(L-R) Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson pose with their plaques before being inducted into the 2022 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 30, 2022 in St Paul, Minn.
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Twin sisters Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando went through their hockey careers practically connected at the hip.
The North Dakota natives played together in high school and college, and then lined up together on the U.S. women’s hockey team for 14 years.
Fittingly, the twins shared another athletic milestone together on Wednesday night when they were inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. The Class of 2022 was rounded out by four-time Paralympic medalist Steve Cash, the late longtime USA Hockey executive Jim Johannson and two-time Olympian Ryan Miller.
One thing the sisters didn’t experience together, however, was the news of their selection.
Pat Kelleher, the executive director of USA Hockey, called Lamoureux-Davidson when she was with her sister at the airport waiting for a flight.
“When I got the call from Pat I was thinking, ‘What could I possibly be in trouble for?” she said. “It was totally unexpected.”
Kelleher told Lamoureux-Davidson not to tell her sister the news, as he wanted to call Monique himself to let her know. With the plane set to take off, Lamoureux-Davidson kept the secret throughout their flight.
“(Jocelyne) was like, ‘Did you check your email,’ and I was like, ‘No, we just got off a plane,’” Lamoureux-Morando said. “(Jocelyne) said, ‘Give Pat a call.’ I asked why and she said, ‘I can’t tell you.’”
That was one of very few milestones the sisters experienced separately in their athletic lives, as the two enjoyed incredibly similar careers that ended, fittingly, with a joint retirement in 2021. In 137 international games, Lamoureux-Davidson tallied 138 points, while Lamoureux-Morando recorded 143 points in 135 games.
As far as team success, the twins played in seven world championships and three Olympic Winter Games together, winning gold or silver in all of those tournaments.
And not only did they win medals together, but they each produced their defining moment in a U.S. jersey in the 2018 Olympic gold-medal game against Canada.
Trailing 2-1 with less than seven minutes left, Lamoureux-Morando scored on a breakaway while Canada was making a line change. It turned out Lamoureux-Davidson was heading to the bench as well when it happened too.
“I didn’t even see it because I was going for a change,” she said.
Her time was coming.