French Hockey Team Visits TMR

A visiting PeeWee hockey team from Grenoble, France, recently ended its two-week tour of Quebec with a friendly exhibition game with the MRO PeeWee “A” Devils. The local 11- and 12-years-old dominated the February 20th match, winning 6-0 over the hard-working Brûleurs de loups.

However, the game wasn’t the only reason that the French youth travelled over 3,000 miles. Taking part in Quebec City’s 48th annual PeeWee tournament, they acquitted themselves quite well by making it to the quarter-finals after the preliminary round of eight games. “It was a very good result,” said team organizer Antoine Sangiorgio. This is the 20th year that he has brought over teams for that competition.

Both teams also got the chance to attend a Canadiens’ morning practice at the Bell Centre and meet with Habs’ goalie Cristobal Huet who hails from Grenoble. Eleven-year-old Samuel, who also plays goal for the French team, said he really loved meeting one of his hometown hockey heroes.

Two female players also made the trip. Caroline, a defender, said there aren’t that many girls’ team so she must play with the boys. Playing against usually tougher teams over here, her teammates improved their level of play, she said.

In the Grenoble region, hockey ranks up there with skiing as a popular sport, Sangiorgio said. However, nationally it’s still far behind soccer, rugby and basketball in that regard. The fact that one of their players has made the Canadiens proves that they have quite a “performing” hockey club/school in Grenoble.

Besides playing hockey, the French youngsters also got to experience another country and stay with local families. Previously, they stayed with families from different local teams. This year, they were all billeted with parents of the Devils’ players that made the visit easier to organize.

“Many created a really wonderful connection with the players from Grenoble,” said PeeWee coach Peter Malouf. “One who had two kids stay with him didn’t want them to leave.”

Talking with other parents, he added that “they were a nice bunch of kids … It was a really nice exchange and a good experience for our kids.”