“Hi Yan. Listen, I’m a little confused about my future in hockey. All that to say that I might like to get into coaching. I just want us to chat so you can give me some advice. »
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
That’s the text that Félix Bibeau sent to his former coach with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, Yanick Jean, on May 11.
At that time, the 23-year-old forward was still with the Bridgeport Islanders, parent club of the New York Islanders, as the Black Aces for the American League playoffs.
The response he received goes as follows: “Hi my man. Good to hear from you. Call me tomorrow, we’ll talk about it. »
Three weeks later, on May 30, Yanick Jean and the Saguenéens announced the arrival of Bibeau as assistant coach of the Saguenéens. This same Bibeau who, in 2019, won the Memorial Cup with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies a few months before being selected in the sixth round of the National League draft. The one who, in May 2020, signed his first two-season professional contract in the American League. With the NHL as a dream.
Only here it is: two years later, the passion and the motivation were no longer there. It’s that simple.
PHOTO YAN DOUBLET, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
Félix Bibeau (center) with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, in 2019
Loss of motivation
As a teenager, Félix Bibeau had to deal with “intense knee pain”, the result of Osgood-Schlatter disease. Every summer, he had to go into overdrive in training. “It wasn’t hard to do it because I was passionate about it,” he says. My goal was to play in the National League. »
The pain subsided during his four years as a junior, but reappeared in his first American League campaign in 2020. So he received a platelet-rich plasma injection at the end of the season, which caused him to lose two months of training. Then, this season, he had repetitive sprains in his right ankle, which caused him to miss a total of six to seven weeks of activity.
“I know I’m young, but my body is older than what it is,” says the native of Mercier.
All that, added to the “unstable and stressful” lifestyle of professional hockey – last season, he spent 150 days at the hotel because of his back and forth between the ECHL and the American League –, was right of his passion.
“This way of life is not for everyone. […] It was starting to weigh heavily on me. In the morning, it was less easy to go to the arena, I was less motivated. »
“I listened to my heart”
So much so that he began to question himself.
Félix Bibeau is not the type to hide in the sand. After two professional seasons, the Bettman circuit seemed more or less accessible to him.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
Felix Bibeau
One of my qualities is that I am honest with myself and I am very realistic in life. I was not going to play in the National League.
Felix Bibeau
“It was getting harder and harder. [de faire les sacrifices]. When you get signs like that, that’s when you realize maybe you’re not there for the right reasons. I was making a good salary, but I wasn’t necessarily happy. When it is said that money does not buy happiness, it is true. »
“I listened to my heart. »
It is still early in the off season; Bibeau could have received an offer from the Islanders or other teams from the NHL, ECHL or Europe. On May 11, he was in bed at the hotel when he decided to write to Yanick Jean. A few days later, the offer was on the table.
“For two weeks, I was in my head. I didn’t tell anyone before making my decision. […] I wanted to listen to myself. As my mother tells me, “Look in the mirror and you won’t be able to lie to yourself.” That’s exactly what I did. »
In familiar territory
Acquired from the Quebec Remparts by the Saguenéens mid-season in 2020, Bibeau played 32 games under Yanick Jean before the pandemic broke out and his successful junior career came to an end. In Chicoutimi, he finds himself in familiar territory with an experienced coach who, like him, began his career at a young age.
I told Yanick [Yanick Jean, entraîneur des Saguenéens de Chicoutimi] that I had one condition: to continue school. He looked at me and said: that’s good, because me too, it was my condition.
Felix Bibeau
The Sags, who are in full reconstruction, will speak 6 times among the first 27 picks in the next draft. Bibeau knows what it takes to win, he did it in Rouyn-Noranda. His mission in Chicoutimi is to create “a team that the guys don’t want to leave, where they feel good”.
For now, his contract only extends for one year, to see if he likes it. But he’s not worried: his passion for hockey is still there, it’s just different. And then, who knows, maybe this is the path that will lead him to the National League.