In addition to the final game at CTC, the CWHL hosted a community day on Saturday. CWHL players from all the teams went out and participated in hockey clinics, speaker sessions, and open skates throughout Ottawa.
“I think it’s great for the city and the young girls in the city to aspire to something and get to talk to the players and ask them questions, and have great role models all around for the week,” Lacasse adds.