Forward Caroline Ouellette won her first gold medal in ice hockey at the 1997 Canadian Under-18 Championships as a representative of Team Quebec. Within two years she could claim not only another gold medal from the tournament, as well as top forward honors in 1999, but also a victory at the 1999 World Championships as a member of the Canadian women’s ice hockey team. She would add two more World Championship titles to her name, as well as a silver medal with Team Quebec at the 2001 National Championships, prior to attending the 2002 Winter Olympics, where she suited up for five matches, scored two goals, and brought home a gold medal. Since then she has earned two more gold (2004, 2007) and three silver (2005, 2008, 2009) medals at World Championships in addition to more gold medals at the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics. She was a member of the Western Women’s Hockey League’s Minnesota Whitecaps from 2006 through 2008 prior to joining the Montreal Stars of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, where she was league champion and MVP in 2009.
Ouellette also played fastball at the national level, representing Team Quebec at the 1997 Canada Games. She graduated from the National Police Academy in Quebec in 2000 and the University of Minnesota at Duluth with a dual degree in women’s studies and criminology. She skated on UMD’s ice hockey team from 2001 through 2005, winning a collegiate championship and league MVP award in 2003, and being named student athlete of the year in 2005. From 2006 through 2008 she was an assistant coach for the UMD women’s squad and helped them win another collegiate title in 2008. In 2010 the city of Rosemont, Quebec named a rink in the Etienne-Desmarteau Arena in her honor.
Canada