Caroline Ouellette, Pierre Turgeon inducted to Hockey Hall of Fame

Caroline Ouellette is one of the newest members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. She was named to the 2023 Hall of Fame class on Wednesday.

Ouellette was in her second year of eligibility. She becomes the 10th woman inducted into the Hall, and second member of the Montreal Stars or Les Canadiennes.

Other inductees were Ken Hitchcock, Henrik Lundqvist, Pierre Lacroix, Tom Barrasso, Pierre Turgeron and Mike Vernon.

The Montreal native’s list of accomplishments is long. She is a four-time Olympic gold medallist, winning gold in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. In 20 career Olympic games she had nine goals and 17 assists for 26 points. She also won 12 World Championship medals (six gold, six silver), four Clarkson Cups, and an NCAA title.

In 59 World Championship games, she had 23 goals and 45 assists.

Her accomplishments and strong play don’t end at the international level. Ouellette was the all-time leading scorer in CWHL history with 314 points in 176 games. She was the only person to cross the 300 point plateau in the league’s history. She also was one goal short of the all-time CWHL goal scoring mark, with 131 goals just ahead of fellow Hall of Famer Jayna Hefford (130) and one behind Noémie Marin. Her four Clarkson Cups are a record as well, tied with Marin.

Prior to the CWHL, she had 168 points (79G, 89A) in 81 games in the original NWHL. She was fourth on the league’s all-time scoring list despite playing over 100 games less than players around her.

At the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where she played both forward and defence, she had 92 goals and 137 assists in just 97 games. She was a two-time finalist for NCAA player of the year (Patty Kazmaier Award).

After her playing career, she went into coaching. She has coached at all levels, including the CWHL’s Canadiennes and at Concordia University. Ouellette and Julie Chu coached the Canadian championship-winning Stingers in last year’s U Sports championship and lost the national final this season.

She also coached the first all-girls team to play at the Quebec Pee-Wee tournament. She also has shown a commitment to growing the women’s game at the grassroots level.

Turgeon was the captain of the Montreal Canadiens and played 104 games with the Canadiens. He had 50 goals and 77 assists with the team. Over his 1294 game NHL career, he had 515 goals and 812 assists. He was the first overall pick in the 1987 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres.