2023-05-11 11:00:00
MONTREAL – Rather ironic to hear that young people are leaving Montreal for the suburbs to take advantage of better resources for elite minor hockey.
Even being the largest city in the province, Montreal lacks valuable tools, starting with a sports-study program that would bring together players from elite teams.
From the outset, it must be said that the project of assembling such a program is anything but simple given the reality of Montreal families. In the suburbs, the context of young athletes is often more homogeneous and the players, without it always being easy, most of the time belong to the same educational institution.
In Montreal, the challenge is even greater in order to find a formula that can suit students who attend French and English schools, public and private.
The puzzle is therefore in the hands of Nick Romano, the technical advisor of Hockey Montreal Elite and Marcel Patenaude, senior director of hockey at Hockey Quebec.
“It is sure and certain that we would like that, but it is difficult. The challenge is to arrange all these beautiful people in a sports-study. It’s not easy, I assure you. Otherwise, it would have been done a long time ago. If we choose a public school, young people will not want to leave the private sector, hockey is not their whole life, school is important, ”reacted Dominic Zotti, president of Hockey Montreal Elite.
Fortunately, the project is moving in the right direction. The efforts might bring together students from different schools in the same program.
“We try to find possible solutions with them. Over time, we will be able to improve the fate of elite hockey in Montreal,” noted Patenaude.
“It’s easier, the young people practice during the day and it ends earlier for the parents. They realize this is the way to go. […] We must continue to dedicate our players to these programs to have a better quality of coaching,” added Patenaude, who welcomes the government’s financial support for these programs.
The financial package will have to be carefully tied up because the costs associated with a sports-study program should not lead young people to leave hockey.
“We, in Montreal, practices are in the evening and it’s harder on this side. I think a sports-studies program would help a lot of people. A lot of parents don’t send their children to hockey because it’s very demanding. When the practices are done at school, in the hours of the day, and you come home around 5 p.m., you can focus on the family,” described Biagio Daniele, whose son plays in the U15 AAA Elite category. .
The next element may seem trivial at first glance, but Hockey Montreal Elite requires a permanent arena for its players. This addition would allow them to leave their equipment there, which would greatly facilitate travel.
“The players might come by bus or metro. Because parents don’t just pay the fees, they have to take care of the transportation too. A parent who works in a factory, he can’t tell his boss that he has to leave at such an hour because his youngster has to be on the ice. And young people can’t drag their equipment bag and stick on public transport,” Zotti said.
“They have to find a training center, it’s everyone’s goal to have a locker room and a specific place. It is on this that they would need the help of the City of Montreal to be up to date, it is the wish of the parents. A locker room and a gym, it would be a big plus to have that for Montreal,” identified Patenaude when the City of Montreal refused our interview request.
A local might have played this role at the St-Michel arena, but the City of Montreal decided instead to transform it into office space. Another surprising decision was to modify a locker room, located far from the bleachers, into a nursing room. The location was so inappropriate that the place is now used for storage.
A portrait that makes Catherine Vachon, mother of Vincent, who also plays in the M15 AAA Elite say this.
“It’s sure that the arenas, when you arrive in the suburbs, you find that it’s Club Med. »
Hockey no longer produces the next Quebec sports stars
In the end, hockey remains a sport that is too expensive and development towards the professional ranks does not take place via the school network in Quebec.
For these reasons, and other factors, the new wave of top Quebec athletes (Bennedict Mathurin, Luguentz Dort, Benjamin St-Juste, Matthew Bergeron…) contains few hockey players.
“It sure makes my heart ache,” admits Zotti.
“I am delighted with the success of Quebecers in other sports. I find it really pleasant that we can produce high-level athletes in these disciplines, ”answers Jocelyn Thibault, general manager of Hockey Quebec.
“Hockey must be inspired by multi-sports and consider making better athletes in general. Other countries, such as the Scandinavian countries, are doing well in this,” added Thibault as specialization takes place during adolescence.
That said, Thibault and Patenaude believe above all that hockey players deserve greater recognition.
“Our best players have nothing to envy to those of the rest of Canada or the world. I often say that if we had a World Under-17 Championship, like in my day, we would do well once morest the best countries in the world. But we no longer have this platform to show what we can do. Then, we lose control over the selection of players. I’m not saying that the leaders of the NHL are incompetent, but the draft is out of our control, ”explained Thibault.
“The example is striking, but for what reason Rafaël Harvey-Pinard came out so late in the repechage and is such a dominant player today. You have to ask yourself the question. I have no influence on NHL teams. We have very good players in Quebec, except that it’s not always easy to bring them out. Very good players are unfortunately left out. If the Canadiens hadn’t drafted him and he would have had this success elsewhere, Quebeckers would be outraged by that,” concluded Patenaude.
Let’s end on a positive note. More and more programs are emerging to help families defray the costs associated with hockey. In addition to the initiatives of the minor hockey associations concerning equipment, the Le GOAL foundation acts in this direction, as does the Fonds d’aide of the Hockey Canada Foundation, as well as the Fondation Bon Départ and the program Discover hockey with Esso. Not to mention Hockey Québec, which lends, each year, and free of charge, equipment for open house activities for women’s hockey.
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