Former Stinger wins big at the Clarkson Cup
Concordia fitness trainer and Stars captain Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux led the way for the team’s Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) championship win in the Barrie, Ont., Molson Centre last week.
The Stars took home the Clarkson Cup after a 5-0 win against Toronto. Montreal’s professional women’s hockey team has lost only two games this season.
“I’m still in the clouds,” she says, “I was crying on the ice like a baby, but from joy.”
Breton-Lebreux credits the entire team’s efforts. “This year was very special. The team spirit was exceptional,” she says. “We were all friends and that helped. We also had a lot of great players on our team. There was no way we weren’t going to win.”
Breton-Lebreux has much to celebrate. She is one of the co-founders of the CWHL — a league managed by and for the players. Since 2007, the early beginnings of the league, she served on the CWHL Board of Directors, helping restructure the league. She has been the Stars’ general manager and canvassed money to support her team. Her efforts making and branding the CWHL are paying off.
She admits that she’s been quite busy but her workload is easier to manage these days than it was when she studied at Concordia while competing with the Stingers.
“When I played for Concordia, I travelled a lot. It was also hard for me to study in English as a French speaker.”
These days, she says that she’s no longer doing most of the work she used to do Meg Hewings was appointed general manager for the Stars; the team has a media relations desk and even a fan recruiter. Luckily, she says, the Stars practise and train only on the weekends and her flexible work schedule as a strengthening and conditioning coordinator at Le Gym allows her to continue with the league.
She says she has other plans for the Stars. “Next year my objective is to get at least 250 people per home game,” she says. “This year we have an average of 150. We really want to get fans. I think that once we are known, it will be easier.”
Related links:
• Clarkson Cup and the Canadian Women’s Hockey League
• Le Gym