Solid as Larocque

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This article was published 18/09/2023 (908 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a big day for Manitoba talent at the inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League draft in Toronto.

Five homegrown players, include long-time Team Canada blue-liner Jocelyne Larocque of Ste. Anne who went second overall to Toronto, were among the 90 players chosen during the 15-round event.

The league’s six franchises, which also include unnamed teams in Ottawa, Montreal, Minnesota, New York and Boston, are expected to begin regular-season play in January.

— Larocque, 35, could form one half of a stellar shutdown duo with Team Canada defender Renata Fast.

Fast and forwards Sarah Nurse and Blayre Turnbull comprised Toronto’s signings during a free-agency window conducted prior to Monday’s selections.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Larocque. “So happy, and to be able to be picked by Toronto where I played for the Brampton Thunder, I played for the Markham Thunder. I’m just so excited to be playing here in Toronto.”

Larocque was thrilled to be rejoining Fast.

“We’re close friends, we obviously played together for five-plus years now,” she said. “So there’s a comfort there and I’m excited that we’ll be on the same professional team together.”

Larocque, who has won two gold medals and a silver at the Winter Olympics, has been a member of the Canadian national women’s team since 2011.

— Deloraine’s Ashton Bell was chosen in the second round (eighth overall) by the Ottawa franchise.

“I’m just so honoured to be a part of that organization,” said Bell, who said prior to the draft she hoped to play for one of the three Canadian franchises. “I was not expecting that but thrilled to be joining them. So super happy.”

Bell, a 23-year-old blue-liner, recently completed a five-year NCAA career at the University of Minnesota Duluth. After earning a gold medal with the Canadians at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Bell was left off the national team roster for the 2023 world championship.

She will be working hard to regain her spot with the national program after attending a Team Canada fall camp last week.

“As a little girl, you would have never expected this day to be possible,” added Bell. “So now that they can see this and be inspired to be here one day. (I’m) just super proud to be from a small community like that and hopefully they can dream to be here one day.”

• Toronto chose goaltender Kristen Campbell has been chosen in the third round (14th overall).

The 25-year-old Brandonite was the No. 3 puckstopper of Canada’s gold-medal winning effort at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

• Winnipegger Kati Tabin was the fourth Manitoban and the 11th blue-liner to be chosen, going in the fifth round (30th overall) to Montreal.

Earlier this spring, the Premier Hockey Federation’s Toronto Six signed the all-star to a two-year, US$220,00 contract extension. The deal was nullified only weeks later when the PWHL absorbed the PHF.

Tabin was unsure of how players from the rival PHF would be evaluated and feared she would be bypassed in the draft. In total, 33 ex-PHFers were picked but none earlier than the fourth round.

“That’s what my biggest worry that because I played in the PHF that I might be judged for that and not necessarily judged for my skill level,” said Tabin, who was in Winnipeg visiting family Monday. “Obviously, just not knowing you have a million thoughts going through your head. So the worst-case scenario was going through my mind and that’s why I kind of figured that I might not get picked or not until one of the last couple of rounds.”

In Montreal, Tabin will join Team Canada players such as forwards Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey and goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens, who were signed as free agents, and first-round draft pick Erin Ambrose, a blue-liner.

“I think Montreal is the perfect location for me,” said Tabin. “Starting off, I wanted to stay in Canada… I think the atmosphere for the female game in Montreal is going to be super fun. I’m sure there’s going to be an unreal fan base there and then obviously playing alongside some people like Poulin and Stacey and Ambrose is going to be phenomenal.”

• Elm Creek’s Corinne Schroeder, a 24-year-old goaltender, went to New York in the sixth round (33rd overall).

Schroeder, named the PHF’s rookie of the year and goaltender of the year in 2022-23 while with the Boston Pride, was the third goaltender chosen Monday.

Earlier this year, she has signed a one-year contract to join the PHF’s Montreal Force only to have the contract nixed due to the merger.

Earlier, Minnesota made American forward Taylor Heise the top pick. Tennis legend Billie Jean King, an investor in the league, made the announcement.

“It’s an unreal feeling,” said the 23-year-old Heise said. “I mean, to be here and see all the ladies here that I play against and play with every single day is awesome. I think it’s something that I’m going to look forward to and look back on my entire life.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca