From Students to Sochi: Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux took Shattuck-St. Mary's to national girls hockey stardom

Shattuck-St. Mary's (Faribault, Minn.) used to be known primarily for one thing: having a great boys hockey program that produced NHL talent each year.

Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Zach Parise and Drew Stafford all made names for themselves at the college preparatory school located halfway between Minneapolis and the Iowa border.

Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux wanted to change the perception that Shattuck-St. Mary's was only a boys hockey power. It didn't take long for the twins from Grand Forks, N.D., to push the girls program into elite status.

"When Monique and I got there they'd never gotten past the quarterfinals of nationals and part of the reason why we went there when we were deciding between Shattuck and Notre Dame (in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, Canada) was that they'd never won a national title before," Jocelyne said. "They had a really good men's program but never been that good of a women's team. We wanted to elevate the women's team, and winning that first one was special."

While at Shattuck-St. Mary's, the duo won national titles three out of their four years (2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07). The girls just missed out on a fourth championship in their senior season.

Now, Jocelyn and Monique, 24, are hoping to lead the USA women's hockey team to a gold medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The Lamoureux sisters, who are the only set of twins competing for Team USA, were on the U.S. team in 2010 and played big roles in bringing home a silver medal from Vancouver.

During their eighth-grade year, the pair was playing bantams in Grand Forks with the boys and were told they wouldn't be allowed to play boys hockey once they reached high school. Jocelyne and Monique had never played girls hockey before.

"I feel they could have easily played boys high school hockey, but they weren't going to be given that opportunity," said Pierre Lamoureux, the girls' father.

The girls made the six-hour trek from Grand Forks to Faribault, Minn., to improve their games and leave their mark in the program. It was tough being so far away from their family.

"I think the first four months it was definitely an adjustment," Jocelyne said. "It made it easier to have Monique there, obviously, so you're not completely alone. We grew up with four brothers and we're a really close family. As a 15-year-old it was an adjustment, but you just kind of get used to it."

Jocelyne and Monique started in their first season at Shattuck-St. Mary's and never looked back. As freshmen, Jocelyne tallied 102 points (47 goals, 55 assists) in 60 games, while Monique had an astounding 113 points (57 goals, 56 assists) in 62 contests.

Needless to say, the girls dominated on the ice.

"They're a pretty good 1-2," Shattuck-St. Mary's coach Gordie Stafford said. "They scored at an incredible rate."

The biggest change freshman year in getting acclimated to playing girls hockey was the level of physicality, or lack thereof.

"At that time at that level, they were just far and away above what other teams had," said Stafford, who's son, Drew, played at Shattuck-St. Mary's and is now with the Buffalo Sabres. "Countless times I would be complaining to referees that you can't penalize a person for being strong."

It was the Lamoureuxs' ongoing determination to succeed and unparalleled work ethic that helped them be great high school hockey players. The girls were always trying to improve on the ice.

"They worked at their craft. They worked at skating," said Stafford, who noted the Lamoureuxs are two of the best girls hockey players he's ever coached. "They didn't just work at things they could do, they worked at things they couldn't do – edges, shots. They had a built-in training partner, and they pushed each other. I think that was a tremendous benefit."

Jocelyne finished her high school career at Shattuck-St. Mary's with 477 points (222 goals, 255 assists). Monique racked up 498 points (277 goals, 221 assists), including 167 goals in her final two seasons.

"The thing about them is they played big in big games," Stafford said. "Their last game senior year, we lost 3-2, and outshot the team like 40-10, it was so lopsided. Their goalie was hot. That was one game out of probably almost 250 games that they played big."

Jocelyne and Monique -- who went on to play hockey for one year at the University of Minnesota before having their final three years at the University of North Dakota -- have what is called "twintuition," where they know what one another is thinking. That trait comes in handy in hockey because the two girls had a knack for teaming up to score goals. They are the essence of playmakers and have great on-ice chemistry.

"People assume that we've played together a whole lot, but really haven't played together all that much," Jocelyne said. "At Shattuck, Monique was a defenseman for like a year and a half and then our freshman year at Minnesota we played together -- but we weren't together the Olympic year and 2 ½ of the three years at North Dakota Monique was a defenseman. So we really haven't gotten to play together all that much, but when we do get put together we just always find each other and it's easy. We communicate so well. We make no-look passes sometimes and we know where each other is going to be."

Jocelyne and Monique weren't just star hockey players at Shattuck-St. Mary's, they were also standouts in lacrosse. Prior to entering high school, the girls excelled at soccer, but they weren't allowed to play the sport at Shattuck-St. Mary's because it conflicted with hockey. So, the twins decided to play lacrosse their senior year despite never having picked up a lacrosse stick.

However, It was a hockey stick that that changed their lives. Ever since watching the Lamoureux twins play hockey since they were 13, Stafford knew they'd be stars for years to come.

"So much of girls hockey has to do with your birth year and when Olympics come around and they are in a very fortunate situation where it fell in the wheelhouse of their college career and then just being the one year out," Stafford said. "I had no doubt that they would be in the 2010 and 2014 (Olympics)."