When talking about his youth spent in the Rosemont district, Montrealer Jim Montgomery quickly alludes to the rivalry that existed between the Quebec Nordiques and the Canadiens.
“When I was young, I argued with my friends who preferred the Nordiques,” he remembers. There was a great rivalry.”
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Would he like to see an NHL club in Quebec one day again? In his case, asking the question is answering it.
“For the league, particularly for Canada, it would be good to have the Nordiques back,” says the head coach of the Boston Bruins, bluntly. It would make good rivals for the Canadian, naturally, but it’s also an incredible city with all its history. It’s an extraordinary city both in the summer and in the winter.”
The 1993 draft
Montgomery himself has some old memories of Quebec, including the 1993 draft at the Colisée. He accompanied Paul Kariya, who was then his teammate at the University of Maine. Kariya was also selected fourth overall by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
REUTERS/Mike Blake
“I was also there a few times to play early in my career [avec les Blues et les Flyers]“, he recalled.
During his first visit to the Colisée, in February 1994 with the Blues, goalkeeper Stéphane Fiset stood in front of the Nordiques net, with a 6-0 shutout. Joe Sakic, Mike Ricci and Claude Lapointe each scored a goal and a mention of help in this part. It was the good times.