GATINEAU, Quebec (AP) — Eve Gascon is set to become the third female goalie to play in a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game when she takes the ice Saturday for the Gatineau Olympiques against the Rimouski Oceanic.
The 18-year-old Gascon, from Laval, Quebec, will join Manon Rheaume and Charline Labonte as the only women to see action in a regular-season QMJHL game.
The first female player to play midget triple-A hockey in Quebec, Gascon was called up by the Olympiques last week from the St-Laurent Patriotes of the CEGEP men’s league. She is filling in for injured Gatineau starter Remi Poirier.
“We are all excited and know that we are part of something special, but in the end, there’s equity right now in sports and we’re really grateful for it,” Olympiques coach and general manager Louis Robitaille said. “She deserves that shot — not because she’s a woman but because she’s a really, really good goalie.”
Gascon attended the Olympiques’ training camp and made 34 saves in a 12-1 preseason victory over the Victoriaville Tigres. With the Patriotes, she was 10-5-0 with a 2.81 goals-against average.
“She had an outstanding training camp, she performed, she grew through that camp,” Robitaille said. “We knew when we let her go at the end of the camp maybe it was a matter of time to see her back in the uniform.”
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