McGill Sports Hall of Famer Charline Labonté appointed to post with PWHL's Vancouver Goldeneyes

MONTREAL – The Vancouver Goldeneyes have announced the appointment of Charline Labonté, a former McGill University goaltender and four-time Canadian Olympian gold medalist. She joins the hockey operations staff as a player development consultant with the Professional Women's Hockey League team.
 
Originally from Greenfield Park, Que., and raised in Boisbriand, Que., Labonté was inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame in 2023 after an illustrious international career as a goaltender with the Canadian national women's hockey team, twice winning gold at the IIHF world championships (2007 & 2012) and winning four Olympic gold medals, initially as a spare goalie at Salt Lake City (2002), then as a regular in Turin (2006), Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014).
 
She was also inducted to the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.

Prior to joining the university ranks, she played boy's hockey at the Quebec Junior AAA level with St. Jerome and became the second female to play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where she saw duty in 28 games with Acadie-Bathurst in 1999-00.

After her junior career, "Charlie" starred for five seasons with the McGill Martlets from 2006 to 2012, where she led the school to five conference titles and three CIS national championships (2008, 2009 and 2011). A five-time RSEQ league all-star, she is also one of only six women in McGill history to earn All-Canadian status five times. She owns virtually every one of the school's goaltending records.

In 2008-09, Labonté merited All-Tournament honours at the CIS championship, won the Gladys Bean Trophy as McGill's female athlete of the year, and was voted as the RSEQ conference nominee for the CIS national BLG Award.  She graduated with a physical education degree in 2011, followed by a master's in sports psychology in 2015.

Labonté set the CIS career shutout record with a whopping 45 in 85 regular season games, en route to registering an 82-3-0 record with a 0.73 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage. Including playoffs and non-conference games, the 5-foot-9 puck-stopper appeared in 183 contests overall at McGill, posting a spectacular 163-17-3 record and 81 shutouts, with a stingy 0.99 goals against average and a stellar .974 save percentage. Also known for her strong puck-handling skills, she registered a school record 12 career assists overall, including seven in regular season play. She was only penalized once.

After graduating, she served five seasons as a goalie coach with her alma mater.

In eight trips to the IIHF world championships, Labonté helped Canada collect a pair of gold medals (2007 & 2012) and six silvers, meriting the tourney's most outstanding goaltender award in 2009.

She also played in the Canadian Women's Hockey League, with stints for the Montreal Axion, Montreal Stars and Les Canadiennes. Twice-named Tournament MVP at the Clarkson Cup league championship, Labonté helped the Canadiennes win the Cup in 2017.  She was also twice named as the NWHL goalie of the year (2014-15 and 2016-17).