UTICA, New York – Getting an interview with Pascal Daoust this week in Utica was a bit like trying to prevent Marie-Philip Poulin from scoring on a breakaway. Not impossible, but complicated please.
The difficulty of the thing was in no way linked to a lack of will on his part. On the contrary, the general manager of the New York team of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF) showed great kindness in each of his interactions with the media representatives visiting the preparatory camp organized by the league . He also encouraged his staff and players to be open to any sign of interest in them.
The problem is that a quality discussion by definition requires a little time. And time, you have very little when you run an organization that didn’t even exist barely three months ago and which you expect to be fully functional within a few weeks.
“I will eat on Sunday,” Daoust joked to colleague Andrée-Anne Barbeau when the latter managed to squeeze fifteen minutes out of his dinner hour on Wednesday. That day, the managers and players of the six teams on the new circuit had to attend conferences and information meetings compressed into a schedule worthy of that of a prime minister.
“For real at the moment, he is perhaps juggling 15 balls,” Katia Clément-Heydra told us the day before, speaking of the CEO. I share maybe five with him. »
We told you Friday about the French-speaking sector that New York assembled for the inaugural LPHF draft. Daoust did the same thing at the administrative level, recruiting two old acquaintances from his career in Quebec to help him lay the foundations and establish the structure of what the three accomplices unanimously describe as a lifelong project. .
Clément-Heydra is a former captain of the McGill University Martlets who first crossed paths with Daoust when he was part of the coaching staff of the Carabins de l’Université de Montréal. Without knowing her personally, Daoust had been marked by the righteousness, charisma and enthusiasm of his rival. She had been part of the Montreal Force staff and was combining various coaching and consulting jobs when Daoust surprised her with his call.
Officially, she is responsible for team services. She will also be in charge of ensuring that operations run smoothly on match days. She ensures that all the players’ needs – whether we’re talking about housing, work permits, expense accounts or payroll – are met. While waiting for future hires, she is also responsible for managing media requests and the team’s involvement in the community. You will understand that she is overwhelmed, but she is not complaining about it.
“We’ve been in survival mode for two and a half months, I think! Fires are everywhere and we are trying to put them out. But it’s really fun. We love hockey and we are building an organization. I couldn’t ask for better. »
The numbers that speak
The other tip of the trident is Christophe Perreault, who acts as director of recruiting and advanced statistics. His obvious complicity with Pascal Daoust dates back to the beginnings of the Carabins program in the early 2010s.
“I was a student at HEC but in my classes, I didn’t really listen. I was doing stats », confesses the figures guru, who is still a statistician and recruiter for the UdeM team.
“There is a rather famous image of me in the program where we see me with four tablets in front of me because I was analyzing a match for the webcast while talking to the coach and entering my stats. »
When Daoust left academia to become general manager of the Val-d’Or Foreurs, he asked Perreault to follow him. “We did things a little differently,” remembers Daoust. Advanced stats are the flavor of the day today, but at that time they were little used. It’s fun to work with Christophe because he brings a lot of things, but he doesn’t impose anything. And I am a person who likes to work with several angles of discussion. »
“I am very aware of the strengths of numbers, I know them by heart, but I also know that there are limits and I am very respectful of that,” puts Perreault into perspective. The first time I met Howie [Draper, l’entraîneur-chef], I told him: “I will never tell you how to do your alignment, that’s not my job. But if you want to know who plays well with whom or if you want to know our next opponents well, I have plenty of ‘information for you’. »
Perreault’s contribution goes beyond the interpretation and popularization of numerical data. He constantly scans the web in search of an interview, an analysis or a medical report. The nuggets he finds there can allow him to detect a weakness in an opposing camp or to guess an opportunity to seize. Every little detail counts.
“Numbers have value, but hockey is also a sport of emotions. If Pascal wants to know something, he tells me and I search. »
Fragile notion of time
Each on their own, in separate interviews, the three friends marveled at this unique opportunity that fell upon them, that of being able to build a sports organization from absolutely nothing. One of the pivotal moments of the adventure was the draft. Players who wanted to declare themselves eligible had until September 3 to do so. The auction took place 15 days later.
Intense? Imagine sprinting at full speed, but over the distance of a marathon.
“It’s certain that it would have taken six months to prepare for the draft,” calculates Clément-Heydra, who came to lend a hand to her two colleagues less than a week before the big day.
“Our advantage over other clubs is that we had experienced drafts in the QMJHL,” observes Perreault. The first step was to establish our priority. What was going to be in demand in this league? That was the basis. I’m a finance guy: what is supply, what is demand, what do we need most? »
Clément-Heydra had the advantage of having worked alongside several of the candidates and of having led against several others. She knew them beyond numbers. But the research work that remained to be done was tough. The trio estimates they have spoken to 125 players on the phone. They called coaches, agents.
On the ice, we wanted to build through defense. We were looking for intelligent and consistent women. But beyond their athletic skills, the profile of the players sought had to correspond to the club’s five key values: respect, loyalty, family, the quest for excellence and humility.
“When we arrived in Toronto [quelques jours avant le repêchage], we booked a conference room at the hotel and locked ourselves in it. It was our bunker, illustrates Clément-Heydra. We didn’t sleep much, but we arrived there really well prepared. »
“Sometimes, I feel like it’s been six, seven months since this happened because the days haven’t had an end. I have the impression that there is a day that started somewhere in August and that is not yet over, says Daoust, the colorful conductor. But for me, it is the most beautiful project. Building a project is one thing, but building it from scratch is an immense privilege. And to do it in professional hockey, in New York, it’s the greatest gift. »
A few kilometers from the finish line, the New York leaders were finally able to see what the team they had imagined and assembled in euphoric haste looked like in practice. They liked what they saw, while remaining aware that three preparatory games do not make a season and that the rat race is far from over.
2023-12-09 06:00:00
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