Soldier’s switch to goaltender works out
Puzzled looks and furrowed brows greeted Dominic Larocque when he showed up in goalie gear at a Canadian para ice hockey team camp.
Why a top-six forward would choose to pick up the “tools of ignorance” mystified his teammates.
Larocque had just helped Canada win a bronze medal at the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia, with three goals and an assist in five games.
“I didn’t want him to switch to goalie,” teammate Greg Westlake said. “I didn’t like it at first.”
New to coaching the national para hockey team in the fall of 2015, Ken Babey knew Larocque had been a productive forward.
“When you have one of the top six forwards from the Paralympics switching to goal, it was kind of like, ‘Uh, I don’t know if you want to do this right now,’” Babey said.
But Larocque secretly craved the responsibility and unforgiving nature of the position, even when he was an able-bodied forward for the Junior A Valleyfield Braves.
“Since I was a kid I dreamt to be a goalie,” Larocque said. “When I was a kid, I was centre for 10 to 12 years. After that, I went into the army.”
Cpl. Larocque of the Royal 22nd Regiment, the Van Doos, lost his left leg in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2007 when the armoured vehicle he was in rolled over an improvised explosive device.
The 30-year-old from Quebec City came to sledge hockey via Soldier On, a program linking injured Canadian soldiers to sport.
Larocque was the first athlete from the program to become a Winter Paralympian. He’s one of 10 veterans from the 2014 para hockey squad taking another run at gold in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The 17-member para ice hockey team is the largest contingent on Canada’s Paralympic team of 55 also competing in curling, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon and snowboarding.
The opening ceremonies are Friday. The Canadian Paralympic Committee says the goal is to increase the number of podium finishes from 2014, where Canadians won 16 medals (seven gold, two silver, seven bronze).
The hockey team opens the preliminary round Saturday versus Sweden.
“For us, we don’t expect anything else than the gold medal,” Larocque said. “My bronze medal in Sochi was one of my favourite experiences overall, but we expect gold for sure.”
His adaptation to the para hockey crease has been as quick as his adaptation to the sport.
Larocque was Canada’s starter in the final of the 2017 world championship in South Korea.
He stopped 12 of 13 shots in Canada’s 4-1 win over the U.S. Larocque allowed just three goals in four games and posted three shutouts in the tournament.
Larocque loves the pressure of the position.
“What I love is the feeling of, if you make a mistake, they score a goal,” Larocque said.