What seemed like a stalemate about 72 hours ago is about to be resolved. The Cégep de Saint-Laurent leadership aims to relaunch the Patriotes ’first division female hockey program.
According to Radio-Canada, the CEGEP leadership met on Monday with a former coach who could possibly re-launch the program.
The rumor has also reached the ears of the players, although there is no confirmation yet.
Last week’s announcement of stop of the program, a euphemism according to one player who spoke about removing the team – caused a lot of ink to flow. Olympic champion, Concordia Stingers coach and former Cégep de Saint-Laurent Caroline Ouellette was outraged on social networks.
Opposition representatives Enrico Ciccone and Christine Saint-Pierre, whose CEGEP is in the electoral district, also reacted.
Behind the scenes, according to our information, the office of the Minister for Education and responsible for Sport and Recreation, Isabelle Charest, activated and put pressure on the management of the establishment. The announcement of the closure of a major college program, a week after the presentation of the hockey recovery report that promised to focus on the development of women’s hockey, was not well received.
Isabelle Charest has known the program has been in jeopardy since May 11, her cabinet confirmed, even as the minister spoke about April 11 in a communication obtained by Radio-Canada Sports. Patriots coach Alexandria D’Onofrio was fired on April 12.
However, there are still some hurdles that must be overcome to re-integrate the Patriotes du Cégep de Saint-Laurent into the first division.
First of all, this agreement between Quebec Student Sports Network (RSEQ) and Hockey Quebec (HQ) on overhauling the college league to reduce it from seven to six teams in the 2024-2025 season.
Mégan Miron, a Patriotes player, confirmed on Friday that RSEQ apparently saw in the difficulty of the program the opportunity to end it and thus agreed, two years in advance, to their six -team policy.
An ambush that would have collapsed since then: RSEQ and Hockey Quebec have agreed to keep D1 in seven formations.
If the re-launch is confirmed, Saint-Laurent will take the opportunity to reorganize the program, we heard, and, for example, offer a more attractive ice time to the women’s group that can only train at noon until then. .
The management of the establishment did not confirm the news.
Source: Radio-Canada
