Crybaby Frenchies....

'Anti-francophone virus' plaguing the NHL, new book says

Graeme Hamilton, National Post Published: Sunday, October 18, 2009


Despite the successes of francophone NHLers such as Martin St. Louis (L) and Vincent Lecavalier, a new book says French Quebecers are being heavily discriminated against in the league. Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images Despite the successes of francophone NHLers such as Martin St. Louis (L) and Vincent Lecavalier, a new book says French Quebecers are being heavily discriminated against in the league.

MONTREAL -- With the number of hockey stars that Quebec has produced, from Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur to Mario Lemieux and Vincent Lecavalier, one wouldn't think racism was holding back players from the province.

But a book published Monday by former National Hockey League player Bob Sirois, examining four decades of professional drafts, comes to the explosive conclusion that francophone Quebecers are systematically thwarted by an "anti-francophone virus" plaguing the NHL.

Francophone Quebecers are wrongly disparaged as too small, too lax on defence and not suited to the robust "Canadian" style of play, Mr. Sirois writes in the book, published in French and titled Le Québec mis en échec (Quebec Bodychecked). "Myths, prejudices, stereotypes and favoritism make up an integral part of every draft session in the National Hockey League."

In a province where sportswriters agonize over the Montreal Canadiens' lack of a homegrown hero and the team's former Finnish captain was demonized for failing to learn French, the analysis is bound to cause a stir. Already, La Presse sports columnist Réjean Tremblay has called Mr. Sirois' research spine-chilling.

"Discrimination against the frogs is absolute," Mr. Tremblay wrote after getting an initial glimpse at the findings.

The book, a copy of which was made available to the National Post, is filled with charts detailing the fate of every Quebecer drafted by NHL teams over the past 40 years. Its cover depicts a blue-clad frog facing off against an angry bull in red. Mr. Sirois found that, proportionate to their share of the population, francophone Quebecers were less likely to get drafted than anglophone Quebecers and francophones were generally selected lower in the draft. He notes that about 10% of all NHL players were completely passed over in the draft but managed to break into the league; the rate among players from Quebec, 19%, is almost twice as high. "In light of these figures, don't even ask whether it's true that Quebecers are under-estimated by NHL scouts," he writes.

The author also looked at what became of 16-year-old Quebec players at the midget level. Studying the same 40-year time frame, he found that one in 334 anglophone midget players was drafted by the NHL compared with one in 618 francophones. "If you're francophone and your son is talented in minor hockey, anglicize his name and you will double his chances of being drafted," he writes.

He concludes that francophones who are not first-line forwards, starting goalies or top defencemen are rarely drafted, and if they are picked, they do not last long. Looking at francophone Quebecers who played three or more seasons in the NHL, he found they were extraordinarily successful. Of the 176 players in this category, 42% won an NHL trophy or were named to the all-star team during their careers. "Only francophones of the highest level were able to have lasting careers; the other Québécois hockey players were quickly eliminated from the NHL," he writes.

Mr. Sirois, now a successful businessman, played five seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals before a back injury cut short his career in 1980. He said he did not want to focus on the on-ice ethnic slurs that occasionally make the news or the anti-French rants of Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry. "That would risk making Quebecers look like crybabies, which is not the goal of this book."

He also stressed that discrimination is not uniform across the league. A few teams outside Quebec have been very open to drafting French-Canadians, usually because management had some connection to the province. Of the 763 francophones picked since 1970, nearly one-third went to the Canadiens, the defunct Quebec Nordiques, the Buffalo Sabres or the Philadelphia Flyers. The teams with the worst records drafting francophones were the Dallas Stars, the Nashville Predators and the Phoenix Coyotes, which averaged one francophone every three to five years. Mr. Sirois predicts his readers will be surprised to learn that the Toronto Maple Leafs had the eighth-best record, drafting a francophone nearly every year.

He has harsh words for the current management of the Canadiens, who have just three Quebecers on their roster.

"Quebec hockey players are headed for extinction with the Montreal Canadiens," he writes. He points out that the team's general manager, Bob Gainey, previously held the same position at Dallas for eight years. Since Mr. Gainey's arrival in Montreal, the number of francophones drafted by the Canadiens has dropped sharply.

"The organization's new way of operating leaves me perplexed about the evolution of the Canadiens hockey club and its future relationship with Quebec society," he writes.

The overall remedy he prescribes is twofold. He believes a return of professional hockey to Quebec City, as the city's mayor Régis Labeaume has been promoting, would increase the pressure on the Canadiens to be more representative of their province. He also proposes that Quebec field its own team at the World Junior Hockey Championship, saying the Canadian team regularly overlooks Quebec talent. A Quebec team would allow "our young elite hockey players to measure themselves against their peers from the other nations of the world," he concludes.