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French Immersion
This is French Immersion, a daily blog about sports - and society - in Quebec, where the personal, the political and the athletic are often indistinguishable. The idea is to present the aerial view, peer into the darker corners of the distinct society's psyche (in a way that hopefully won't be as pretentious as that phrase sounds) and hopefully spin a few wacky and wonderful yarns on topics ranging from soccer, to short-track speed skating, to goon leagues, to the national obssession that is the Montreal Canadiens. Join in, comment, praise, denounce, Sean Gordon loves a good argument.
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Thursday, September 17, 2009 11:57 AM

The Flower on the NHL in Quebec City

Sean Gordon

Today comes word that Guy Lafleur, the Démon Blond of blessed memory, is convinced NHL hockey could soon be reborn in Quebec City.

This one's a bit like picking a scab for the author of these here lines. It's taken years of therapy, but I now recognize that what I experienced in the 1980s, watching my childhood hero suit up for the Nords after retiring from the Habs in a huff - screw you Jacques Lemaire! - was cognitive dissonance.

But that's all melted into the mists of time, the Flower is still the Flower, and says exactly what he thinks at all times and under all circumstances (well maybe not all circumstances, as in the sad episode of R. v Lafleur).

Lafleur has told the Journal de Quebec that he's certain the league will soon come back to Quebec City, provided plans go ahead for a new arena.

"Given what's happening in the league at the moment, Quebec deserves to reclaim its place. (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman is sticking his thumb in his eye by continuing to ignore strong markets in Canada. I'm talking about Quebec, but you could say the same thing about Winnipeg or even Hamilton," he told the paper.

Lafleur also took a pretty good run at the NHL leadership, saying they should just allow the Coyotes to move and be done with it. And he thinks they should also start thinking about new homes for the Panthers and Lightning, too.

"Things are not rosy in the NHL at the moment. Bettman's going to have to wake up. It doesn't do any good to stubbornly keep a team in a city like Phoenix. Soon the situation will repeat itself in Florida . . . other organizations are in trouble," he said.

The return of the NHL to La Vieille Capitale, which has been a wishful thought since about five minutes after the Nords decamped, actually seems to be building steam.

There are several groups who want to build a new rink, although two of them aren't much interested in hockey, they want concerts and trade shows.

And the city's relentlessly optimistic mayor, Régis Labeaume, may just be enough of a character to pull it off. Only the hardest hearts are able to resist his starry-eyed "La belle grande ville de Québec" sales pitch.

Hm. Maybe it's time for French Immersion to take the show on the road and head up the Jean Lesage highway.

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Sean Gordon

Sean Gordon

Sean Gordon covers sports in the Globe and Mail's Montreal bureau, and admits to being a long-suffering Newcastle United supporter.

Raised in Ottawa, he studied political science and economics at McGill University, where he discovered the wonder that is Forum hot dogs, and journalism at the University of Regina, where he developed an unreasonable attachment to the "other" Riders.

Prior to joining the Globe in 2008, he covered crime, politics and sports, at various points, for the Calgary Herald, Montreal Gazette and Toronto Star, and during 15 years in newspapers has written on topics ranging from rodeo cowboys to street gangs in Haiti.

In a previous life he covered sovereignists, federalists and autonomists in Quebec's National Assembly, rode the buses during two federal elections as a Parliamentary correspondent, and followed Barack Obama during the Democratic primaries.

Gordon cut his teeth as a sports scribe covering the oft-lamented Montreal Expos, and has been to the Grey Cup, the World Junior Hockey Championship, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rugby World Cup and too many amateur sporting events to mention.

His twin career highlights are meeting Nelson Mandela and narrowly avoiding death by an errant Vladimir Guerrero batting-practice home run at spring training 2001.