Sebastien Laplante will serve his fourth year as part of Greg Cronin’s staff at Northeastern University. Laplante will assist in all aspects of the program, including player development, practice management and recruiting.
A 1995 graduate of Northeastern, Laplante has been coaching in the junior hockey ranks for the past eight seasons after completing his pro hockey career.
“Sebastien’s passion for the game and particularly with player development have a tremendous impact on our hockey club. His playing experience at every level and his coaching tenure with young players at the Major Junior level translates well with our current personnel,” Cronin said.
During the 2010-11 season, Laplante served as the head coach of Northeastern for six games and led the Huskies to a 2-2-2 mark. During that stretch, NU ousted No. 1-ranked Boston College, 2-1, and defeated Boston University at Agganis Arena to avenge a nine-game winless stretch for the Huskies at BU.
Before coming to NU in 2008-09, Laplante, 38, spent the two seasons as an assistant coach with the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He assisted in all aspects of the game, including offensive, defensive and neutral zone systems, penalty kill and practice management. He was responsible for pregame preparation, scouting opponents and players/prospects, and also helped negotiate and complete personnel moves. Over Laplante’s two seasons with Moncton, the Wildcats went 60-59-9-12.
Laplante began coaching with midget and junior teams in Sacramento, Calif., in 2003. In his final season in 2005-06, Laplante led his Midget team to a California State Championship, a Norcal Youth Hockey Association title and a 39-10-1 record. He was also assistant coach of a Junior B team that season, helping it to a third-place finish in the Western States Hockey League and a 29-16-2 record.
As a student-athlete at Northeastern, Laplante scored 61 goals and had 79 assists for 140 points in 134 games from 1989-93. He came in as a freshman and played in 32 games, posting 10 goals and six assists, then improved to 27-20-47 numbers in 34 games in his sophomore season of 1990-91. That earned him the New England Hockey Writers Most Improved Player Award. He posted over 40 points again as a junior on 15 goals and 28 assists and, as a senior in 1992-93, he scored nine goals and recorded 25 assists for 34 points in 33 games. Over his career, Laplante scored 16 goals on the power play and four short-handed.
Laplante was named to the Hockey East All-Tournament team in 1991 after posting seven points in two games. Laplante set the Hockey East Tournament record for most points in a quarterfinal game, with five against Boston College. With the tying goal and an assist on the game-winner in the third period, Laplante led one of the greatest upsets in Northeastern history, as the eighth-seeded Huskies knocked off the regular-season champ Eagles to advance to the Hockey East Semifinals against Maine at the Boston Garden. Against the Black Bears, Laplante scored two goals, including the tying tally to send the game into overtime as the Huskies eventually lost, 4-3. Laplante matched his five-point record his senior year when he posted five against Maine in the Hockey East Quarterfinals in 1993.
Laplante accumulated many accolades while playing for Northeastern, including the New England Hockey Writers Most Improved Player Award, Northeastern MVP Award and the Huskies Radio Award. A four-time Hockey East All-Academic selection, he graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy in 1995.
After NU, Laplante attended the Quebec Nordiques’ camp and began his professional career in 1993-94 with the Greensboro Monarchs of the ECHL, posting a 35-38-73 scoring line in 60 games. He led the ECHL in plus/minus at plus-44. He also played for the Cornwall A’s (AHL), Amiens Somme HC (France), San Antonio Iguanas (CHL), Quad City Mallards (UHL) and Fort Wayne Komets (IHL). In 175 professional games, Laplante scored 77 goals and added 115 assists for 192 points.
Laplante retired from pro hockey in 1997 and began working for NovaCare Rehabilitation, a physical therapy company, and began coaching in 2003. Originally from Cap-Rouge, Quebec, Laplante played for the Hawkesbury Hawks, a Junior “A” team and the Midget AAA Gouverneurs de Ste-Foy and was an All-Province selection prior to attending Northeastern.
Originally from Cap-Rouge, Quebec, Laplante now resides in Canton, Mass., with his wife Shannon, daughters Justine and Aryanne, and son Nolan.
