INCH Measures Up: Air Force forward Jacques Lamoureux

Click here to read Ken McMillan's story on the Inside College Hockey website.

Jacques Lamoureux is the Hobey Baker candidate who almost didn’t get to live out his dream.
A strong hockey family and determination through his freshman year at Northern Michigan helped the nations leading scorer, Jacques Lamoureux, realize his dream of playing at Air Force

A strong hockey family and determination through his freshman year at Northern Michigan helped the nation's leading scorer, Jacques Lamoureux, realize his dream of playing at Air Force

Despite heavy recruiting by coach Frank Serratore, Lamoureux was originally denied admission to Air Force due to his medical history, and he resorted to a roster spot at Northern Michigan.

Lamoureux wouldn’t take no for an answer, and he figured a solid freshman year at NMU would go a long way to prove his worthiness as a Cadet. Sure enough, Lamoureux’s application was reviewed by the Academy superintendent and he was admitted in the fall of 2007.

Sitting out an entire season, per NCAA transfer rules, apparently didn’t have an ill effect on Lamoureux. The sophomore leads the nation with 31 goals scored – six more than any other player – and was named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year.

Who knew a terrific goal scorer would come from a family which produced two standout goalies for the University of North Dakota? His father, Pierre, led the Fighting Sioux to two national titles. Older brother Jean-Philippe led UND to two recent Frozen Fours and is currently a standout netminder in the ECHL. Two more brothers and twin sisters also play college hockey.

Inside College Hockey: Why did you decide to attend Northern Michigan, and what changed?

Jacques Lamoureux: Originally, I was denied my application to get into the Air Force Academy. Coach Serratore called Walt Kyle – they’re good friends – and asked if they had a spot. I thought going to Northern Michigan was a good fit. Kyle is a great coach, and look at what he’s done in recent years. It’s not a high-profile school like Boston College or Michigan, but they are in the final four of their conference. So I decided to go there.

Toward the end of the season, I really wanted to come to Air Force. I knew it was a place where I could excel just in all aspects of life and hockey. I thought, maybe, if I tried to get in and didn’t get in at least I knew I did what I could to do something else.

Apparently, (Air Force doesn’t) normally accept re-applicant. I don’t know exactly what route they took to look at my application again … When I got the call, I was actually taking a nap. I had just got home from work. I was pretty happy. I called my dad right away and told him. He was real happy for me. I was more relieved than anything. I think my family was pretty happy and excited for me.

INCH: Why did you want to attend the Air Force Academy?

JL: I think it was just everything. It was a team that I knew wanted me out of juniors – they were high on me. They spent a lot of their recruiting time coming to watch me play. They visited my family at home. Also, the education. I always valued my school work and doing well in school – to get the education here, and free at that, was another wonderful thing that I thought was great. Also, the military side of it was appealing to me. I thought the regimented lifestyle was a place where I could excel. So you had the hockey, you get a good education and serving the country at the same time.

INCH: What happened with the depression?

JL: That was something that happened as a sophomore in high school. When I was recruited (to Air Force), it had been made public. I spoke about it publicly. I was approached by teachers to talk about it. It wasn’t something I could try and get around. We were very up front about it. When the medical board reviews the applications, there are certain things that raise red flags and being hospitalized for a mental illness is one of them and taking anti-depressants is another. When they pop up, it was like an automatic disqualification. It was a no-go right off the bat, which a lot of people who were part of the process didn’t think it would be an issue.

At first I was pretty upset, but we were right in the middle of playoffs so I didn’t have time to dwell on it. I tried to put it out of my mind for awhile. I took it as that’s the card I was dealt. I thought, “I guess this is how things are going to be and there is nothing I can do about it. I am not going to sulk but keep working hard.’’ Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to play at Northern Michigan; otherwise, I would have been scrambling for a place to play. Once that happened I put all my focus on that.

When I was thinking about (re-applying), my mindset was I spent three years living away from home, playing a high level of hockey at Junior A, doing all those things. If they don’t think I am mentally stable to come to school, okay, but if I have all those things, plus a good year in college and a 3.9 GPA while playing a Division I sport, maybe they will think I am okay.

INCH: You joined a program that had won one Atlantic Hockey title, and then won another in your transfer year. Was it important for you to join a winning program? Was there any pressure to fit in?

JL: Joining a winning program wasn’t something I looked at, per se. They hadn’t won any titles when I was recruited here. I knew they had good players coming in, some guys I had played against. I knew we were switching into Atlantic Hockey so I thought, “Wow, this could be the start of something really special.’’ After coming here, watching us do what we did and now we have a chance to repeat again, it’s just special. Obviously you love being part of winning programs. We really pride ourselves on winning. We don’t accept losing in our locker room and never will. It’s been a huge turnaround. A few years ago, getting a .500 season was a good season. Now if we don’t win a championship it’s a disappointment.

INCH: What were your personal expectations coming into the season, having sat out a season?

JL: I talked to my brother (Jean-Philippe). He was a Hobey Baker finalist. He joked with me … he said “Next year will be your year. You will be where I am.’’ I never thought much of it. I would never consider myself in the top tier of college hockey players. He said, “You are going to be there, and you are going to excel at Air Force, and this will be you.’’

The biggest thing was I sat down with him and set goals. I wanted to be the top scorer on the team. I knew coaches had expectations for me to be a point producer and help the team – my focus is, game to game, what can I do to help the team win? Obviously scoring goals helps the team win and that’s what coaches rely on me for.

I never would have thought I would be a Hobey Baker finalist at the end of the year. When your team has as much success as we do, you have individuals who come out of the woodwork and are highlighted a bit. You have to look at guys like (defenseman) Greg Flynn and (goalie) Andrew Volkening who can be in the same spot as me.

INCH: You are not only the leading scorer on your team, but also the leading goal scorer in the nation. How does that feel? Did you think it possible?

JL: Obviously it’s a great feeling, but at the same time you have a huge target on your back. I have learned to control my emotions. Players will try to get in my head and try to get me off my game. The biggest thing is blocking that, keeping my mental focus, doing what I can to have success and not let the extracurriculars get me off my game.

It’s a pretty neat feeling, especially for people back home who follow the game religiously. It’s nice to have a hometown kid doing well.

INCH: You come from a tremendous hockey family. What is that like?

JL: It’s a lot of fun. I love getting home and finding out how everyone did that day. You come home in summertime, always training and skating together and working out. We’re there to push each other and help one another – that’s how we have gotten to where we have gotten. We don’t let anyone fall behind.

I couldn’t be happier for all my siblings to be doing as well as they are.

INCH: How did your parents influence your hockey career?

JL: Maybe the intensity and the work ethic comes from my dad. He works super hard. I don’t know how much money he makes but he’s worked harder than anyone to support six kids in hockey and that’s not easy. The skill comes from my mom (Linda). She was a collegiate swimmer and runs marathons.

INCH: What role did Jean-Philippe play with the rest of the siblings?

JL: My older brother paved the way for the rest of us. When he broke into juniors, he quickly got a reputation for being one of the hardest working guys - that helped the rest of us out. We all kind of have the same work ethic. He won a championship in juniors and got a scholarship to North Dakota, he does as well as he does there and that only helped the rest of us out when we got to those levels.

INCH: With your father and brother being accomplished goalies, how did that help you as a scorer?

JL: If there’s one thing I’ve gained from them being goalies, it’s a bit of a scoring touch. I always talk to my brother when we’re practicing. I will do drills to help him, and he will tell me as a goaltender what he has trouble with.

The other night, we were playing Sacred Heart and I was skating down the wing. (The goalie) turned his head and I put one right between his legs. At RIT, I got a pass behind the net, two feet off the goal line. I just one-timed it and it went in off the goalie’s skate. My dad tells me “You will be surprised where you can score from.’’ It’s little things like that.

I think the biggest thing was, my brother always tells me, “It’s not where you shoot the puck but how hard you shoot it and how quick.’’ If you do that, you will beat the goalie before he gets set. Those little pointers are huge, especially when you are counted on to score goals. You kind of keep those things in mind, and you might score some extra goals that could win you a game or a championship.

INCH: What’s your feeling coming out of the RIT series on the final weekend? Did Air Force “lose” the outright title, or did it “win” its piece?

JL: Some people say we won a piece of it but I personally, with how I am, I say we lost the outright title. The whole season we had set ourselves up pretty good to win that title and we let it slip away with some poor losses in the second half of the season. We gave ourselves a chance going into RIT and win it outright, but we lost the game on Friday. We had costly mistakes that cost us goals. In my mind, I thought we lost the title outright. Obviously, it’s nice to get a share of it and be co-champions and being the first seed in playoffs, but to share it with someone is like kissing your sister – no offense to Monique and Jocelyne (his twin sisters).

INCH: Air Force jumped out to a 13-0 start this season, which brought a lot of attention not only to your team but also to Atlantic Hockey. What did that mean for the team?

JL: It was huge for our program. We had won two conference titles but I don’t think we got too much respect in national college hockey. We had two good showings (in the NCAA tournament) both times but we weren’t getting much respect. To come out like a house on fire and play like that solidified what everyone thought Air Force hockey had been working toward the last few years … It kind of raised some eyebrows around the rest of the conferences in college hockey.

INCH: Air Force eventually had to come down to earth, and the team suffered some losses over the holidays and into January. What happened?

JL: I am not sure really what happened. We came back. A lot of the games we were playing we got leads and then gave them up, which was uncharacteristic for what we did in the first half.

I just think as teams go through the year, they get better and get better defensively and they scout the opponent better. I don’t think teams expected us to come out like we did and we caught teams off guard.

Now you look back at some of the adversity – those are good things that teams need to have. Thankfully we didn’t let it get so bad that we lost first place in the conference. We were still able to get the first seed and have a chance to win the conference title again. Those are all things that we set out to do. The adversity, in the long run, should help us out.

INCH: What do you think about playing Bentley on Friday?

JL: They’re a good team. They have good goaltending. Joe Calvi and Kyle Rank have split a lot of time – they are both good goaltenders. They have a line of seniors with (Dain) Prewitt being the head man. They can play. If you give them time and space, they will make you pay for it. We have to play our game, get the back-side pressure. We have to dictate the play. If we play the way we want to, we should be okay, hopefully. They’re a good team. We have to be ready. They’re playing well.

INCH: If you reach the finals, you face a Mercyhurst team that is probably bent for revenge over last year’s double-overtime loss in the finals, or an RIT team that has played practically even with your team this year. What are your thoughts?

JL: If we play Mercyhurst, that will be a dogfight. Those guys have a lot of skill. Look at the stats from top to bottom … they have the most guys up there. If you give them chances they will make you pay. We have to be very good defensively. Again if we can play the way we want to play and have that intensity from Sunday night (against Sacred Heart) we will be alright.

RIT is more of a game of who wants it more. They have guys who can play. They play great defense. They have great goaltending. It comes down to who wants it more, who wants to play next week and who doesn’t.

INCH: Do you have a problem playing RIT in the finals, in Rochester?

JL: Obviously, it will be a home-ice advantage for them. It was like that last year and we ended up winning big on them (in the semifinals). It’s one of those things, you have to block that stuff out. It’s part of being mentally focused and not letting that stuff affect you. You build off the emotion that will be in the rink and the intensity around the rink with all the people … Being on the road, you use it as a motivation to play harder and what not. I think at this level and this time of year it shouldn’t affect you.