Lamoureux twins lead way for U.S.
They were born nine years before their sport even made its Olympic debut. And yet, they were born for this moment.
America’s newest Olympics heroes deked their way into hockey lore Thursday in Pyeongchang, South Korea, about 6,000 miles from where they were raised in North Dakota, defeating a blood rival located just miles from their childhood home.
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando scored the game-tying and shootout-winning goals against Canada in Team USA’s 3-2 goldmedal game, a pair of twins making a country and family proud — including, even, their Canadian father.
Lamoureux-Davidson and Lamoureux-Morando were born into hockey royalty in 1989, a family of six college hockey players — all the rest boys — for Pierre Lamoureux, a former professional player from Saskatchewan.
In the shootout, Lamoureux-Davidson took the puck and faked a righty wrister. She pulled the puck left, then quickly right. All three moves seemed to fool Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados, who was left helpless on her back as Lamoureux-Davidson calmly guided the puck into the net.
Earlier, it had been Lamoureux-Morando who tied the game for the U.S., the twins combining to send America into gold — finally. They had won silver in 2010 and 2014, falling to the Canadians both times.
“I’m digging the new necklace I got today,” Lamoureux-Davidson told reporters. “It has been a dream to do this, side-by-side. We have pushed each other since we were little and our brothers have kicked our butts along the way.”