ST. PAUL, Minn. — USA Hockey did everything it could to recognize Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando individually on Wednesday night in RiverCentre.
They had their own banners, and they were not located next to each other.
They each received their own plaques.
Their introductory videos were narrowly focused on each of their accomplishments, rarely mentioning the other.
And their 10-minute acceptance speeches were delivered individually. They were not even back-to-back. Jocelyne went first. Then, it was sled hockey goalie Steve Cash, longtime NHLer Ryan Miller, Monique and the family of the late Jim Johansson.
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But Jocelyne recited a line from the retirement speech of Serena Williams a few months ago. After Williams played her final match at the U.S. Open, she told the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, "There is no Serena without Venus," referring to her sister.
Jocelyne didn't want to exactly repeat the quote, but she recognized there's no Jocelyne without Monique, and vice versa.
The twin sisters from Grand Forks, whose careers mirrored each other every step of the way — from Shattuck-St. Mary's to Minnesota to UND to a storied USA National Team career — took one more step together Wednesday night.
They were officially inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame during a ceremony in RiverCentre.
"We pushed each other every single day to be the best we could be," Jocelyne said. "We challenged each other when we needed to be. We picked each other up when no one else would know it but the two of us. That's what we did. . . with the adversity we went through — and we have some teammates here who understand some of the stuff we went through — leading into the Olympics."
A video introduced both players before their speeches, highlighting all of their accomplishments of the last 15 years — among them, six World Championship gold medals, two Olympic silver medals and of course the main highlight, winning gold in the 2018 Olympics.
With the U.S. trailing Canada 2-1 late in the third period of the gold-medal game in PyeongChang, Monique scored the game-tying goal, then Jocelyne scored the game-winner in the shootout. The twins lifted the Americans to their first Olympic gold in women's hockey in 20 years.
Many of their Olympic teammates made the trip to RiverCentre to join them at the ceremony, including Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne, Lee Stecklein, Hannah Brandt, Maddie Rooney and Brianna Decker.
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The ceremony also was attended by several of their former coaches, including Gordie Stafford of Shattuck-St. Mary's, and former UND coaches Brian Idalski and Peter Elander, who are now at St. Cloud State and Ohio State. UND also was represented by deputy athletic director Erik Martinson.
Jocelyne and Monique told stories of growing up with four brothers — Jean-Philippe, Pierre, Jacques and Mario. Pierre and Mario attended the event. Jean-Philippe is still playing professionally in Austria and Jacques is on a military deployment.
The twins said they tried to take a little from each brother — Jacques' skill level, Pierre's tenacity, Mario's leadership and Jean-Philippe's preparation.
"Every day, it was something that really rubbed off on us," Monique said.
They also talked about growing up with athletic parents — their mother, Linda, ran 25 marathons and their father, Pierre, was a goaltender on UND's 1980 and 1982 NCAA national championship teams.
"Joce and I saw the work you put in day in and day out, waking up at 5 a.m. to go run 10 miles," Monique said to Linda. "Some days, Joce and I would bike with her when it wasn't at 5 a.m. She'd be running too far, so we'd turn around and bike home, because 10 miles was way too far for us being young kids."
The Lamoureux twins played several sports growing up — they starred in soccer at Grand Forks Central — before zoning in on hockey at Shattuck-St. Mary's.
Their careers took them across the globe to World Championships in Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, the United States and Canada. They competed in Olympics in Vancouver, Sochi and PyeongChang.
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And it will end with their enshrinement in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minn.
