The first in 112 years

It was a bit short on a Saturday, but with Philip Danault and Jonathan Drwin on the sidelines, it was just a put off. Last night, for the first time in 112 years of history, Al-Kindy played a match without a single Quebec player in his training.

Paul Byron’s comeback, after missing nine matches due to injury, brought Alex Bilzel back to the reserve team, before Montreal qualified for the evening’s playoffs.

The sequence began on January 19, 1910, and thus ended at 6,918^e Canadians regular season game.

Circumstances were what led to it. Philip Danault is an important player as Jonathan Drouin. There are dozens of Quebec players who are with a Laval missile [en fait, il y en a neuf, en tout, dans l’organisation]. “These are the conditions, and this is the situation,” Dominic Ducharme said in the morning.

As we wrote on Saturday morning, before Habs announced Belzile’s presence in their training, by Team Quebecers, we identify hockey players who were born or raised in La Belle County. We are not talking strictly about French speakers.

Doug Harvey, Dickie Moore, and Tory Mitchell are all included in the count of Quebecers who wore Canadian costume. On the contrary, the Ontarian French such as Aurèle Joliat and Benoit Pouliot are ineligible.

It is not a matter of language.

Really bad luck.

“It’s boring, but when you analyze the situation, you understand that it is because of the injuries. If we started a camp without any Quebec player, you might have some panic. Ex-player Maxim Labier said,” There, it’s really bad luck.

“We have a proud people in Quebec. We are proud of our origins, and hockey is part of our culture. Historically, there have always been men from Quebec with a Canadian. It is sad, it is weird that you don’t have one,” said retired Steve Bigen, stressing that the situation resulted About an unfortunate coincidence.

Cast out in the draft

Coincidence or not, bad luck or not, this long streak was expected to end someday. The end of Bob Jeannie’s reign and the beginning of Pierre Gaultier’s reign marked the beginning of the trend that led to this historic moment. From eight Quebecers in 2008-2009, the Canadian went to three in four seasons.

“I find it frustrating, given the number of good players from Quebec, that we cannot always have at least one player in training.” Guillaume Latendres, who wore the Hab colors from 2006-07 to 2009-2010, said if I could find On the right words, I’ll say it’s sad.

Latendresse was CH’s pick in the second round in 2005. At a time when the team was still getting him in his backyard.

Currently, including those who wear school club colors, there are nine Quebecers within the organization. Only one of them was CH’s pick in the draft: Rafael Harvey-Pinard, who was picked in the seventh round, in 2019.

Since 2012, Montreal has made seven Quebecers out of 68 choices. Besides Zachary Vocal, who is called up in the second round, nothing has been drafted before the fifth round.

Cross-league

This situation may mask another problem.

This season, 53 domestic players (excluding goalkeepers Marc-Andre Fleury and Jonathan Bernier) have played at least one National Hockey League match.

Of these, 33 have worn the uniforms for at least half of their team’s matches. This was true, on average, for the past 10 seasons. With an average of 32.6.

Thirty-three players in 31 formations. We can say that hockey has become a global sport, and it is sad to see Quebec struggle to keep up with the show.

– With Jean-Francois Chaumont

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