France Saint-Louis

France Saint-Louis (born October 17, 1958) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and retired player. She was a member of the Canadian women's national ice hockey team for nearly a decade, winning gold medals at five IIHF Women's World Championships and a silver medal at the inaugural women's ice hockey tournament at the 1998 Winter Olympics. At the age of 40, she retired from the Canadian Olympic Program to launch her own hockey school. She served as a consultant to the Montreal Carabins women's ice hockey program from 2008 to 2016 and currently teaches at the Cégep du Vieux Montréal.

She won the Abby Hoffman Cup seven times at Hockey Canada's National Championships (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999) and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player a record five times (1988, 1990, 1991, 1997, 1998)

Playing career

Ice hockey In the 1980s, writers often paralleled St-Louis with the best names in men's hockey, be it Guy Lafleur or Wayne Gretzky. She started the decade with Belvedère de Montréal, won her first national medal on loan with Nettoyeur Seyer de St-Hyacinthe in 1984 (silver), and won her first National Championships MVP award with Sherbrooke in 1988.

At the 1988 National Championships in Burlington, she had a 12-point game when she scored seven goals and five assists in a 20-0 win over Nova Scotia, a record that one reporter called "a game that would have made even Wayne Gretzky green with envy".

In 1988-89, she was again loaned to Sherbrooke for the 1989 National Championships in Coquitlam where she won her second national title. This time, Sherbrooke won 4-3 over the Toronto Aeros.

In 1989-90, she was picked up by Sherbrooke again for the National Championships and they became the first team to win the Canadian Final three years in a row.

She played for the Ferland Quatre Glaces (first based out of Brossard, and then Repentigny) team in the League Régionale du Hockey au Féminin in the province of Québec. She was the league's best player in 1991-92 and 1992-93.

She was the Most Valuable Player of the National Championships for the fifth time in 1998 when Équipe de Québec finished in third place and was awarded the Maureen McTeer Trophy.

She played in her last season in 2000-01 with the Montreal Wingstar. She also competed in her last National Championships that March with Hockey Québec (they lost the Canadian Final to the Calgary Oval X-Treme.

Lacrosse In addition to hockey, St. Louis was an accomplished lacrosse player. She was a member of the Canadian Team from 1985 to 1989. She participated at the World Championships in Australia (1989) and the World Championships in Philadelphia (1986), where Canada finished in fourth place. St. Louis was part of the team that won the Gold medal at Canadian Championships in 1989.

International play

France St-Louis participated in the 1987 Women's World Hockey Tournament and was Canada's leading scorer.

She won five-straight gold medals at the IIHF Women's World Championships from 1990 to 1997. She served as Team Canada's captain at Finland 1992 and USA 1994. At those five tournaments, she scored combined 14 goals and 28 points in 25 career IIHF games.

She was part of the first five women's teams to win gold at the IIHF Women's World Championships.

In 1992, she co-led Team Canada with five goals in five games. In the Final, Team Canada won 8-0 over Team USA.

She was an alternate captain for Team Canada in 1996 at both the Pacific Rim tournament in Vancouver as well as the 3 Nations Cup in Ottawa.

At Nagano 1998, she helped Team Canada win a silver medal at the first women's Olympic hockey tournament. She scored three points in six games in Japan.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1998-99 Bonaventure Wingstar NWHL 17 13 11 24 4 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1999 Hockey Québec Nationals - - - - - 5 2 8 10 n/a 1999-2000 Montreal Wingstar NWHL 16 12 16 28 14 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2000-2001 Montreal Wingstar NWHL 25 16 19 35 10 4 0 7 7 0

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1990 Canada WC 5 3 5 8 2 1992 Canada WC 5 5 3 8 2 1994 Canada WC 5 3 3 6 6 1997 Canada WC 5 1 2 3 2 1998 Canada OG 6 1 2 3 0 1999 Canada WC 5 2 1 3 2

Coaching She was also an assistant coach for Team Quebec at the 1991 Canada Winter Games.

As part of the IIHF Ambassador and Mentor Program, St. Louis was a Hockey Canada coaching mentor that travelled to Bratislava, Slovakia to participate in the 2011 IIHF High Performance Women's Camp from July 4–12.

As of 2010, St. Louis was a consultant to the Montreal Carabins women's ice hockey program.

Awards and honours Award YearOrder of Hockey in Canada 2014 Abby Hoffman Cup 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999 Most Valuable Player, National Championships 1988, 1990, 1991, 1997, 1998 Isobel Gathorne Hardy Award 2001 Québec Sports Hall of Fame (Panthéon des sports) 2003 Hockey Québec Hall of Fame (Temple de la renommée du hockey québécois) 2014

More honours Quebec Athlete of the Decade in Lacrosse (1980 to 1990) Quebec Athlete Award of Excellence in Women's hockey (1986 and 1991) Captain of the Canadian Women's team (1992–1994) Assistant captain of the Canadian Women's hockey team (1997) Nominated for Teammate Award of Excellence by the Quebec Hockey Federation (1994 and 1990)