GRAND FORKS, N.D.—Sometime this holiday season, you may find an all-star hockey game being played on the English Coulee in Grand Forks.
The players will be a Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist, the second-leading scorer in all of college hockey, two candidates for the 2010 U.S. Olympic women’s team, a forward for college hockey’s winningest team of the past four years and a defenseman who played for Brent Sutter in Canada.
This is Christmas with the Lamoureux family.
All six children, who are spread out in Grand Forks, Winnipeg, Minneapolis, Colorado Springs, and Anchorage are together in their hometown this holiday season. As they’ve done their whole lives, they will go across the street and play some not-always-so-friendly hockey on the coulee.
They also will be able to celebrate with their parents, Pierre and Linda, an incredibly successful year for the family.
The list of accomplishments this season:
— Jean-Philippe, who last season set the record for save percentage at the University of North Dakota, was named the East Coast Hockey League rookie of the month in November. He leads the league with 13 wins for the Alaska Aces.
— Jacques, a sophomore at Air Force, is the second-leading scorer in college hockey in points per game. He sits behind only New Hampshire’s James vanRiemsdyk, a No. 2 overall pick in the NHL draft. Jacques is being mentioned by many as a Hobey candidate, like Jean-Philippe the previous season.
— Mario, a freshman at UND, has proved to be a key cog for the Sioux. They are 6-1-1 with Mario in the lineup and 3-7 with him out of the lineup. Mario’s highlight is a game-winning goal against St. Cloud State.
— Pierre-Paul, a freshman at the University of Manitoba, has picked up where he left off with the Red Deer Rebels, a Western Hockey League team coached by Sutter, and the Tri-City Storm. He’s a rough and tough defender who leads his team in penalty minutes.
— Monique, a freshman at Minnesota, has 30 points in 18 games—most of any rookie in the country. She’s the fourth-leading scorer in the nation and the leading scorer for the Gophers, ranked No. 2 nationally.
— Jocelyne, a freshman at Minnesota, is tied for second in scoring on the No. 2 Gophers. She only trails her twin sister, Monique.
How, you may ask, did all six children get to this point? It could be linked to genetics, work habits or determination.
Linda Soli Lamoureux was a state champion swimmer for Grand Forks Red River and later swam for UND. She picked up running later in life and ran five Boston Marathons and about 20 total marathons—all after having six children.
Pierre played hockey for the Sioux in the early 1980s, winning two national championships. He also used to race in downhill skiing at Banff (Alta.) National Park.
Not surprisingly, it was a physical education class at UND that brought them together.
Their six children also competed in several sports growing up.
All four boys played football. Jean-Philippe and Jacques won youth state swimming titles. They competed in soccer, track and cross country, too.
The girls were gymnasts, dancers, swimmers, soccer players and cross country runners.
“That’s one of the myths, that all they did was play hockey,” Linda said. “I had them in a lot of different sports.”
There always was hockey, too.
When the children were young, Linda took them to Purpur Arena to skate almost every afternoon. At the time, she never dreamed they would all wind up being college hockey players.
“I never really thought about it,” she said. “I just thought it was a good way to get exercise. You just want to introduce them to a sport and see what comes out of it. Honestly, I never thought too far ahead. If we could get our skates on, remember our skate guards, hats, mittens, and get into the car in one piece … that’s all I was worried about.”
Eventually, all of them gravitated toward hockey. This is the first year they’ve all been in college or beyond.
It’s not the first year they’ve all been away from home, though. None of them finished high school at Grand Forks Central. They went elsewhere seeking higher levels of hockey competition.
Jean-Philippe went to Lincoln of the United States Hockey League as a junior. Pierre-Paul and Jacques left for Bismarck of the North American Hockey League. Mario left for Tri-City of the USHL. And the twins went to Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a prep school in Faribault, Minn.
That means Linda and Pierre have become quite good at following their children from afar.
On a normal weekend night, the Lamoureux parents will set up a couple of laptops next to their desktop computer and watch multiple Webcasts. Since they have children in three different time zones, their games normally have different start times, too, which helps.
“It’s actually a lot easier than when they were younger and they were on four or five different traveling teams,” Linda said. “It makes me tired just thinking about that. Now, you can either listen or watch on the Internet. You can’t be everywhere at once, but we can still follow them.”
This week, the Lamoureux family won’t have to try to be everywhere, though. For once, they are all home.
“It is nice,” Linda said.
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Information from: Grand Forks Herald,
