Larocque Shares Olympic Experience in Brandon

  Olympic gold medalist Jocelyne Larocque was in Brandon over the weekend.
 
  The Ste. Anne, Manitoba product held a hot stove session with young female hockey players Saturday, and then dropped the ceremonial opening faceoff prior to Sunday’s gold medal games at the Hockey Manitoba Senior Women’s Provincial Championship.
 
  "Sharing what the Olympics were like, being able to a part of a bigger team…not just the women’s team, but being part of Team Canada," said Larocque, "That was pretty cool to be around other sports and other athletes, so that was really fun.  Just sharing stories."
 
  Larocque was the lone Manitoban on Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team that captured gold in Sochi last month, four years after being released by the national team on the eve of the 2010 Vancouver Games.
 
  "At the end of the day, I knew that I’d given my best and I had no regrets.  It didn’t make it as hard as it was the first few days," said Larocque, who scored Canada’s first goal at the 2014 Games, "It just fueled my fire even more…it made me work that much harder to make it four years.  Then with that hard work, dedication and sacrifice, it worked out this time for me."
 
  While hockey is Larocque’s primary focus now, she also feels its important for young female players to play a lot of different sports growing up.
 
  She also feels that Hockey Brandon’s plan on developing their Female Program from a grassroots level is a good one.
 
  "Learning those individual skills is so important, like shooting, skating, passing, that needs to be learned at a young age," said Larocque, "And also not being too hockey crazy and playing other sports, and just doing it because you enjoy it.  Sometimes people can get a little bit too crazy and have hockey, hockey, hockey 24/7, but that’s not what it’s about."
 
  Fiono Smith-Bell, a member of the 1998 silver medal winning Olympic team, was also in Brandon and conducting an on-ice clinic for female players on Saturday.