True face and pioneer of women’s hockey in Montreal for more than a quarter of a century. Danièle Sauvageau quickly accepted the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s offer to become the Montreal team’s first female general manager.
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“When I found out there was going to be a concession in Montreal, I quickly raised my hand and said, ‘Don’t forget me!’ They told me they knew where to find me,” Sauvageau said during a virtual press conference introducing the general managers of the six teams (Minnesota, Boston, Ottawa, New York, Toronto and Montreal).
We assume the LPHF bonuses have kept his contact details at the top of their list. His candidacy was obvious. As head coach of the Canadian women’s team that won gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, he is credited, among other things, with founding the Université de Montréal Carabins women’s team and the Center 21.02 high performance center located within the walls of the Verdun Auditorium.
In addition, she took part in the interview round as part of the process of choosing Marc Bergevin’s successor, a position that was ultimately offered to Ken Hughes.
“It’s the highlight,” said the former police officer about the creation of this race track. The children saw for the first time that it was possible for girls to play hockey at the university level. Then there was the first Women’s World Cup in 1990, followed by the women’s appearance at the Olympics and our gold medal in Salt Lake City. Now young girls can dream of playing, training, and other activities as part of a hockey team. It’s huge!”
“I couldn’t wait for all of this to happen,” she added. It’s one thing to create a center where these players can train every day, but they also have to play.”
In addition, the main interested party did not want to officially confirm this, but suggested that the local games of the Montreal team, whose name we do not yet know (the name Les Canadiennes, which played in the defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League), could be resumed will be played in the Auditorium Verdun.
MARTIN ALARIE / AGENCE QMI / JOURNAL DE MONTREAL
Poulin, the face of the car dealership
It’s not just the name of the team that still needs to be decided. There is also the identity of the person who will lead the training. The general manager said a verbal agreement had already been reached between her and the designated person, a person with whom “there is some chemistry, who has experience and knows the players.” »
Speaking of players: The six LPHF teams will take part in the first circuit draft on September 18th in Toronto. But first each of them will have the opportunity to sign three players. We can imagine that Marie-Philip Poulin and Anne-Renée Desbiens will be at the top of Sauvageau’s priorities.
“I have confidence,” she said when the author of these lines asked her if she was worried about having to go out on a limb to convince these two superstars to pull on the Montreal sweater.
“It is important that we have a unified face to create this team. But at the same time, you know Montreal. They know that people want a successful team. The plan is to build the team they deserve. »
To achieve this, Sauvageau emphasizes speed, hockey sense and the integrity of the athlete.
DIDIER DEBUS SCISSORS/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
Again with the carbines
In order to be able to carry out her new duties full-time, Sauvageau confirmed that she would have to give up management of the center on February 21st. However, she retains her position as general manager of the Montreal Carabins women’s team.
“I founded the Carabins, it’s good baby, so I’ll stay with them as long as I can breathe. My role and my relationship don’t change,” she said.
Sauvageau is not the only one who had to give up some projects to join the LPHF. Gina Kingsbury, who was named general manager of the Toronto team, was forced to leave her position as vice-president of hockey operations at Hockey-Canada, where she had overseen the national women’s program for five years.
Pascal Daoust (New York), Mike Hirshfeld (Ottawa), Danielle Marmer (Boston) and Natahlie Darwitz (Minnesota) are the other general managers selected for this inaugural LPHF season.