New York Post, Sunday, November 15, 2020
nypost.com
By Mollie WalkerNo one had a better seat for Alexis Lafre-
niere’s journey to becoming the first-over-
all pick by the Rangers in the 2020 NHL
Draft than his older sister, Lori-Jane.
She was there in the very beginning,
crouching in the goal made out of Kleenex
boxes in their grandparent’s basement —
in full padding — for his very first shots on
net. She was at almost every Midget Tri-
ple-A game, where the first rumblings of
his unequivocal talent began. And she was
sitting right next to him when the Rangers
announced his name on Oct. 6.
To parents Hugo and Nathalie Lafreni-
ere, Lori-Jane has always made it a priority
of hers to be there for Alexis.
Even more of a priority than her own
health.
In late September, Lori-Jane received a
call from the doctor to schedule an im-
portant surgery she had been waiting to
get for months. But once she was told it
was to be on the same day as the draft, the
21-year-old without hesitation said she
couldn’t make that date. It was her little
brother’s big day.
She put off the surgery, not knowing
when another spot would open up. But it
meant everything to her brother, so it
meant everything to her.
While growing up in Saint-Eustache, a
suburb of Montreal, Lori-Jane watched as
her brother’s infatuation with hockey mor-
phed into a way of life. She, too, had a deep
appreciation for the sport, and it instantly
forged the special brother-sister bond they
continue to have to this day.
“Since I was a little kid, I followed my
brother’s passion for hockey,” Lori-Jane
told The Post through a French-Canadian
translator.
Following Alexis’ devotion to hockey
landed Lori-Jane a job as his personal goal-
tender early on in their childhood. She re-
calls how he used to beg her to suit up in
goal every day and how she always com-
plied.
But as much as Lori-Jane loved hockey,
her true passion was for soccer, which
meant she wasn’t exactly the kind of oppo-
nent Alexis was looking for.
“I’d even get mad at her when she
wouldn’t cover all her angles, because I
needed to be more challenged to get bet-
ter,” the 19-year-old winger told The Post’s
Steve Serby in a Q&A last month. “Look-
ing back now, I realize how important my
own dreams were to her, and I hope she
knows her dreams are just as important to
me.”
Lori-Jane, who went on to play soccer at
the University of Montreal for two years
before she decided to focus on studying
primary education, said she never even
bothered asking Alexis to play goalie for
her when she practiced growing up.
She recognized early on how gifted he
was and knew he was destined to be some-
thing spectacular.
“I know I did a lot of things for my
brother’s career because I always
saw the potential he had,” she
said. “But I never considered
anything I did for him a sacri-
fice.”
When the Rimouski Oce-
anic drafted him first-over-
all in the 2017 Quebec Ma-
jor Hockey League Draft,
Alexis’ dreams of playing
in the NHL became more
of an objective, accordingto his parents. He was consistently at
the top of the league, from getting
named CHL and QMJHL Rookie of
the Year in 2017-18 to earning the Mike
Bossy Trophy, awarded annually to
the best professional prospect, in
2019-20.
To wrap up a career year, Alexis
was named the CHL Player of the
Year for the second straight seasonafter leading the QMJHL in assists (77) and
points (112) last season. Lori-Jane often
made the 5 ½-hour trip to Rimouski over
the course of his three seasons there.
She traveled during Christmas time to
the Czech Republic to watch Alexis lead
Canada’s U20 team to a gold medal in the
2020 IIHF World Junior Championship.
She was right there as he buried four
goals and dished six assists for 10 points,‘
She has made a lot of sacrifices to help
me get where I am today. She often took
a backseat so that my parents could help
me in my career and follow me
everywhere. She never complained
about it once. I will never be able to
thank her enough for that.
— Rangers No. 1 pick Alexis Lafreniere on his older sister, Lori-Jane ’