By Aline Chatel
Published on 9 Mar 21 @ 4:30 pm
–
If you’ve never heard the accent of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, imagine a mixture of Quebecois and ch’ti. You will hear the warm voice ofEmmanuel alvarez, the man who perpetuates a certain tradition in Hockey Club of Caen. If one could easily believe him to come out of a Canadian forest, at the sight of his imposing beard and his no less substantial build, the 22-year-old hockey player is in fact from a French pebble of 242 km² populated by 6,000 and a few inhabitants off the coast of Canada.
–Like others before him, Emmanuel Alvarez Magaña, with his full name highlighting his Spanish origins, left Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon to try the adventure of professional hockey in Europe. When he signed in Caen, in 2018, he may have walked without knowing it in the footsteps of a certain Pierre-Marc Janil, who landed almost half a century earlier from the same archipelago. “Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is well known here,” he observes.
Pierre-Marc Janil, the initiator
Pierre-Marc Janil was 17 when the taste for adventure drove him to cross the Atlantic to reach the metropolis and Saint-Brieuc. Originally, it was not a question of hockey but of house painting, a little by default. A detour to Rennes, to put on the skates, changed everything. “I met a Quebecker who told me that I had nothing to do here. He suggested that I come with them to Caen. I brought in my hockey equipment and found myself on board with the Caen team. History was on the move.
–“It made the buzz”
The following year, President Jack Tribouillard went to look for seven other Saint-Pierrais himself, including a brother of Pierre-Marc Janil. “It created a buzz,” recalls the father of French international Jonathan Janil. The sportswoman Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon then had a nice pool of players. “It’s a small island but there are plenty of sports,” explains Emmanuel Alvarez. I played hockey in the winter and soccer in the summer, like many others. »At the time of Pierre-Marc Janil, with« winters a little harsher », it was not uncommon to see improvised grounds in the middle of a street or on a frozen pond. And in the 70s, the Saint-Pierrais had their little reputation …
The particularity we had was to be physical players. We were pet peeves. We went to look for the pucks in the corners …
“We were leaving everyone”
In other words, the hockey players of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon did not make the trip for nothing. “Leaving our island in 1975 was something… There were some who left their wives there. The means of communication were not the same. In Caen, the Saint-Pierrais were sticking together. “We shared the same house, route d’Harcourt. We lived differently in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. There was a little more solidarity than today. The difference in culture is still relevant, according to Emmanuel Alvarez.
Lives are very, very different. There, everyone knows each other by sight. You say hello to people you meet in the street. If you do it here, we take you for a fool.
–A Pole hopes attached to Caen
Since the 1970s, Caen has remained a rather popular place for players from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. Quentin Kello, the former keeper of the Drakkars, is from the archipelago. At the Pôle espoirs de Caen, we find Louka Janil, a little nephew of Pierre-Marc, and Emmanuel Alvarez’s little brother, Marco. Lucas Hacala and Emmanuel Perez, who play in the youth teams at the HCC, also attended the pole. The reason for this substantial presence is simple. “The Caen academy is linked to the schools of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon,” explains the eldest of the Alvarez. Consequently, the young people who come are not considered as transferred, but the number of transfers is limited. ”
A strong community spirit
Other Saint-Pierrais play in Ligue Magnus, D1 or even the Czech Republic in the case of Valentin Claireaux, who trains regularly in Caen off-season. “We are in contact,” says Emmanuel Alvarez. The spirit of community remains strong, especially since the new means of communication have not really reduced the distance …
I haven’t been home for two years. I haven’t seen my last niece. There is a direct flight in the summer but the ticket costs 1200 euros. It is complicated…
Like Pierre-Marc Janil before him, Emmanuel Alvarez however met his partner in France. “I thought I would come back after hockey but I don’t know. On the other hand, the bearded man knows that he will always be well received in Caen, the land of Saint-Pierrais since 1975.
–
