Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux will go down in history as the first winning player to touch the Clarkson Cup trophy at the inaugural Canadian National Hockey Championships last year. And she’ll never forget a second of it.

That win was a culmination of years of dedication to the sport and the CWHL for the Montreal Stars captain.  

"Being the first captain, the first one to touch the cup as a champion meant the world to me," says Breton-Lebreux. "The first Clarkson Cup was special. It was bigger than me, than the team - a dynasty starting, just like the Stanley Cup."

The first time she played in a national championship game was for Team Quebec in 1993 at 15 years old. That year, the junior national championship was at Concordia University. Breton-Lebreux was already dreaming of becoming the captain of the Concordia Stingers - which she achieved a few years later - and going on to Team Canada. She came close to wearing the maple leaf, but it was not to be.

"I think that my destiny was not to make Team Canada. I had another calling: to help these players by providing them with a place to play in Montreal through helping start the CWHL and keeping it going," she says. 

Another part of her calling is being a strength and conditioning coach at Concordia University and the supervisor of personal trainers at Le Gym. Breton-Lebreux is passionate about weight lifting, working with athletes and coaching other trainers.

Breton-Lebreux is also clear about her calling on the ice. She uses her speed to put pressure on the other team, a strategy that often results in a coughed-up puck or a bad pass. At 5’3", she’s not tall but her strength from all that weight lifting makes her a powerful force on the ice.

"I love the physical play - sometimes too much as I am usually one of the leading players in penalty minutes on my team. But I get my penalties because of too much intensity, so they’re not a bad thing. They set the tone for the game," says Breton-Lebreux.
 
Breton-Lebreux certainly set the tone at last spring’s Clarkson Cup. Given her work ethic, passion and leadership in the sport, it was only fitting that her team’s name was the first engraved on the cup. She’s not just the captain, she’s also the general manger and public relations coordinator for the Montreal Stars.

 "After working so hard all these years in the weight room, on the ice, practicing the same thing for hours and hours, helping to make the CWHL work and the Montreal Stars survive, I finally felt complete," says Breton-Lebreux.

"I felt that all this work had a purpose and final destination."

 
"What’s underneath the equipment" is a weekly profile of a CWHL athlete written by Anne Douglas (www.herhockeyonline.com).