Year away rekindles Labonte’s passion
WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Veteran goaltender, left off the 2015 roster, taking future one year at a time
Charline Labonte is working toward becoming a sports psychologist. Her own career is providing her a comprehensive case study.
The 33-year-old netminder from Boisbriand, Que., who helped backstop Canada to gold medals at the past three Olympics, was left off last year’s entry for the women’s hockey world championship in Malmo, Sweden. But she’s back on this country’s top team for the worlds at the Sandman Centre here.
Asked to explain what happened a season ago, Labonte said with a smile, “Let’s just say I took a season off.”
That’ s one way of looking at it. Another—and probably more accurate— way is Canadian brass felt it was time to look at other players in net.
Canada lost 7-5 to the United States in the championship game in Malmo a year ago. Genevieve Lacasse, 26, and Ann-Renee Desbiens, 21, split the goaltending duties that evening. Neither is back with this year’s team. General manager Melody Davidson and coach Laura Schuler opted to go instead with Labonte and Erica Howe, 23, as well as returning third-stringer Emerance Maschmeyer, 21.
“I had to think about it,” Labonte said when asked about the phone call offering her a spot at training camp for this year’s team. “Mel (Davidson) and I had a discussion. There were some things I had to say and some things Mel had to say.
“I had to think about it just because I wanted to be here 100 per cent. If my heart wasn’t into it, if there was something holding me back, then I wouldn’t be here. But I’m 100 per cent here.
“There is nothing better than playing in the world championships in Canada.”
Labonte initially took time off from hockey after the 2014 Sochi Olympics to work on her master’s degree in sports psychology at McGill University.
“I wanted to finish that. I didn’t want to take five years. I wanted to take two years like everyone else,” she said. “I took a year to focus on that, to get good grades and finish it. I was in the lab almost 24/7.
“But after that I missed it (hockey). I missed being around the girls. I missed playing for Canada. I wanted to come back. I’ve gotten a chance now. And here I am, taking everything in.”
Labonte admits she uses considerable sports psychology on herself.
She’s coming off a stellar Canadian Women’s Hockey League season, where she went 17-2-0-0 with a 1.52 goals against average and a .925 save percentage for Montreal’s team, Les Canadiennes, the eventual league runners-up. Heading into this tournament, she was 43-12-1 with a 1.49 GAA during her time with the senior national team.
“As a goalie, it’s such a big part,” the 5-foot-9, 156-pound Labonte said of the mental game. “I wish I had been exposed to it a bit younger because it does make such a difference. I think I’ve evolved as a goalie and as a person the past two years because of that master’s.
“I’d like to work with hockey players when I am done (playing). I’ve always liked to be around young players. I’ve coached since I was 15. I always try to introduce sports psych to younger kids. It should be the same as their training off ice. They should train their brains.”
Who Canada will have minding its net for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics is difficult to guess. Shannon Szabados, 29, has been focusing on men’s hockey with the Columbus Cottonmouths of the Southern Professional Hockey League since recording the win in the goldmedal game in Sochi. She hasn’t played with Columbus since March 13 because of an apparent knee injury.
Labonte, for her part, won’t commit to 2018, saying she’s currently going year by year from here on out.
She does admit she’s enjoying these worlds even more than she expected.
“When something you love is taken away from you, it puts things in perspective,” Labonte said. “When I got a chance to go back to camp, I told myself that I’ll put myself in a position where there’s no regrets.”