A second Olympic gold medal later, Daoust is no longer under contract with TVA Sports or the Carabins. She faces a new challenge, leading the new women’s team at Collège Bourget in Rigaud, west of Montreal.

The private institution, which already has several sports programs, will offer one of the first style programs Preparing for school in the province.

Athletes enrolled in this type of preparatory school can usually go directly to the university, Canadian or American team, without having to pass the Cégep.

Mélodie Daoust is excited about this new challenge.

What I want most to do is give young players a chance to thrive here in Quebec, Daoust explained. I believe I can have an impact on their athletic careers, but also on their personality, on their personality. Being able to support them in their life choices is something that appeals to me a lot.

I am powered by new projects and I think Hanna and I will make a great duo. Hopefully we will lead the program in the long run.

Hanna is Hanna Bunton, a hockey player for four years at Cornell University in the United States and also married to Mélodie Daoust for several months.

Like the Canadian-American couple formed by Caroline Ouellette de Julie Chu, the Concordia University team leader, the Quebec-Ontarian couple share similar hockey visions.

It’s really nice because we see things the same way and we both have the same philosophy for the development of women’s hockey, Bunton explains. We complement each other well. We come in different paths, I’m in the United States and he’s through McGill University, so our players will benefit from our different experiences.

We have a similar approach based on pleasure and when you do what you want, it makes people happy, added Mélodie Daoust. We want the young players to work hard, but have fun as well. We saw this recipe with the Canadian team this year and this is the environment in which we want to work with Bourget.

No news from the women’s professional league

The 30-year-old forward will certainly put his playing career on the back burner, though he insists he hasn’t hung up his skates yet.

He will take advantage of the next few months to continue his rehabilitation following his shoulder injury that disrupted his Olympic tournament. He also had to go under the knife to straighten a hockey finger from all his hockey years.

However, the establishment of a professional league next season is far from confirmation. In fact, Daoust doesn’t seem very optimistic.

There is so much uncertainty in women’s hockey, we have no news for the professional league, we have been waiting three years, Daoust explained. In recent years, we have only had three contests per year. We will see if it is possible to participate while doing my job as a coach. If I combine work, family and life as an athlete, I will.

Failing to play professional hockey, Mélodie Daoust killed two birds with one stone by participating in the establishment of the new program at Bourget. He stays in hockey, while putting his family first.

The last year, where he spent long months in Calgary, away from his three -and -a -half -year -old son, was very difficult. He prefers not to immediately plan for the 2026 Olympics.

I said in 2018 that I take the years one by one and that’s what led me to the 2022 games, he says, smiling. I still have the same mentality. My priority is going to be my boy, family first.

Mélodie Daoust wants to live in the present moment at home and in Rigaud … before thinking of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.