Cole Joubert, a left-handed shooting forward for Loyola Gold, has some large skates to fill. 

His grandfather, Paul Joubert, was a youth and high school coach in South Bend, Ind., and his coaching run included his son – Cole’s dad – Jacques.

Jacques Joubert later played briefly at Princeton before landing at Boston University, and then juniors overseas. Jacques was a right-handed-shooting center who wore uniform No. 24 at BU – as Cole wears for the Ramblers – and Jacques was a preseason finalist for the prestigious Hobey Baker Award in 1995. Jacques’ BU team won the national championship that year and he was the team captain. 

Jacques Joubert was inducted into the Boston University athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.

Paul and Jacques have had the biggest influences on Cole’s career, now in his third season skating for Loyola Gold.

“Both have been with me throughout my career and know what they are talking about. They will watch games and then talk to me about things I do on the ice, good or bad. I’ve learned a lot about the game and how I play,” thanks to them, Cole said. “Obviously, my dad knows a ton about hockey and has a large background in it. Having a smart hockey player critiquing my game and helping me improve has been extremely beneficial. 

“What I love is, he’s always very positive and constructive rather than just telling me what I (did) wrong. If I do something wrong, he explains it to me and helps to make sure I fix it. I think he’s a big reason why I have good hockey IQ and can see the ice well.”

Cole is, after all, one of the team’s top playmakers – and one of the early season contenders to capture the SHL championship. After all, their October was awesome. They went 7-2 in October, including a 4-game winning streak to end the month, outscoring those four foes 23-2, including a shocking 5-0 home win over No. 1-ranked New Trier Green.

Loyola Gold kicks off November on Thursday, Nov. 2, with a road game in Vernon Hills against Carmel Catholic.

“We look very good; I have extremely high hopes for the season. I think we can do very well,” Joubert said. “We’ve had an awesome start and I think we can continue this (in November). We have a lot of skill and we don’t even have our full team,” due to football and injuries.

“Charlie Trapp is playing incredible right now and having him in goal is huge. James Roche is also playing very well. 

“When we have our full team, we will be even better than we are right now.”

Joubert (3 goals, 4 assists in 10 SHL games) is a 17-year-old senior who lives in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. He skated for the Jets during his youth career and has since gone on to an SHL championship, an honoree on the SHL All-Academic team and much, much more. He also was a state championship for the Jets.

“(Last) season was pretty underwhelming,” Joubert said. “We lost a lot of seniors after my sophomore year and knew we were going to be a less skilled team. I don’t think we found our identity until late in the season which we could see in our rough start. We were discouraged after some of our games, especially the stretch where we lost multiple overtime games in a row. That said, at the end of the season, we were playing great hockey. We made it to the state semifinals, upsetting a lot of good teams (along the way).”

The Ramblers were ultimately stopped in the semis by York.

“Overall, I don’t think our entire season was great, but the end of the year was successful. We may not have won state or SHL, but we made it far and we were all proud of what we had done.”

Optimism is even higher for the Ramblers this fall. In fact, Joubert doesn’t hesitate when asked about the team’s goal: Win State, he said.

The Ramblers skate into their battle at Carmel on November 2nd with an 8-2 SHL record, in a third-place tie with Saint Viator as both teams have 17 points. 

Glenbrook North has an SHL-leading 20 points with 12 games played, followed by New Trier Green (18 points in 11 games), Loyola Gold (17 points, 10 games) and Saint Viator (17 points, 12 games).

“We are strong in all aspects of the game: offense, defense and goaltending,” Joubert said. “We played a great game (to shutout the Trevians 5-0 on October 29 in Lincolnwood), but I don’t think the score told the full story. They came out fast and we were lucky to get out of the first period leading 1-0. After the first, I thought we took control and started to dominate. It felt good to beat them, especially shutting them out and forcing a running clock,” with a 5-goal advantage in the third period.

Joubert iced the win over Green with the fifth goal, coming on the powerplay late in the third period, assisted by Charles Baine and Mack Klein.

Last season in a game against those same Trevians, Joubert had 2 goals and an assist – and that second tally was quite memorable, not to mention the win over their arch-rival. “I (had) practically no angle, but I put it over their goalie’s shoulder. It hit the (cross) bar and went in.”

Joubert is undecided on his college plans for next year.

Off the ice, Joubert has played lacrosse (as a freshman and sophomore) and now enjoys pickleball, golf and skiing. His off-ice life also includes shooting pucks on his rooftop. “We have a fully netted in area where I can shoot,” said Joubert, who also watches as much college and pro hockey.

“I think my biggest strength is playmaking. I can set people up in great places to score. I see the ice well and can typically find an open guy,” Joubert said. “I also can (score) if I find myself with a good scoring chance. I try to play with a lot of energy, blocking shots and laying hits on the forecheck or in the defensive zone.”

Joubert will wrap his high school hockey career in early 2024 – at the United Center, he hopes. Regardless, he’ll never forget his hockey journey that started years ago in ADM, a 3-on-3 cross-ice game. “I was super excited to play against people who weren’t just on my team,” Joubert said. “The game was unreal; there probably were 25 total goals (scored) because we weren’t playing with goalies. I don’t remember how many I scored, but I definitely had a few. I played with a good friend, who is now the captain for Saint Ignatius, Charlie Reif. We played together for the Jets until high school. He also played on a team with me coached by Scott Ciraulo, who is now a coach at Loyola.”