Gascon becomes third female to play in QMJHL

Eve Gascon became the third female to play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Saturday, starting for the Gatineau Olympiques in their game against the Rimouski Oceanic.

The Terrebonne, Quebec, native made 18 saves after being called up from the Saint-Laurent Patriotes, a Cegep men's hockey team. The 18-year-old goalie was 10-5-0 with a 2.81 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage.
"It was really a fun game to play," Gascon said. "It's not the result that we would have wanted (5-4 overtime loss), but I think that with the crowd, it was really fun to experience. I didn't expect to get an ovation like that."

The last time a woman played in the QMJHL, Gascon wasn't even born.
Charline Labonte played 28 games for Acadie-Bathurst from 1999-2001. Labonte is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with Canada (Torino in 2006, Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014).
Nearly ten years before that, Manon Rheaume suited up for Trois-Rivieres in the QMJHL. Rheaume went on to become the first and only woman to play in the NHL, stepping in net for the first-year Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason game against the St. Louis Blues in 1992.
"It can not be described. It's a bit cliche, but I had my best friends and my parents in the stands," Gascon said. "It was really special for me. It was a beautiful moment. It was really fun to experience and I will remember it all my life."
LNH.com staff writer Guillaume Lepage contributed to this report