Poulin wants to bring back the title of Alberta … and Hlavaj
Samuel Poulin left Sherbrooke on Saturday with his equipment on his back to join the Canadian junior hockey team's camp in Red Deer, Alta.
Share November 15, 2020 10:44 p.m. Share Poulin wants to bring back the title of Alberta … and Hlavaj
Jérôme Gaudreau La Tribune SHERBROOKE – As he left the Palais des sports on Saturday for Red Deer to take part in the Junior Team Canada camp, Phoenix captain Samuel Poulin hoped that the day he returned to Sherbrooke, it would be in the company of the Slovak Samuel Hlavaj.
Bringing back the world title would be nice, but also bringing back his team's star goalie would go a long way to helping Samuel Poulin find his way back to victory after seeing his team suffer defeat in their first five games of the season.
Due to the pandemic, the Phoenix gatekeeper was forced to stay in his home country and evolve for the training of his hometown, without being able to return to Canada to start the 2020-2021 season of the QMJHL .
“We hope that his presence at the World Junior Hockey Championships will allow him to stay in Canada, since he will already be there,” said General Manager Stéphane Julien, also the team's coach. Since the Worlds will be in Edmonton, it is believed that Samuel Hlavaj may have a better chance of obtaining permission to return to Sherbrooke to play the season. “
Last year, Hlavaj led his team to first place in the QMJHL and the Top 10 in the Canadian Hockey League before the pandemic shortened the season and canceled the 2020 playoffs.
No family parties?
Stéphane Julien ensures that his players will be able to return to their families for the holiday break, from December 20 to January 3, 2021. Or maybe even well before in several cases.
Due to the isolation that each player will have to respect when returning to the Maritime provinces or to Ontario during the holiday break, the QMJHL organizations are preparing to have to do a little gymnastics with the calendar to allow their players other provinces to reunite with their loved ones during Christmas time.
“It will be complex, confirms Stéphane Julien. We will probably have to stretch the holiday break normally given to players to meet their quarantine. When they return to Quebec, they will once again have to respect isolation. If we lose our guys for a little less than 30 days because they will be in quarantine, it will be complicated. We hope to be able to test for COVID-19 more quickly to obtain results more quickly, in order to speed up the process. But if the organization has to pay to go private, it can become expensive. “
Until then, the Phoenix will continue to train from Monday to Saturday morning at the Palais des sports, being the only inactive team after entering the red zone and after then missing the opportunity to play this series of matches presented in the bubble at the Center Vidéotron de Québec, from November 17 to 27.
