Jade Downie-Landry of the New York Sirens The PWHL season is getting closer, and the New York Sirens are looking for a better finish this time out. They started the inaugural year with a historic first-ever league win, but didn’t qualify for the playoffs. Forward Jade Downie-Landry took some time to talk with us about the upcoming second season. FIRST OF ALL, WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU HAVING SPENT ALL OF YOUR LIFE IN MONTREAL TO MOVE LAST SEASON TO THE U.S. AND TO THE NEW YORK AREA? I've actually never left home before in the past. I grew up on the south shore of Montreal. I went to CEGEP in Montreal, I went to university in Montreal. So this was the first time I was leaving home as a 28-year-old. So it was a little scary, I’m not going to lie. It's something that I hadn't done, so I was a little apprehensive about it. But we were practicing in Connecticut last year and I was living with two other Quebecers (one was teammate Alexandra Labelle), so it was kind of like a home away from home in that sense. We rented a beautiful house, it was on the beach, I ended up loving Connecticut. It was such a nice area, so many fun things to do outside of hockey as well. It's so important to keep your mind busy and kind of refresh your mind as well, because you can get so caught up in the game sometimes. So I'm super glad I ended up signing a two-year contract because I loved playing for New York my first season in the PWHL. SO WITH THE TEAM MOVING BASICALLY TO NEW JERSEY, HOW'S THAT GOING TO AFFECT YOU? To me, it's just kind of another adventure. I won't be living with Alexandra anymore because she's going to Montreal this year, but we have another Quebecer coming into training camp, Emmy Fecteau. So again, it makes me feel like I'm a little bit at home. (GM) Pascal Daoust being a Quebecer too, it's nice, but yeah, it's just another adventure. I don't think it'll change that much. The group of girls that we're with is the same, and I think that's the core of everything, who you're surrounded with. And we have a lot of good people on the team, and they make it feel like home. And we're mostly not from New York, so I guess we make each other feel like home, all of us together. I think Abbey (Levy), our goalie, was the only New Yorker on the team. So we were all on the same bandwagon. We knew what it felt like to be away from home. It could be difficult, lonely. But honestly, the group of girls that we have, I can't say it enough: they're wonderful and really good people, and I think that just really enhanced my experience my first year. EVERYONE IS GETTING ANXIOUS FOR THE START OF THE SEASON. DOES THE BREAK SEEM LONG, AND HOW ARE YOU HANDLING THAT? I mean, obviously it's not a typical hockey break, but at the same time, it allows you to work on your off-ice training a little more, work on some fine details that you maybe wouldn't necessarily get to on a shorter break. So I see it in a more positive light. Of course, I think we're all super excited to start the season – don't get me wrong – to see what our jerseys look like, to know our schedule, because we also don't know any of that right now either [Note: the PWHL schedule is now released [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/pwhl-releases-full-2024-2025-schedule]]. But obviously, we're excited to see everything and how it turns out. But right now, I'm just at home, working out, getting on the ice. So I'm doing everything that I need to do to be ready for the upcoming season, and that's really all I'm focusing on right now. WHAT WAS YOUR IMPRESSION OF THE NAME AND LOGO? I liked it. I thought our logo kind of looked a little vintage-y. I like the "New York" in the background around the Sirens, I really liked it. I loved our colors, teal is one of my favorites, so I'm glad that we're keeping the teal and the little touch of orange. I think the jerseys and all of our merch are going to look great. WE HAVE TO ASK ABOUT THE NUMBER ONE OVERALL DRAFT PICK, SARAH FILLIER. EVERYONE IS VERY EXCITED TO SEE HER ON THE TEAM. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HER? I don’t know her personally. I’ve seen her play quite often with the Olympic team, and I mean, it’s needless to say that she’s an amazing hockey player [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/the-clock-is-ticking-on-a-deal-for-sarah-fillier]. I’ve heard great things about her, and I think she could have a really big impact on our team. She’s offensive, she’s able to create, but she’s also responsible on the back end. I think she’s going to fit in super well. She seems like a great person, and like I said, I’ve heard great things about her. So I think it’s going to be a perfect fit for her. CAN YOU SHARE WHAT YOU DID OVER THE SUMMER, WHERE YOU SPENT THE SUMMER, AND YOUR TRAINING – AND THEN WE WANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT YOUR WEDDING. DID YOU GO SOMEWHERE SPECIAL FOR YOUR HONEYMOON? No, I didn’t actually go anywhere for my honeymoon because my wife’s a teacher, so she had just started back to teaching. We traveled quite a bit, the two of us together and individually, after the season, I took about three weeks off. I traveled, I went to Spain, to Barcelona, went to the little islands, enjoyed my time there, and then I came back. That’s when the Living Sisu season started. It was literally a few days later. So we got on the ice there on Mondays, and then we had ice in Verdun at the center, so that was three times a week. And then just regular off-ice training. So it's just been a summer full of typical stuff I usually do. And I'm also a teacher. The school year just started, so before I go back to New York, I actually sub when I can. I've just been taking time to myself, hanging out with my family and my friends and doing some hockey stuff. LOOKING BACK TO GAME ONE OF THE PWHL, DID YOU HAVE THAT SENSE ALL SEASON, WHERE YOU TOOK IN THE MAGNITUDE OF WHAT YOU WERE DOING AND THE HISTORY YOU WERE MAKING? Yes. Of course, Game 1, I remember it was in Toronto, and after the game, we had won that game. But I remember thinking like, you didn't even know the fans that were in Toronto were Toronto. It felt like they were there for something greater than just that. It was to support the league. It was this big thing. It was like, yes, of course, go Toronto. But they were also rooting for the PWHL. And I think everyone on the ice felt that, and that feeling stayed with me throughout the year. I felt like the fans were, of course, rooting for other teams, but they were rooting for our league. And that's something that never really went away. Whether it was Game 1 or Game 24, you felt that people were there to support everything the league was encompassing. ANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THE DRAFT PICKS OR NEW PLAYERS, ESPECIALLY MAYBE IN THE FORWARD RANKS (LIKE NOORA TULUS AND ELLE HARTJE). HOW DOES IT FEEL WITH THOSE NEW INCOMING PLAYERS JOINING THE ROSTER? I think they're all going to be really good additions. Unfortunately, I don't know them well. I've heard great things about them, and Noora from Finland [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/meet-the-newcomers-new-york-sirens], I've seen her play on television. So it's easy for me to say that she's going to be a great fit on the team. She's very skilled. She's a great player. But I think the draft gave us everything we needed. We went out and got what we needed, and I think everything together will all work out nicely. I'm very excited to continue this journey with the New York Sirens because realistically, I don't think any of us were quite thrilled with the outcome of last year. I also really think that the girls on the team are able to take responsibility. All of us, you know, it's easy to point fingers, but at the end of the day, we have to look at ourselves and what we could do better. I think everyone on our team is capable of that. We took this six-month break as an opportunity to get better. I have no doubt that going into this season, we'll be better, especially with the upcoming draftees. I think it’s going to be great. I'm really excited to get started. The full interview with Jade can be found on the Puck Drop podcast [https://youtu.be/aT5nEx0229k].
