| Sarah Vaillancourt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1985-05-08)May 8, 1985 (age 40) Sherbrooke,Quebec, Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 139 lb (63 kg; 9 st 13 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shot | Right | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ECAC CWHL team | Harvard Crimson (2004-2009) Montreal Stars (2010-2013) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |  Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 2003–2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Sarah Marie Vaillancourt (born May 8, 1985) is aCanadian women'sice hockey player. She is a member of theCanada women's national team and a member ofMontreal Stars (CWHL).
2-time Olympic Gold Medallist / World Championships Gold / 4-time World Championships Silver /Clarkson Cup Champion (2010–11). From 2003 to 2009 Vaillancourt played 88 international games for Team Canada and scored 36 goals adding 39 assists. She won 2 Olympic gold medals for Canada, in 2006 and 2010. While playing forHarvard University she was named the Ivy League and ECAC Hockey Player of the Year. She led Harvard in scoring, and was ranked fourth overall in theNCAA in 2007–08. In 2008, she won the covetedPatty Kazmaier Award.
Vaillancourt started skating at the age of two years and a half and playing hockey at five years. She made the national team when she was 18 and one of her favourite hockey moments is winning gold on home soil at theVancouver 2010 Olympic Games. She studied psychology at Harvard University and works as a skills coach. Vaillancourt isopenlylesbian.[1]
Vaillancourt was the captain of Canada's under-22 team at the 2007 Air Canada Cup. In 2003, she was the captain of Team Québec at theCanada Winter Games that won the silver medal.[2] One of her teammates was future OlympianCatherine Ward. She graduated from high school as a tri-varsity captain and athlete fromPomfret School inPomfret, Connecticut, as a member of the class of 2004.
She was a star for theHarvard Crimson women's ice hockey program and won thePatty Kazmaier Award in 2008. Her freshman year was in 2004–05, and she finished fifth in the nation, and first among freshmen, in scoring with 2.31 points per game.[3]
In 2005, she made theCanadian national women's hockey team, where she would go on to play at the2005 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships inSweden. In her first game ever, she led Canada with 6 points in a 13–0 win over theKazakhstani national women's ice hockey team. This tied a record for most points in a game on the Canadian national team. She would finish the tournament with 8 points. On February 20, 2006, Vaillancourt, as the second youngest member of the team, won a team gold medal in Turin with the Canadian women's hockey team beating Sweden in the final game and outscoring their opponents 46 to 2.
At 2010–11 season, Vaillancourt joined the Montreal Stars midway through the season and instantly become a fan favourite, managing to crack the league's top-10 leading scorers, with an impressive 28 points (11 goals and 17 assists) in only 15 games. In the championship game of the2011 Clarkson Cup, Vaillancourt scored a goal in the third period.[4] By winning the2011 Clarkson Cup, Vaillancourt became an unofficial member of theTriple Gold Club (the accomplishment by women is not yet officially recognized by the IIHF), as she became one of only four women to win the Clarkson Cup, a gold medal in theWinter Olympics, and a gold medal at theIIHF World Women's Championships. The other women includeCaroline Ouellette,Jenny Potter andKim St-Pierre. Surgery in the left hip held her outside the action this 2011–12 season.[5]
| Event | Games played | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| 2005 Women's World Championships | 5 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 |
| 2006 Olympics | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| 2007 Women's World Championships | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| 2008 Women's World Championships | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 2009 Women's World Championships | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| 2010 Olympics | 5 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 6 |
| Awards and achievements | ||
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| Preceded by | Patty Kazmaier Award 2007–08 | Succeeded by |
