Charline Labonté

Charline Labonté
Charline Labonté
	Labonté during a Montreal Stars game in November 2014
Born	October 15, 1982 (age 42); 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
Olympic Games
World Championships
Women's inline hockey
FIRS World Championship

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 alumna of the McGill Martlets hockey program.

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]

Inline hockey

Also a member of the Canada women's national inline hockey team, winning a gold medal at the 2004 FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships, some of her teammates on the roster included fellow Hockey Canada alumnae Meghan Agosta, Amanda Benoit-Wark, Isabelle Chartrand, Cherie Piper and Amy Turek.

Awards and honours

Top Goaltender, 2006 Esso Women's National Hockey Championship Pool A: Charline Labonte ^[11]
Top Goaltender, 2009 world championships^[3]
2011-12 RSEQ FIRST ALL-STAR TEAM: Charline Labonté^[12]
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^[13]	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. Attended the Cami Granato invitational in 2023.^[14]

References

^ Nick Zaccardi (December 23, 2013). "Canada names women's Olympic hockey team". Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
^ "Clarkson Cup Game Summary". CWHL. March 5, 2017. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Longtime goalie Charline Labonte retires from Team Canada". CBC Sports. September 25, 2017. Archived from the original on September 25, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
^ Podnieks, Andrew (2009). Canada's Olympic Hockey History 1920–2010. Toronto: Fenn Publishing. p. 242. ISBN 978-1-55168-323-2.
^ 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.
^ "Charline Labonte player statistics". The Internet Hockey Database. Archived from the original on April 5, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
^ Canadian Gold 2010, Andrew Podnieks, p. 170, Fenn Publishing, Toronto, Canada, ISBN 978-1-55168-384-3.
^ "Athletics event". McGill University. December 31, 2010. Archived from the original on February 1, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
^ [1] ^{[permanent dead link]} Montreal Gazette Retrieved October 31, 2011. ^{[dead link]}
^ [2] McGill University Retrieved October 31, 2011. Archived September 4, 2012, at archive.today
^ "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.
^ "Bettez named league MVP as five Martlets merit all-star honours". mcgillathletics.ca/. February 21, 2012. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
^ "Facebook". Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
^ "I am Charline Labonte, Olympic hockey player and proudly gay". Outsports. June 11, 2014. Archived from the original on June 13, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.

External links

Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com
Charline Labonté at Team Canada
Charline Labonté at Olympics.com
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)

Preceded by Noora Räty (2007, 2008)	*IIHF World Women's Championships Best Goalie* 2009	Succeeded by Noora Räty (2011)
Preceded by DeLayne Brian (2014)	*2015 Goaltender of the Year Award winner* (2015)	Succeeded by To Be Determined (2016)
Preceded by DeLayne Brian (2016)	*Most Valuable Player, Clarkson Cup Playoffs* (2017)	Succeeded by Erica Howe (2018)

[1] Nick Zaccardi (December 23, 2013). "Canada names women's Olympic hockey team". Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.

[2] "Clarkson Cup Game Summary". CWHL. March 5, 2017. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2017.

[cbc2017-3] "Longtime goalie Charline Labonte retires from Team Canada". CBC Sports. September 25, 2017. Archived from the original on September 25, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017.

[Olympics-4] Podnieks, Andrew (2009). Canada's Olympic Hockey History 1920–2010. Toronto: Fenn Publishing. p. 242. ISBN 978-1-55168-323-2.

[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. Archived from the original on April 5, 2009. 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] [1] ^{[permanent dead link]} Montreal Gazette Retrieved October 31, 2011. ^{[dead link]}

[10] [2] McGill University Retrieved October 31, 2011. Archived September 4, 2012, at archive.today

[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] "Bettez named league MVP as five Martlets merit all-star honours". mcgillathletics.ca/. February 21, 2012. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2021.

[13] "Facebook". Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2015.

[14] "I am Charline Labonte, Olympic hockey player and proudly gay". Outsports. June 11, 2014. Archived from the original on June 13, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.

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v t e Clarkson Cup
Adrienne Clarkson Stanley Cup Abby Hoffman Cup Hockey Canada Canadian Women's Hockey League Canadian women's ice hockey history
Championships	2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Winners	Canada Boston Blades (2013, 2015) Calgary Inferno (2016, 2019) Markham Thunder (2018) Minnesota Whitecaps (2010) Montreal Stars/Les Canadiennes (2009, 2011, 2012, 2017) Toronto Furies (2014)
Most Valuable Player Award	Catherine Ward (2013) Christina Kessler (2014) Charline Labonte (2015) Delayne Brian (2016) Charline Labonte (2017) Erica Howe (2018) Brianna Decker (2019)
Category