As of next season, all players who throw down the gloves in the QMJHL will see their work night end immediately. However, contrary to what the government of Quebec had requested, this sanction will not be accompanied de facto by a suspension. Minister Isabelle Charest has dropped the ballast on this subject and says today that she is “satisfied” with the new measures in force.
On the eve of the draft session of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), in Sherbrooke, the commissioner of the circuit, Mario Cecchini, formalized Friday the new sanctions which will be imposed after a fight. These were approved following a “unanimous” vote by the teams, he said. The automatic expulsion of belligerents is the centerpiece of the announcement.
When the main lines of these new regulations were laid out last March, the Minister responsible for Sports, Recreation and the Outdoors, Isabelle Charest, was sorry that a fight was not punished by an automatic suspension. In an interview given to Quebec newspapershe had even raised the possibility of imposing this measure on the QMJHL by invoking the Sports Safety Act.
This sanction was ultimately rejected. However, in an interview with The PressFriday, Mme Charest said she was “satisfied” with the “compromise” that was reached in light of discussions between the two parties.
Above all, I’m satisfied with the message it sends: fights will no longer be tolerated in the QMJHL.
Isabelle Charest, Minister responsible for Sports, Recreation and the Outdoors
This “compromise” was made possible by the tightening of a rule already in force. Until last season, a player was suspended for one game following his third fight. The suspension will now come from the second.
The league argued that, in the heat of the moment, a player can “emotionally” find themselves in the middle of a fight more or less in spite of themselves. “He left the game, but perhaps does not deserve a suspension”, concedes the minister.
“What tipped the scales was the second fight,” she continues. I said OK to that exit door. But for me, what was non-negotiable was expulsion from the game. »
However, an automatic one-game suspension will be imposed on a player identified as the instigator of a fight.
This sanction will increase to two games for an “aggressor”, that is, one who attacks an opponent who does not respond to his blows “or who only defends himself”, we read on the league’s website.
A player involved in a fight in overtime or in the last five minutes of a game whose score difference is at least two goals will also be suspended for one game. In these circumstances, an instigator will be suspended for two games.
“Huge steps”
Mario Cecchini was also satisfied with the discussions held with Quebec and the direction taken by the circuit he leads.
“The steps we take are very important. They are huge, ”we can read in a report of his press briefing on the Radio-Canada website.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Mario Cecchini, commissioner of the QMJHL
There were good and long conversations, mostly positive. We are in a very good place for quite a while.
Mario Cecchini, commissioner of the QMJHL
Negotiations have yet to take place with the other major junior leagues in the country to decide on the rules to be adopted during games between teams from different regions, particularly at the Memorial Cup.
Isabelle Charest wishes, for her part, to use her political weight so that the other provinces follow suit. Already, she says, contacts have been established with some of her counterparts and with Hockey Canada.
Despite the disagreements she has had with the league over the months, she says she is aware of the “pressure” that the QMJHL is under, the first league in the country to tighten its regulations to this extent. “I understand that it’s a big culture change. »
She therefore salutes “sincerely” the “leadership” that the league has displayed in this file. “We no longer want to be behind the parade. »
At the end of a “difficult” year for the QMJHL, she perceives a real “willingness to change”, especially during the recent parliamentary commission following allegations of mistreatment in Canadian junior hockey. The league, she says, took notice of what was being leveled against it and genuinely sought solutions.
“They say, ‘We’re going to progress, we’re going to move forward,'” she concludes. I am optimistic for the future. »