Among the 1,385 players who played games in the NHL or the World Hockey Association after their time in the Pee-Wee tournament, including of course Mario Lemieux, Guy Lafleur and Wayne Gretzky, there are several players from the current edition of the Canadian.
And also running in Quebec was another familiar face from Montreal that we've spoken to in recent days: Kent Hughes, the general manager who experienced the disappointment of defeat in the final without knowing at the time that he was doing it was beaten by one of his future players!
Chocolate milk, freezing cold, big cones, huge crowds and a wonderful day in the snow: the last eight participating members of the Canadiens told us their fondest memories of their presence at the tournament.
Jordan Harris defeated… his future general manager
Minuteman Flames – 2013
AA elites
“I won that tournament,” Jordan Harris remembers well. I played for the Minuteman Flames and we won against the Kent team [Hughes]!”
Photo Getty Images via AFP
Many years before Hughes became his general manager with the Canadiens, the defenseman experienced the tournament and describes it as “pure joy.”
“Chocolate milk and apples after every game. It was fantastic!” he remembers.
“It was an incredible experience. There must have been 9,000 or 10,000 people in the Colosseum during the finale. The atmosphere during the week was fabulous.”
A long-awaited moment
The final was even more special for Harris because her opponents were also from Boston.
“They took the loser’s path. We took the winner’s path,” he remembers.
Circled in blue: Jordan Harris in his victory with the Boston Minuteman. Photo provided by the Quebec Pee-Wee Tournament
“We played three preseason games. We had lost two out of three. But then when the tournament officially started, we won all our games.”
Harris and his teammates had been waiting “all season” for this presence in Quebec.
“It was big for us because we had a very good team. Our goal was to organize a good tournament. So we had been preparing for months. I was confident we would do well, but I never thought we would have won.”
From father to son
And the Quebec Pee-Wee Tournament is a family affair for the Harrises.
“My father coaches smaller ice hockey teams,” he emphasizes. He came back two more times after my brother (Elijah in 2010) and I were there. He always had a lot of fun.”
“To know that so many people were traveling to see 12-year-olds was completely crazy.”
Kent Hughes is trying to forget this defeat
Boston Junior Eagles Coach – 2013
AA elites
Circled in red: Kent Hughes during his finals loss to the Boston Jr. Eagles. Photo provided by the Quebec Pee-Wee Tournament
The Canadiens general manager has twice experienced the disappointment of a finals loss in Quebec: the first time as a player in the early 1980s and the other time in that famous game in 2013 against Boston rival Jordan Harris.
He later also went there with his younger brother Jack, but the team didn't make it that far.
Archive photo, QMI Agency
“I'm trying to forget him!” he said, laughing about this defeat against his future defender.
“We were in the same league as them,” Hughes added. Their team was stronger than ours, but we beat them in the two regular season games they played. In the final of the tournament we lost 3-0, but it could have been 6-0.”
“One of the most beautiful experiences”
The GM appears to have excellent memories of the tournament, which he describes as “an unforgettable experience.”
“We were there for ten days,” he said of his 2013 visit, “and we had so much fun.” It was like a vacation. We went sliding in the mountains, we played an away game against representatives of the New York Islanders.
“For any young person, it’s one of the best experiences of a minor hockey career.”
Asked for your pin on the bench
Kent Hughes also remembers the pin madness… and the young people who asked him about his mid-game while he was sitting behind the bench, not realizing they were talking to the man who would become would be the general manager of the Canadiens.
If Hughes has one regret about that epic journey to the final, it's that he agreed to do a TV interview in the dressing room before the big game.
“I think it intimidated the little boys. This made them realize that it was bigger than they thought. Thinking back, I should have said no to the interview.
“But at the end of the day, the experience was important.”
Cayden Primeau remembers his match next to the roller coaster
Philadelphia Flyers – 2012 AA Elites
The Canadiens goaltender is all smiles as he talks about his presence at the pee-wee tournament wearing the uniform of the Philadelphia Flyers, a team made up of the region's best talent that also included several sons of NHL alumni: Carson Brière (Daniel), Kelton Hatcher (Derian, who was also the trainer), Jagger LeClair (John) and of course him, Keith Primeau's son.
Photo Getty Images via AFP
“It was something very special! I thought it was great to live in a guesthouse with one of my teammates. It was a great experience,” he says.
“I liked the games, but even more the atmosphere during the matches,” adds Primeau. I also have good memories of things outside the rink. We ate at a sugar shack and went tubing.
Like in the NHL
Primeau also has a treasured memory of wearing the Flyers jersey in front of an impressive crowd.
“I felt like I was in the NHL. I dreamed of the NHL when I was younger, but it's like I got there in advance with this tournament. Normally at this age you play in front of family and friends, not in front of thousands of spectators!”
The goalkeeper also clearly remembers a game against Rouyn-Noranda in a shopping center (at the Galeries de la Capitale). To this day he still thinks it was very cool to have walked next to a roller coaster… and he still remembers the delicious fondue that his pensioner family prepared for him.
When Rafael Harvey-Pinard faced Mario Lemieux
2011 – Chicoutimi Saguenéens
AA Legare
Being from Saguenay, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard did not have the full experience of the Pee-Wee tournament, with the nights in the hotel or even the family guesthouse and the activities in the city.
Archive photo, Martin Chevalier
But the forward had an unforgettable experience there in 2011 when he faced the minor Pittsburgh Penguins at the Coliseum, who were then led by one…Mario Lemieux!
“It was a big game, even though we lost. It was so much fun,” he says today.
The pride of Saguenay
The young Saguenéens didn't last long. But “it was an honor for the little boys that we were allowed to wear the Chicoutimi Saguenéens logo for the first time,” remembers “RHP”.
“It was a magical moment,” he said. Every year there was an alternation between a team from Saguenay and a team from Lac-Saint-Jean. This year it was our turn.
“So from the start of the season we knew we would represent the Saguenéens. We couldn't wait for this moment. We had circled the date on the calendar. »
Like a boss
And of course, like many young people who were there, Harvey-Pinard says he was “impressed when he walked into the locker room at the Colisée.”
“Everything was a lot bigger than in Jonquière, where we played. It felt like we had a professional experience, but on a slightly lower level.”
Players wanted Justin Barron's 'big pins'
2013 and 2014 – Halifax Mooseheads (Hawks)
AA Bolduc and AA
The defender of the Canadian organization took part in the tournament twice, in 2013 and 2014. The second time he played in front of 8,000 spectators, which also fell in the year in which the Colosseum was closed.
Photo Getty Images via AFP
Although he is now a professional player, he still remembers the “atmosphere” of that encounter against the SSF Cyclones.
“I couldn’t believe it!” he says.
The water slides in the hotel were also “happiness”, just like “pleasure”. [au Village Vacances] Valcartier,” says Barron.
“It was the coolest tournament when I was growing up. I will never forget both of my experiences.”
Drawn by his brother
What seems to have particularly influenced him, however, was the exchange of pins, the famous “pins”.
“My first year, we had a small pin,” he explains, “and we had trouble replacing it. In the second year, my father took over the management of the project. My brother Morgan [qui joue pour les Jets de Winnipeg et qui aussi participé au tournoi, plus jeune] had made the design.
“So we had a lot of success our second year. Several teams wanted her, she was really cool!”
Juraj Slafkovsky had a lot of fun at Village Vacances Valcartier
Slovakia HSM Select – 2017
AAA
Even though it was “around -40°C” when he arrived in Quebec and he “broke a few sticks because he was disappointed to have lost,” the Slovakian striker was fulfilled by taking part in the tournament, where he just was seven years old, a dream.
Photo Getty Images via AFP
Slafkovsky was there in the company of several compatriots who are now playing in the NHL, including Simon Nemec of the New Jersey Devils, or prospects such as forward Filip Mesar, who was drafted by the Canadian in the same draft as him.
“It was crazy playing at the Videotron Center! he says. It was like a dream, we played in front of around 10,000 fans.”
The biggest and the smallest
However, his fondest memories are not associated with ice hockey, especially since he and his team were expecting a big tournament and they suffered a defeat in the first game.
No, what is still the first choice ever in 2022 was today “a large snow park with huge slides” (the Village Vacances Valcartier) and “shopping center in Quebec” (in this case we don't know for sure). which he was talking about).
“We were kids having fun in the snow,” he smiles, although he still remembers the cold temperatures, which he describes as “a shock.”
“I was the biggest and tallest on my team,” he also remembers. Philip [Mesar] was still one of the smallest. He wasn’t even one meter tall!” he also says.
And today, “Slafko” measures 6 feet 3 inches and 230 pounds, compared to his friend Mesar who weighs 5 feet 9 inches and 179 pounds…
Jesse Ylönen with several future NHL players
Finland votes – 2012
AA elites
The Finnish striker was surprised to see so many people in the stands for players of Pee-Wee age. “In Finland we don’t follow tournaments at this level with the same passion!” he emphasizes.
Archive photo, Martin Chevalier
“I didn’t speak much English back then,” he says. But I thought it was crazy how big hockey is in Quebec and Canada and how so many people came to watch kids play.”
His team didn't have a good tournament and Ylonen still vividly remembers the disappointment he and his teammates felt.
A star of stars
In addition, some of his teammates, like him, later fought for a place with the professionals.
Prolific Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen also played for the Finland Selects this year, as did Anaheim Ducks defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and Henri Jokiharku, who plays the same position with the Buffalo Sabres.
Samuel Montembeault and the Bearded Men of Colorado
Shawinigan Cataracts (Estacades de la Mauricie) – 2009
Samuel Montembeault has several good reasons to remember the Pee-Wee Tournament, and one of them is that the goalie never allowed a goal.
Photo AFP
“The game I played, we won 4-0 against Switzerland,” he remembers. The special thing was that we didn't get any pins [comme le veut la tradition]the guys from the other team gave us chocolate!”
Montembeault also had to face the Rimouski squad and a certain Samuel Blais, now a forward for the St. Louis Blues.
They were the “big attraction” of the tournament that year, he says, but ultimately the goalkeeper fell ill and was unable to defend his club’s goal.
“We peed!”
The Pee-Wee tournament is also a good opportunity to determine whether the athletes are not all developing at the same pace physically.
And Montembeault could see it in the third game of the Cataractes, who didn't last long in this edition (which doesn't stop him from calling his time in Quebec a “great experience”).
“We faced a team from Colorado. The boys were all six feet tall and all had beards. We peed!” he says.