This past season it didn’t matter who was between the pipes for the Nipissing Lakers Women’s hockey team as either player was giving their team a chance to win.
It would be hard to find a better tandem in the entire OUA than Chantelle Sandquist and Chloe Marshall who combined for 23 wins in the regular season and helped their team reach the McCaw Cup and USports National Championship for a second straight year.
Watching them with a keen eye on their performance this season was Patrick Rochefort who became the Lakers goaltending coach for the 2022-23 campaign.
“Obviously once a goalie reaches the collegiate level, they’ve found success one way or another, they already know what they’re doing, they have an established technical background and skill set, so I really don't want to change much initially,” says Rochefort.
“My philosophy has been to bring new ideas they maybe haven't thought about. Even if they don't agree with what I'm throwing at them, once they understand why it could be beneficial and how it could help, we can then put it in the toolbox, and they can decide if they want to use that specific skill set. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to work with two incredibly talented goalies this year in Marshy and Sandy, and that made it a real pleasure going to the rink.”
Born and raised in Astorville, Rochefort played all his minor hockey in East Ferris and North Bay, including with the U18 AAA Trappers, plying his trade under the tutelage of goalie coach Tom Hedican.
“Tom agreed to start working with me when I was in U16 and then continued to work with me until I stopped playing,” says Rochefort.
“I like to say that I teach Tom Hedican 101, which I would consider to be a modern butterfly style. Any knowledge that I have about the position is from having played under his direction for so many years. I can't say enough about Tom and what he's given me in terms of a good knowledge base and understanding of how to approach things as a goalie coach.”
After being passed up in his Ontario Hockey League Draft year, Rochefort did his Grade 12 year at a prep school in Lake Placid called the National Sports Academy, before turning to collegiate hockey and playing four years at the University of Delaware while studying engineering. It was through Hedican that Rochefort was able to find an avenue to start pursuing coaching as Hedican suggested to Chris Dawson, General Manager of the Powassan Voodoos, that Rochefort would be a good fit for the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League club.
“I think Tom made that initial connection and I knew Chris from before, so I started with the Voodoos as their goalie coach for a few years when Max Gavin was the Head Coach. I really enjoyed my time with them, while also working with a few minor hockey teams. The birth of my two daughters in 2019 and 2021 halted the extracurricular coaching as I wanted to focus on my family.”
Between the kids and his full-time gig as a structural engineer at Suppa Engineering, Rochefort says he took a break from coaching for a few years. However, last summer Nipissing Lakers head coach Darren Turcotte reached out and asked Rochefort if he would be interested in joining their squad.
“The timing worked out well. The Lakers practiced during the day and my work allowed for flexible work hours, so it was doable, and I jumped in headfirst. I was initially worried about the time commitment, but I have a very supportive wife who encouraged me to pursue the opportunity” says Rochefort.
“Obviously Turcotte is a very well-known name here in North Bay and I probably didn't need much convincing to be honest, as I was already missing being involved in coaching with it being my last connection to hockey.”
Rochefort says he had never met Turcotte prior to that phone call and says he was impressed with the level of care and professionalism Turcotte, and the Lakers have with everything they do.
“He is very dedicated and committed and that was evident right away. I don't know if I've met a head coach at the collegiate level that's so committed to the success of their program. Everybody there has been really good at dealing with it,” says Rochefort.
Rochefort got to work right away this past summer.
“I took a very direct approach in the sense that I didn't want to change who the players were as goaltenders, but more so wanted to support them,” he says.
“We were fortunate this year with the allotted time we had on the ice. Every Monday afternoon was goalie-specific training. A typical Monday session involved a few players from the team that would come out to shoot and help run through a professional-style goalie session, where we're working on specific technical drills. If there was anything from the games prior where we maybe struggled, we would include that. If there was anything specific to a strong opponent coming in the following weekend maybe, we would gear our practice towards that.”
Rochefort says not every team has that level of commitment to giving their goalies as much concentrated ice time and he says that works to both the goaltenders and his advantage as a coach.
“For me, the definition of a goalie coach has always been somebody who understands what you're going through. Head coaches who didn't play the position don't necessarily always understand the struggles or the pressures of the mental side of it. A lot of times you just see what could look like a terrible goal to the outside world but if you have some understanding of the technical reasons why certain things happened, you can see why a play maybe was more difficult than it appeared, and you can talk things out with your goalies. The way I viewed my role was very much to be a sounding board for the goalies, to provide them with somebody they could be comfortable going to and talking to about struggles or certain situations that they find difficult, or support them mentally and emotionally through a difficult game.”
Rochefort found his way into goaltending at the age of 9 when the goalie for the team he was playing on got hurt and much to the dismay of his father, Rochefort volunteered to fill the spot for that night.
“My dad did not initially want me to be a goalie and so I started as a defenseman,” he says. “But Patrick Roy was my idol, kind of caught my eye since he had the same first name and so I was adamant from day one that I wanted to play goal, and after our goalie got hurt I showed up at home with the gear and so my dad kind of accepted it and has been my biggest fan and supporter ever since,” he says.
During his playing days, he said his father would be stressed for him during games, as most goalie parents can relate to – now Rochefort says he can relate to those feelings when watching the Lakers take to the ice.
“I'm definitely a person that wears my emotions on my sleeve and I do get very invested in the success of the team, so this year was definitely unique from that perspective because we spend so much time together and they had such a successful season, so we played a lot of hockey. When things are going well, it's great. When some of the things we worked on in practice appear to be working, that’s fantastic. But when things aren't going as well or something you maybe had worked on hasn’t clicked in a game, it can be frustrating, although my tendency is to blame myself before I blame the goalie.”
Rochefort adds he’s the type of coach where the goalie can do no wrong.
“They're just playing the game to the best of their ability on any given day and that's all you can ask for. When we're in practice we want to be very technical, we're trying to do things perfectly, but when it comes to game time, you're just trying to stop the puck.”
Rochefort says he’s proud to play a role in the team's success this past season.
“I didn't really realize until this season just how much of an accomplishment it is just to get to the USports National Tournament. You're one of eight teams throughout the country and there are so many good teams not just in the province, but nationwide. So, it is a massive accomplishment to make it to that tournament alone and then two years in a row obviously is phenomenal, I would say that it puts the program on the map,” he says.
“I think it's a testament to the program that Turcotte is building and the level of commitment he has toward the school and the program.”
Rochefort adds with two young girls of his own now, being involved in women’s hockey is something he feels takes on a whole new meaning.
“This really has changed my perspective of not just this program but woman's hockey in general. They don't have the same avenue to look forward to as young boys growing up with Major Junior leagues and leading to the NHL, the collegiate level is the pinnacle of their sport, and I think North Bay is fortunate to have a team like the Lakers in their back yard. I think you get a sense of that when you go to the home games and see how many minor hockey girls' teams there are and how they and the community as a whole support this team,” he says.
“Just bringing my two daughters to home games and seeing their faces light up when they realized these are women like them playing hockey, that's eye-opening and humbling. It has given me a true appreciation for the women’s game and how fortunate we are as a community to have this team here.”
