Tags
2018 Winter Olympics, Brigette Lacquette, Calgary Inferno, Canadian Women's Hockey League, National Women's Hockey League, Sarah Nurse, University of Wisconsin
Canadian women’s Olympic team hockey players Sarah Nurse and Brigette Lacquette aren’t in the Hockey Hall of Fame – but items they used at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang are.
The Hall collected forward Nurse’s white Team Canada jersey and one of defenseman Lacquette’s Bauer sticks shortly after the Winter Games’ conclusion on Feb. 25. Both artifacts are now at the Hockey museum in Toronto.
“It’s an honor to have represented Canada on the Olympic stage and have a piece of my journey in the Hockey Hall of Fame,” Nurse told me recently. “I hope to inspire young girls of color to break barriers and play hockey, and never give up on whatever dreams they may have.”
The jersey that Canadian forward Sarah Nurse wore and the stick that defender Brigette Lacquette used at the 2018 Winter Olympics are in the Hockey Hall of Fame (Photo/Phil Pritchard/HHoF)
The items from the Silver Medal-winning Canadian players join the puck that Korean unified women’s Olympic hockey team forward Randi Griffin used to score Korea’s first-ever Olympic ice hockey goal.
Sarah Nurse’s Team Canada jersey and Brigette Lacquette’s stick have a home in the Hockey Hall of Fame (Photo/Phil Pritchard/HHoF).
The presence of Nurse’s jersey and Lacquette’s stick in the Hall are significant. Nurse is believed to be the first black woman to play for Team Canada in the Winter Olympics. Lacquette is the first First Nation woman to skate on a Canadian women’s Olympic squad. She is the daughter of a Cote First Nation mother and a Metis father.
Nurse, a former University of Wisconsin star and a 2016 second round draft pick of the Boston Pride of the National Women’s Hockey League, scored a goal in five games in PyeongChang.
She is the cousin of Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and University of Connecticut women’s basketball point guard and 2016 Canadian Olympic hoopster Kia Nurse.
Lacquette, a defender for the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and a former University of Minnesota-Duluth standout, recorded an assist in the five Winter Olympics contests and had a plus-minus rating of plus-3.
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