Ouellette "Inspired" By UMD Honor

Caroline Ouellette was inducted to the University of Minnesota-Duluth Athletics Hall of Fame.

Caroline Ouellette was honored this week as an inductee to the University of Minnesota-Duluth Hall of Fame.

Ouellette played three seasons at the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs scoring an incredible 229 points in only 97 games. This year Ouellette also joined the IIHF Hall of Fame and will soon be inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"My first impressions of Caroline Ouellette as a person and as a player, is that she was calm and strong, and the more I got to know Caroline, the better I got to know Caroline, she became even more calm and even more strong, and she's the epitome of that on the ice and as a human being," said Shannon Miller, who was Ouellette's head coach in each of her three seasons at Minnesota-Duluth in a tribute video.

"I will leave tonight feeling truly inspired by all the other inductees...I laughed, I was emotional, I was truly inspired, and I think we all have something in common, we absolutely all adored every single day we got to wear the Bulldog jersey," said Ouellette in her induction speech.

Ouellette was also a part of the 2002-2003 national championship team at Minnesota-Duluth, less than a year after winning her first ever Olympic gold medal with Canada at the 2002 Winter Games.

In accepting her position in the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Athletic Hall of Fame, not only did Ouellette use the moment to reflect on her time at the school, she also used her opportunity to help rebuild a bridge between her former coach Shannon Miller and the university.

“I believe I speak on behalf of my UMD teammates by saying that we hope to see a reconciliation between Shannon and UMD,” Ouellette said toward the end of her speech. “We hope for that so that our rich history lives on and everyone who was involved — the coaches, staff, players — are always celebrated.”

Miller and the University of Minnesota Board of Regents were embroiled in a three-year federal lawsuit over allegations Minnesota-Duluth violated Title IX laws. A jury sided unanimously with Miller in March 2018, awarding her the full $3.7 million she sought in damages. The sides settled after an additional 20 months of appeals. Miller and her lawyers received $4.53 million; the university maintained the ability to deny wrongdoing and violation of the law.