The first of 112 years: “It’s doomed …”

It was a little short on Saturday, but with Philip Donald and Jonathan Droin‌, it was only a postponement. On Monday night, for the first time in 112 years of history, the Canadian played a game without a single Quebec player in his training.

Paul Byron returns, having missed nine games due to injury, sent Alex Belgile back to the reserve squad, before losing Monday night, at 4 to 3 at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers (see other texts on pages 58 to 61).

The series ended on the Canadians’ 6918th regular season game, which began on January 19, 1910.

“The circumstances that led to this. Philip Donald is an important player like Jonathan Drouin. [en fait, il y en a neuf, en tout, dans l’organisation]. But these are the conditions, and that’s how it is, “said Dominic Ducharm this morning.

As we wrote on Saturday morning, before the Hobbes announced Belgile’s presence in their training, we identified hockey players born or raised in Quebecars, La Belle Province. We’re not talking about Francophones for sure.

Doug Harvey, Dickie Moore and Torre Mitchell were all counted among the cubes wearing Canadian uniforms. In contrast, Franco-Antarians Rail Joliet and Benoit Pouliote do not qualify.

It is not a question of language.

“Really bad luck”

“It’s boring, but when you analyze the situation, you understand that it’s due to injuries. If we start a camp without any player from Quebec, I might have a little bit of fear. There, it’s really bad luck,” said former coach Maxim Lapierre. .

“We have proud people in Quebec. We are proud of our origin and hockey is part of our culture. Historically, there have always been guys from Quebec with Canadians. It’s sad, it’s not one, “said retired Steve Begin, stressing that the situation was caused by an unfortunate coincidence.

Ignored in draft

Chances are, or bad luck, that this long series will one day have to be reversed. The end of Bob Gaine’s rule and the beginning of Pierre Gautier ushered in the trend that led to this historic moment. Out of eight Quebecs in 2008-2009, the Canadian has risen to three in four seasons.

“Considering the amount of good players from Quebec, we have not always been able to have at least one in training. If I could find the right words, I would say it’s sad,” said Guillaume Latendress, who wore the colors of hobs from 2006-2007 to 2009-2010.

CH Second Round Pick in Latendress 2005. While the team is in their backyard.

Currently, there are nine Quebeckers in the organization, including those who wear the colors of the school club. Only one of them was selected for CH in the draft: Rafael Harvey-Pinard, selected in the seventh round, in 2019.

Since 2012, Montreal has selected seven Cubans out of 68 options. With the exception of Zachary Fukale, who was called up in the second round, nothing was created before the fifth round.

Throughout the league

This situation probably hides another problem.

This season, 53 local players (excluding goaltenders Mark-Andre Fleury and Jonathan Bernier) have played at least one NHL game.

Of these, 33 wore uniforms for at least half of their team games. This is on average correct for the previous 10 seasons. Average 32.6.

Thirty-three players for 31 formations. While we can say that hockey has become a universal sport, it is unfortunate that Quebec is struggling to keep up with the parade.

– With Jean-Franకోois Chaumont