Rarely has a simple “Hello” generated as much applause as that spoken by head coach Kori Cheverie, Wednesday evening at center ice at the Verdun Auditorium.
Let’s clarify the context. The Montreal team of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF) had just played its 12e and last local match of the season. The team had just won 5-2 against New York and, in the process, secured its place in the playoffs.
In a noteworthy initiative, the players of the Montreal team gathered around the central circle and the three most prominent ladies of the organization took the microphone to say a few words of thanks to the public.
The first to speak was the general director Danièle Sauvageau and the last, captain Marie-Philip Poulin. As was to be expected, they were cheered by the approximately 3,200 spectators who remained in the arena.
Between the two, Cheverie walked to center ice and took the microphone from her “boss”. After Cheverie said this first “hello”, the decibel level in the amphitheater increased and the players vigorously tapped their sticks on the ice, a way of applauding their coach’s efforts.
Then, in a city where “hello” is sometimes followed by “hi!” » — to the dismay of many citizens — Cheverie instead followed up with the words “very good”.
It was a nice nod to one of her very first post-match press conferences, where she said these two words after a victory for her players, in an attempt to say a few words in the language of Molière, while brandishing both thumbs in the air.
“It was extraordinary”
Then, settling behind the microphone in the press conference room Wednesday evening, Cheverie took a deep breath before making a first comment that made the journalists laugh.
“I think I used all the French I could on the ice. That’s all I had in me tonight! “, she said, in English, while laughing heartily.
The ovation that Cheverie received was the first topic discussed by the media after the match, rather than the victory and qualification for the playoffs.
“It was really nice. I have difficulty expressing it in words. The feeling is fantastic. It’s nice to feel something like that,” she mentioned.
Cheverie was then asked to reflect on everything she had experienced since being hired in mid-September.
“I don’t think I realized, at first, how difficult it is to be a head coach in a big city, and then to be a head coach in Montreal, where you don’t speak the language,” recognized the Nova Scotian, before paying tribute to her players.
“Then there were all these moments that we went through as a team. I would say we lived an entire life in one year. I’m really proud of our group, and proud of their perseverance. Our group has come a long way. No, I couldn’t have imagined anything better. It was extraordinary,” she added.
Efforts appreciated by the Montreal public
If anyone within the Montreal organization is well placed to understand the context in which Cheverie presented herself in Montreal, it is Sauvageau.
“With the national team, I experienced finding myself in an English environment and always having to express myself in English. It’s certain that I had a much larger base, but the fact remains that it requires additional effort, in a job that is already demanding, in an organization that is just starting out, where everyone learns to work with everyone else. a pace of 200 m/h since it started,” Sauvageau underlined during a telephone conversation with The Canadian Press on Thursday morning.
“But she still took the time, she made the effort. Yesterday [mercredi], it was a bit like that. Just saying two or three sentences is effort. And that’s what the Montreal public appreciates. It’s effort, and she demonstrates it. And she deserves all the love that people have shown her,” added Sauvageau.
Cheverie’s efforts to say a few words in French also earned her strong praise from goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens after Wednesday’s game.
Desbiens notably alluded to a recent interview of about seven minutes that Cheverie gave to a Montreal radio station almost entirely in French, except for a few words in the language of Shakespeare slipped in here and there.
“To go on the radio, live, in your second language that you are starting to learn, it is something that is extremely difficult,” said Desbiens, adding that he wrote to Cheverie, in French, to congratulate her.
“I told her on behalf of all Quebecers, on behalf of my parents who do not speak English, on the part of all our supporters, that we appreciated the effort she has made over the past six months. She’s busy, she takes the time to take classes and then, it’s not easy. There are a lot of people who don’t do it. I think that for a team from Montreal, we can be proud of what they are doing and I am confident that they will continue to work on this and that their press conferences will be even better than “very good” and “c ‘is finished”!”.