Skilled with a blocker and a chef’s knife

MONTREAL Charline Labonte may soon be trading in her goaltending equipment for an apron and a chef’s hat.

While the four-time gold medallist with Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team hasn’t given up on playing quite yet, she is already planning a career after hockey in a professional kitchen.

Her classes at the Ecole des Metiers de la Restauration et du Tourisme de Montreal, a top school for aspiring chefs, begin Nov. 7.

“I want to put myself in situations where I don’t have any regrets at the end and one thing that always came back into my mind was cooking,” Labonte said. “I’ve always loved cooking, going way back.

“Now that I’m coming to the end of my hockey career, I just decided ‘why not give it a try,’ pursue that passion of mine and see if it’s going to take me anywhere. If it doesn’t end up anywhere at least I’ve tried and I’ll just be a better cook for my family.”

The 34-year-old is getting herself ready by working parttime at Les Demoiselles, a restaurant and coffee shop, under chef Vanessa Trahan, a graduate of the same school.

It will make for a busy schedule because Labonte will continue playing for the national team and for Les Canadiennes of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League as well as working one day per week as a goalie coach at McGill University, her alma mater.

“It’s going to be tough,” she said. “I want to coach at McGill and give back to the program that made me what I am today and gave me an education.

“I still love playing, training every day and trying to keep up with the young kids who are so good now. And now going to school again. It’s definitely going to be challenging, but if that’s what it takes, so be it.”

But Labonte has always been up for challenges, and usually meets them.

After playing on high-level boys teams in Boisbriand, Que., she became only the second female to play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, after goalie Manon Rheaume, when she was drafted by the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The club had an opening in goal when Roberto Luongo turned pro.

She’s since won four Olympic gold medals, including two winning starts in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

In 2013, she joined the Montreal Stars (now Canadiennes) and two years later was the CWHL goaltender of the year.

Labonte has yet to decide whether to play beyond this season.