(Hamden, Connecticut) She is a Quebecer who ranks second in points on the Bobcats women’s team. This Quebecer is Maya Labad, third-year player.
Labad was trained in the international program at Armand-Corbeil high school (residents will tell you that Armand is the second best Corbeil in Terrebonne behind municipal councilor Michel Corbeil, but we digress), and she is now studying in criminology, a way of following in the footsteps of his father, a police officer.
By taking a leadership role at an NCAA Division I school, Labad is one step closer to one of his dreams: competing in the Olympic Games. She would like to be one of those in 2026, but does not make it an obsession.
The 21-year-old has already got his foot in the door as a member of the National Development Program. “One thing I liked about Quinnipiac is that the coaches are Canadian, because getting to Team Canada is an advantage. They know me and they know the people at Hockey Canada. »
PHOTO GUILLAUME LEFRANÇOIS, THE PRESS
Maya Labad (27) hopes to join a team in the Professional Women’s Hockey League in a few years.
Labad also operates in an interesting environment. The New York team of the future Professional Women’s Hockey League trains an hour’s drive from Quinnipiac, in Stamford, the Boston team is two hours from the university, without forgetting of course the Montreal club, near of the House.
We’ve been talking about it for years and it hasn’t happened. It will take a few years for it to develop. But just the fact that it’s realistic for girls to play pro… When it’s my turn in a few years, it will just be better.
Maya Labad, Quebec forward for the Quinnipiac University Bobcats
She could also taste a “luxury” to which the generation before her was not entitled: to make a living from her sport. “Like any guy who dreams of playing in the National League! », she says, in the tone of someone who realizes that she is stating the obvious.
An obvious fact which says a lot about the ridiculous situation with which the players had to deal until very recently.