For Ste. Anne\u2019s Jocelyne Larocque, the game marked a homecoming moment, with\u00a0nearly 300\u00a0family members and friends in attendance to watch her take the ice for Ottawa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Family support fills the stands\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among those in the crowd were Larocque\u2019s aunt Shannon Hildebrandt and\u00a0cousin\u00a0Mackenna Pelletier, who described the experience as unforgettable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, it was incredibly special… we got to go and see her play on home ice,\u201d said Hildebrandt.<\/p>\n
She reported the atmosphere inside the arena stood out just as much as the game itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust\u00a0the type of fans that were there,\u00a0from little ones like my grandson, who’s 8 months old, to my dad, Jocelyne’s grandfather.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
L-R: Shannon Hildebrandt, Noella, Mackenna Pelletier in the Country 107 studio, powered by LMS Ag Equipment.<\/p>\n
She\u00a0added\u00a0the energy in the building was unlike anything she had experienced before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0amount\u00a0of girls, teams, hockey teams, and just the energy in that building, it\u00a0was something that was\u00a0so amazing. It was incredible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inspiring the next generation\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Larocque\u2019s family, the impact of the moment extended beyond one game; it impacted the young female hockey players.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, it gives them hope and they know that their dreams can come true.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hildebrandt said seeing elite women\u2019s hockey live provides something different for young girls in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThey can see it happening, when you see it and\u00a0you’re\u00a0a part of it, that gives it a whole different meaning.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pelletier said the experience was especially meaningful to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up watching my cousin Jocelyne play hockey\u2026 and I just said how special it was to have my kids be able to [see] her live.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said the moment felt like a full-circle experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, oh my goodness, this is like a flashback for me\u2026 watching her play, I felt like a kid again in Duluth watching her. And to experience that with my own kids is just so special.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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A journey shared by family\u00a0<\/p>\n
Larocque\u2019s rise to the professional level has been supported by family members who have followed her career across the globe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve grown up watching her play hockey,\u201d Hildebrandt said. \u201cWe followed her to the Worlds, Women’s Worlds.\u00a0We’ve\u00a0been to Ottawa to Penticton or Kelowna. We also went to the Olympics when she was in Korea.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said seeing Larocque play professionally in Winnipeg was a milestone moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see her play out here and where she’s come to be in a professional women’s hockey league is incredible,\u201d Hildebrandt added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Related Stories:<\/p>\n
A boost for women\u2019s hockey in Manitoba\u00a0<\/p>\n
The weekend featured more than just the game, with the league hosting a hockey operations career panel at the University of Manitoba along with youth clinics across the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mackenna said the strong turnout reflects how far the women\u2019s game has come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was 15,000 people [at the game], and just to see all those people, women’s [hockey] has come so far, and that’s so important, I think.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hildebrandt added\u00a0the response from fans could help make the case for a future franchise in Winnipeg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that Winnipeg will get a women’s team\u00a0because\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0that be something? That would be pretty exciting. I think the young girls [at the game] proved that we’re worthy of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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As the PWHL Takeover Tour continues to other Canadian cities, the impact of its Winnipeg stop is already being felt, especially in communities like Ste. Anne, where one local athlete\u2019s journey has become a source of pride and inspiration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
-Written with files from Carly Koop and Nolan Kehler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hometown connection helped make a historic weekend for women\u2019s hockey in Winnipeg even more meaningful for Southeast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-557294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}