Quebec Hockey Fans Embark on Epic Trip to NHL Game in New York – Will Their Dreams of an NHL Team in Quebec Ever Come True?

“It hurts us. Because at the age we are, we might not see that,” says Florent Gobeil.

At 80 years old, Mr. Gobeil took part in his first group sports trip. There are more than 200 hockey fans from Quebec, four buses full, going to the NHL match between the Montreal Canadiens and the Islanders, Thursday evening, in New York.

The couple stretches their legs at the first rest stop they encounter on American soil. The group takes a bathroom break after going through customs in Lacolle.

Mr. Gobeil is all the rage with his powder blue coat with a wide white Nordic stripe. Original item from the period. Nella Basque wears a Nordiques t-shirt under her leather jacket. He comes from Lac-Saint-Jean, she from New Brunswick. They have been married for 57 years. They were loyal season subscribers of the Quebec Nordiques.

“When I take it out, it’s special!”

— Florent Gobeil, about his beautiful Nordic coat, which dates from the time

What he is afraid of not seeing in his lifetime is the return of an NHL club to Quebec.

“We are Nordic fanatics. When they sold [en 1995], we digested it badly. We support all the teams, except Canadian!” he says laughing, supported by a very affirmative nod from his partner.

Who is feeling lucky ?

They go to New York to encourage Patrick Roy, the head coach of the Islanders who held the same position in junior with the Quebec Remparts. But he was also a star goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens, at the time when the Nordiques still existed.

We also saw two participants on the trip each wearing their number 33 Roy vest, one from the Canadiens and the other from the Colorado Avalanche. Denver team born from the move of the Nordiques.

Recent news of a possible move of the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City and a possible expansion to Atlanta leaves Florent and Nella incomprehension, but above all disappointment.

“The rest of us, why don’t they give us a second chance? They’re going to give Atlanta a third chance before giving us a second chance? laments Mr. Gobeil, a retired civil servant who became a school bus driver.

“We were hoping, but now we are hoping less and less…”

The wall is behind

This trip is organized by Quebec radio station FM93. The idea came from its end-of-day host, Sylvain Bouchard. The midday host, Jérôme Landry, also jumped into the adventure.

Especially since it reminds him of the good years of the Nordiques Nation, at the turn of the 2010s, when no less than 31 buses filled with around 1,500 hockey fans and Nordiques left Quebec to attend an NHL match, in New Jersey.

Radio host Jérôme Landry accompanies fans to New York for this sports trip organized by the station FM93. (Olivier Bossé/Le Soleil)

“This time, the goal of the trip is not to once again demonstrate that we love hockey in Quebec. But to see more than 200 people who get up at four in the morning to go see Patrick Roy coach or support him or whatever their reason, it’s something,” said Mr. Landry, while the bus was rolling. happily heading south, in the rain.

“Even if that is no longer the objective, it still proves that in Quebec, we are one of the best hockey markets in the world.”

— Radio host Jérôme Landry

If he embraces the nostalgia of the moment, Jérôme Landry no longer speaks of disappointment about the absence of an NHL team in Quebec 29 years after the departure of the Nordiques.

“We have been experiencing disappointment for several years. We hit the wall several years ago. When the expansion process did not work, we understood that it was going to be very difficult to return to the National League,” he argues.

Yes to the Kings, no to CH

He will be in the stands at the Videotron Center to watch one of the Los Angeles Kings’ preparatory games next fall.

But he does not see the benefit of bringing the Montreal Canadiens to Quebec for a season meeting, a project of Minister Eric Girard.

“If we want to see the Canadian, we take our car and go there! It takes two and a quarter hours. I go there a couple of times a year, to the Bell Centre,” explains Mr. Landry.

“If they come, they are welcome. But that’s not what we want in Quebec. That’s not what we want, that’s not what we’re aiming for. Not that we were aiming for and not sure that there would be huge enthusiasm, even for regular season matches,” he concluded.

2024-04-11 15:35:00
#bit #nostalgia #York