André Tourigny will always remain an authentic man. He is not afraid to speak from his heart and tell the truth.
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Hours before his first game at the Bell Center as head coach of the Arizona Coyotes, Tourigny offered a powerful plea for the hockey heads of his alma mater, the QMJHL.
Before Arizona, before the Ottawa 67’s, the man from Nicolet learned his trade with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
He will always keep an attachment to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), having devoted 11 years of his life to it in Abitibi and another year in Halifax with the Mooseheads after a stint as an NHL assistant with the Colorado and the Ottawa Senators.
Tourigny, affectionately known as “The Bear”, lives up to his nickname. He wasn’t afraid to offer his opinion when told about the message sent to the Courteau circuit by the Canadiens when Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton hired Martin St-Louis to replace Dominique Ducharme.
“If I have to answer that, I’ll be late for the game. There are two parts to this. I’m a Q guy [LHJMQ] and I find it a shame that we don’t recognize the Q. If you look at the number of coaches who come from the Q and who are in the NHL, there are not many. I’m not talking about Quebecers, but guys who come from the QMJHL. There are practically none. There is Mario Duhamel [Arizona]Pascal Vincent [Blue Jackets de Columbus] and me.
“It’s appalling,” he continued. I find it sad to see that we are not recognized. It’s the same with recruiters. There are GMs in the QMJHL who will never get hired. I am thinking of Jacques Carrière who is a very good CEO [Eagles du Cap-Breton]. I could talk about this for a long time. I know that could be misconstrued. »
Rangers top the list
In his enumeration, Tourigny forgot to mention the New York Rangers who have three coaches with ties to the QMJHL in Gerard Gallant, Mike Kelly and Jim Midgley.
In addition, with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Frantz Jean takes care of goaltenders, as does Jimmy Waite with the Chicago Blackhawks and Éric Raymond in Montreal.
However, Gallant had worked with the Blue Jackets and the New York Islanders before returning to his classes with the Saint John Sea Dogs. Kelly, 62, also already had a long NHL and OHL record before moving to New Brunswick with Gallant.
Louis Robitaille, head coach of the Gatineau Olympiques, who was passing through the Bell Centre, corroborated Tourigny’s statements.
“If you look at the comparison to the OHL [Ontario] and the WHL [Ouest], we do not have direct access, said Robitaille. It comes with the fact that there are fewer Quebec leaders in the NHL. In the NHL, there is tremendous pressure to win. These are not 20-year contracts, so managers are not inclined to take risks with young coaches. So often they turn to their “posts”, to the people and organizations they know. Your network of contacts is what allows you to access the next level. »
A springboard thanks to the OHL
Tourigny had already said so in the past. He knew that by accepting a position with the Ottawa 67’s, he would expand his circle of contacts. The 47-year-old man was right.
“When I chose to leave to coach in the OHL in Ottawa, two people predicted that I was going to leave the OHL for a head coaching position in the NHL,” he said. he called back. They didn’t tell me I was going to be an assistant, but a head coach. And that’s what happened.
“There is no one who can dream of doing that in the Q. However, I coached for 12 years in the Q. I remain the same guy. I speak the same languages and have just as much of an accent in English. My accent was the same when I was in Ontario. I find the Q to be underrated in hockey heads. »
St-Louis has the “qualities”
If he finds that the QMJHL is being ignored too much in the NHL, Tourigny had good words for St-Louis.
“I don’t know Martin St-Louis personally. I think he brings a great passion to the Canadian. I liked his first press conference. I also see the successes of the CH. What he does is exceptional. He has the qualities for this job. »
“Patrick Roy has already said that it’s one thing to come to the NHL and have an impact with your message for the first season. What is difficult is for the following years. You have to have the same message with the same impact, but you have to deliver it in a different way. »