Quebec hockey player Maude Poulin-Labelle, considered among the best players playing on the blue line in the NCAA, will leave Vermont to join Northeastern University in Boston next season.
Thus, her grandfather Normand Labelle, obviously proud of his granddaughter’s career, will once again have to change teams.
Aged 22, Maude raises the anecdote when explaining why she wears the number 76. A nod to PK Subban, but also to her grandfather.
“My grandfather was a huge fan of PK Subban and he said that if the Canadian traded him, he was going to get rid of his CH jersey and change clubs. We didn’t believe him, but that’s what he did…”, notes the Sherbrooke resident, recalling the famous transaction for the acquisition of Shea Weber, on June 29, 2016.
PHOTO COURTESY / Brian Foley / University of Vermont/PHOTO COURTESY / Brian Foley / University of Vermont
Quebecer Maude-Poulin Labelle defended the colors of the University of Vermont Catamounts, in the NCAA, during the 2021-2022 season.
Since then, after supporting the Nashville Predators and the New Jersey Devils, Normand couldn’t resist: he became a CH supporter again. In the NCAA, however, the grandfather will not hesitate to support Northeastern from now on.
Become a coach
Recently elected to the second team of All-Americans, Poulin-Labelle explains her departure from Vermont to study in a program called “sports leadership”. This one is not available in Burlington. Her goal: to become a hockey coach. She even dreams of one day leading a men’s group and being, in a way, a pioneer. And why not in the NHL?
For the moment, however, the hockey player is not done with her own career on the ice. After four seasons in Vermont, she would like to win the American university championship with the Huskies next year.
“I focus on improving every season,” said the woman who totaled 35 points in 34 games last season and posted a +22 differential. If we only look at the statistics, it’s obviously my best season, but what I’m most proud of is having improved my defensive game. I am now a more complete player.
Dreaming about the Canadian team
Of course, in his wildest dreams, Poulin-Labelle hopes to receive an invitation to attend a Canadian national team camp.
“I am still young and I will continue to believe in it. One day, maybe my turn will come, ”she slips.
In the event of a selection, Grandpa Normand would be happy to buy a new jersey bearing the image of the Canadian team. And this, regardless of whether the number 76 is available.
A six point game
And to think that Maude Poulin-Labelle, generally used defensively, could have found herself in front of the University of Vermont Catamounts net that day…
On January 18, the Quebecer scored four goals and added two assists in an NCAA college hockey game in a 9-0 win over Holy Cross.
“It was a pretty special game when our team was affected by COVID-19, says the Sherbrooke resident. We only had one coach available behind the bench and only one goalkeeper. If our guardian [Jessie McPherson] had to get injured, we had agreed before the match that I would be the replacement goalkeeper. Sometimes, for fun, I dress up as a goalkeeper in training. That’s why I became the choice as a substitute.
However, Poulin-Labelle instead scored the first three goals of the game during the first 16 minutes of play. She added a fourth goal, in the second period, in addition to supplying her teammates Sara Lévesque, also from Quebec, and Reagan Miller during the meeting.
During his four seasons in Vermont, Poulin-Labelle totaled 80 points in 115 games. She thus shattered the record of Taylor Williard who, with 62 points, held the previous Catamounts program record for a player playing on the blue line.