Chicago NHL scout Brigette Lacquette breaks hockey barrier for Indigenous women
CBC
An NHL scouting job came to Brigette Lacquette at a time when she needed it.
She's the first Indigenous woman to scout for an NHL team. Her employer is Chicago.
Lacquette became the first First Nations woman to play hockey for Canada in a Winter Olympics in 2018.
The defender earned an Olympic silver medal, but was left off Canada's Olympic roster for 2022.
"I had to go through some things mentally and emotionally throughout the summer, just with everything in life," Lacquette told The Canadian Press.
"This job has kept me busy and I have something to look forward to and something I want to excel at, get better at every single day and give it my all.
"It turns out, I really love this job."
The 29-year-old Ojibwa from Mallard, Man., also played in three world championships, winning two silver and a bronze over six years on the national women's team.
Lacquette saw a seemingly random message on her Facebook page in May from Chicago assistant general manager Ryan Stewart, who oversees pro evaluation.
"I had to Google him because, to be honest, I didn't think it was real," Lacquette said.
Chicago was looking to replenish their scouting staff after a COVID-19 contraction, Stewart said.
"We were looking for more diverse ... just more opinions, more different people to bring into the fold here," he said. "So doing a lot of research and doing different things, her name just popped up and I kind of dove deeper into it.
"Everybody I reached out to — from former coaches at college to teammates — raved about her hockey sense and her integrity as a person. To me, if you've got hockey sense as a player it translates very well to scouting."
Lacquette was still awaiting word at that time on whether she'd be invited to try out for the 2022 Olympic team.
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