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The biggest tragedy of Les Canadiennes' loss in the Clarkson Cup Final is that the 8-3 loss is the last thing we will remember of Charline Labonté’s 2015-16 season.
Labonté was the first goaltender to win the CWHL Goaltender of the Year award a second time, and has done it in back-to-back years. She has won the award in two of her three CWHL seasons.
She had a pretty incredible year, posting a 17-2 record in 19 starts (20 games), a 1.52 GAA, a .925 save percentage, and five shutouts. She led the league in all of those categories.
She had a stretch of 11 straight wins from November 15 - February 7, and all of her losses came to the eventual Clarkson Cup champions: the Calgary Inferno.
Labonté has a knack of making everything look so easy. She’s usually in the right position and doesn’t have to make the incredible save (but she still can).
.@Labonte32 first big save of the day. pic.twitter.com/9WDvRPTzNH
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 2, 2016
She is so consistent and reliable that it’s jarring when she has subpar games like the 5-4 loss to Calgary on November 14 or in the Final.
But after a game that wasn’t up to her standards, she always came back strong. In the two games immediately following a loss (both against Calgary) she allowed a total of one goal and made 57 of 58 saves.
In the second of those two games she stopped 34 of 35 shot in a 2-1 win. It was her best performance of the season and it clinched first place for Les Canadiennes.
And the first star, @Labonte32 ! @LesCanadiennes clinch first place in the #CWHL with the win. Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/0ltumo6sVJ
— Women's Hockey Gifs (@CWHLHighlights) February 14, 2016
It is what gave her the confidence to say that she was sure if there was a best-of-three series for the Cup instead of a one game final, her team would win the next game.
Labonté also played for Canada at the women’s World Championships in Kamloops. She played two games with a 2.00 GAA and .879 save percentage.