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Ever Busy, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson Still Atop Her Game

11/05/2015, 6:00am MST
By Greg Bates - Special to USAHockey.com

Lamoureux-Davidson plays in her eighth Four Nations Cup this week.

Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson rarely had any free time while in college.

While juggling courses to obtain her bachelor and then master of science degrees in kinesiology and exercise science at the University of North Dakota, Lamoureux-Davidson was a star college hockey player, a member of the U.S. National Team and an Olympian.

Since graduating in December 2013, Lamoureux-Davidson’s life is even more chaotic, if that’s at all possible.

In February 2014, Lamoureux-Davidson helped Team USA win silver at the Olympic Winter Games. The following month, she underwent surgery on a nagging shoulder injury and was sidelined for over nine months.

“The break after the Olympics, since I had surgery, was kind of nice,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “It gave me some time to really figure out how I’m going to do post-grad life.”

In May of that same year, Lamoureux-Davidson joined the real world with her first job as a performance-enhancement specialist and strength and conditioning coach in her hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The next month, she married former UND hockey player Brent Davidson.

Even through all the twists and turns in her life, Lamoureux-Davidson is still a member of the national team, along with her twin sister, Monique Lamoureux.

Lamoureux-Davidson has adjusted to the “lifestyle change” from being a college student and hockey player to a professional worker and hockey player. The 26-year-old has become a master multi-tasker.

“You just make it work,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “I’m very fortunate to be working for an employer that allows us the flexibility. Monique and I are going to miss work for two weeks, and we make that work. You just work the schedule around it. ...

“They’re busy days, and I just have to manage being married now and having busy days, going from work to the rink and back to work. Also trying to get home to cook dinner and be helpful, too. So it’s definitely a balancing act that’s for sure.”

Lamoureux-Davidson, a two-time Olympian and inductee into the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame this year, has enjoyed the transition in her life. She works at Altru Health Systems for its Sports Advantage Powered by EXOS as a performance-enhancement specialist. The position allows her to work with athletes and adults on how to live a happier lifestyle and reach their performance goals in life.

Lamoureux-Davidson is also a strength and conditioning coach for the UND women’s hockey team, where she played for three seasons.

“As far as the working world goes, it’s been an awesome experience,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “It’s what I’ve wanted to do. It’s what I went to school for.”

Even with a daunting daily grind, hockey is very much Lamoureux-Davidson’s life. She is able to train and skate every day at North Dakota’s home rink, Ralph Engelstad Arena.

“I don’t know if it’s really changed my hockey career as much as it’s changed the balance of life away from the rink,” said Lamoureux-Davidson about after her new lifestyle. “We recently bought a house and just found out we’ve got to get a furnace, so we’ve got to figure out and balance the budget for that. It’s really just away from the rink that perspective changes a lot.”

Lamoureux-Davidson is playing professionally for the Minnesota Whitecaps, who are based in the Twin Cities. She’s played in three games thus far this season and plans on skating in at least four more games in December.

Lamoureux-Davidson, a 5-foot-6 forward, is also playing on the U.S. National Team and takes off work and uses up her vacation time to ensure she doesn’t miss an event.

After going through rehabilitation following her surgery for chronic shoulder instability, Lamoureux-Davidson has come back even stronger on the ice. At the IIHF Women’s World Championship this past April, Lamoureux-Davidson registered five goals and three assists to be the third-leading scorer for the gold medal-winning U.S. squad.

Lamoureux-Davidson feels like she’s in the best shape of her life and playing the best hockey.

Her next goal is to help Team USA take home gold at the Four Nations Cup in Sweden Nov. 4-8. This is Lamoureux-Davidson’s eighth time competing in the event — she missed last year due to rehab — against Canada, Finland and Sweden.

The U.S. has not captured gold at the Four Nations Cup since 2012. Lamoureux-Davidson, one of 13 players on the Four Nations team that competed in the world championships this year, believes the U.S. team is ready for the big-time international competition.

“I think everyone now has had a taste of it, whether it’s at U18s, 22s or on the national scene,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “We’ve done a very good job of building a culture of expectations and accountability. We have a good core group, an older group for this tournament, and we all kind of know what we need to do.”

Lamoureux-Davidson knows that competing in the Four Nations Cup is another step in the right direction for a roster spot in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Striving for a third appearance in the Games will mean a lot of sacrifices on her end. Lamoureux-Davidson would like to start a family, but she’s prepared to put that hold for a couple more years.

“As of right now, my focus is on 2018. I love my job, but my focus is on 2018,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “If you told me I had to pick one, I think you only get so many opportunities in your life to train for something like this. Family comes first, but if you’re going to weigh hockey and my working job right now, playing hockey is my focus.

“I’m fortunate to be in a position to start my career as well outside of hockey, and so I can’t really complain. I feel I have the best of both worlds.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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STOCKHOLM - Seven different players scored for the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team in a 7-1 victory over Japan at the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's U18 Championship here tonight at Stora Mossen Arena. Team USA is undefeated (2-0-0-0) in the tournament and will close out the preliminary round on Tuesday (Jan. 4) against Sweden.

"Playing against an honest and hardworking team like Japan, it is important that we bring our best," said Jodi McKenna, head coach for Team USA. "Again, we did a very good job and worked hard on both sides of the puck. It was great to see that we're getting a lot of contribution from the entire lineup."

Japan struck first, using an early power-play opportunity to tally the first goal against the Americans of the tournament. Ayaka Toko shot the puck and used a bounce off the end boards to backhand it past U.S. netminder Shenae Lundberg (Peterborough, N.H.) at 6:18 of the opening period.

Team USA responded less than a minute later to tie the game at 1-1 when Emily Field(Littleton, Mass.) tipped Courtney Burke's (Albany, N.Y.) point shot at 7:15. Emily Pfalzer(Getzville, N.Y.) gave the U.S. the lead for good at 18:50, as her slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle found an opening through traffic as Japan goaltender Shizuka Takahashi slid left.

The U.S. opened its lead to 4-1 in the second frame, starting with Sydney Daniels(Southwick, Mass.) tipping an Amanda Boulier (Watertown, Conn.) shot at 3:47. Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) capped off the period with a power-play goal at the 11:05 mark.

In the final period, linemates Shiann Darkangelo (Brighton, Mich.) and Layla Marvin(Warroad, Minn.) scored :16 apart, at 5:35 and 5:51, to make it 6-1. Milician McMillen (St. Paul, Minn.) closed out the game with a slap shot from the point on the power play at 16:18 to account for the 7-1 final score.

Lundberg made six saves in net for the U.S., while Takahashi and Ai Tokoro combined for 69 saves for Japan.

NOTES: Team USA outshot Japan by a 76-7 count ... The U.S. was 2-for-5 on the power play, while Japan was 1-for-2 ... Thirteen players factored in the scoring for Team USA ... The eight-nation tournament, being played for the fourth time, includes Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States ... Team USA captured gold in each of the first two years of the tournament (2008, 2009), followed by a silver medal in 2010 ... Jodi McKenna, the head women's ice hockey coach at Wesleyan Univeristy, is serving as head coach for Team USA. She is assisted by Brian Durocher, head women's ice hockey coach at Boston University, and Jennifer Kranz, assistant women's ice hockey coach at St. Cloud State University ...Follow @USAHockeyScores on Twitter for live scoring updates during the 2011 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship. Scores will be designated with #U18wwc ... Follow the U.S. Women's National Program blog here... Find USA Hockey on Facebook at Facebook.com/USAHockey and Twitter at Twitter.com/USAHockey.


GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA 2 2 3 -- 7
JPN 1 0 0 -- 1

First Period - Scoring: 1, JPN, Ayaka Toko (unassisted), 6:18 (pp); 2, USA, Field (Burke, Boulier), 7:15; 3, USA, Pfalzer (Stecklein), 18:10. Penalties: USA, Brandt (high sticking), 4:28.

Second Period - Scoring: 4, USA, Daniels (Boulier), 3:47; 5, USA, Carpenter (Skarupa, Savage), 11:05 (pp). Penalties: USA, Pelkey (high sticking), 4:22; JPN, Ishiura (interference), 4:53; JPN, Takeda (hooking), 7:22; JPN, Abe (hooking), 9:42.

Third Period - Scoring: 6, USA, Darkangelo (unassisted), 5:35; 7, USA, Marvin (Darkangelo), 5:51; 8, USA, McMillen (Picard), 16:18 (pp). Penalties: JPN, Toko (cross checking), 14:48; JPN, Ishiura (hooking), 17:01.

Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total

USA 21 20 35 76
JPN 4 1 2 7
         
Goaltenders (SH/SV) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Lundberg, 60:00 4-3 1-1 2-2 7-6
JPN, Takahashi, 45:51 21-19 20-18 13-11 54-48
JPN, Tokoro, 14:09 x-x x-x 22-21 22-21

Power Play: USA 2-5; JPN 1-2
Penalties: USA 2-4; JPN 5-10
Officials: Referee-Arina Ustinova (RUS); Linesmen-Kaire Leet (EST), Ilona Novotna (CZE)

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