MAGOG | On a winter Thursday morning in the hallways of Saint-Pie-X Elementary School, there is nothing to suggest that Stéphan is a Stanley Cup winner. The last from the Canadian.
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Until the bell rings and a young student comes up to him and asks if he has played professional ice hockey.
Mr. Stéphan gives him his best smile and answers “Yes.” The little man turns around and grabs his coat from the locker, proud of the answer. The educator gathers his small flock and takes over the management of the gym.
Mr. Stéphan, it was Stéphan Lebeau, number 47 for the Canadiens from 1989 to 1994, who won the Cup during the legendary 1993 epic. An attacker with 403 games played in his seven seasons in the National League and six seasons in Switzerland.
Stephan Lebeau, center player for the Montreal Canadiens (No. 47). October 2, 1993. PHOTO JEAN-CLAUDE TREMBLAY / LES ARCHIVES / LE JOURNAL DE QUEBEC Le Journal de Quebec
At 55, Lebeau is a physical education teacher on Thursday mornings at this small elementary school with about 220 students in Magog. He continues the three kindergarten groups, including one that brings together four-year-old children. In this way, he contributes to a functioning network everywhere by meeting small needs of his school service center. Because as he puts it: “In an ideal world, Stéphan Lebeau wouldn’t be in schools.”
But he likes to get his hands dirty.
Challenges overcome like clockwork
The Journal followed him one morning on his journey to contribute to the school system, which has been struggling since the pandemic began in spring 2020.
The first observation you notice is when you open the door to the small, 300 square meter gymnasium, where he has set up three different courses to develop the children's skills. The teacher used the entire room for his “challenges.” The floor is littered with obstacles, mats, cones, hoops, tubes, etc. The rinks' only remnant of its past is a small hockey net set up in a corner of the room for students to throw a foam ball into during their final class.
Before sunrise, Stéphan Lebeau is preparing his 300 square meter gymnasium, where he will welcome three kindergarten groups to the Sainte-Pie-X school in Magog on Thursday morning. PHOTO FRANÇOIS-DAVID ROULEAU Photo François-David Rouleau
This quick look into the gym also shows us that the ice hockey coach's important knowledge hasn't been buried that far for 20 years. The little hockey teachers who rack their brains to develop such creative and challenging exercises to promote the psychomotor development of young people would be jealous.
Joyfully focuses on development
“I'm having fun. I come to school for these kids. I don't have to work and be there every day. I don't want to pursue a career as a teacher. I really value this moment because I can fully invest myself in it. I want to especially not that they pay because they don’t have a qualified teacher,” explains the one who believes he has a great responsibility towards them.
“I am committed to their development and their happiness. “For me, the most important thing is that they learn through enjoyment,” he continues. I try to stimulate them in the game. I think a lot about my teaching. I change my routes. I adapt to their development and their abilities.”
“As a teacher, I have to perform. Like a coach behind a bench and a player on the ice. When I’m in front of my classes, I have to deliver.”
Photo François-David Rouleau
No more ice hockey
After a 13-year career in professional hockey, Lebeau spent 20 seasons on various benches, from Midget AAA to the American League. After two years of turning down attractive offers, he put a definitive end to hockey at the end of the final 2022-2023 season after eight years leading the Champlain-Lennoxville College Cougars in the Quebec Collegiate League.
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
In his mid-fifties, he wants to focus on his family and his passions: golf, fishing, hunting, etc. And through it all, he wants to give back by getting involved with the Estrie school board.
In addition to his physical education workload at the Saint-Pie-X School, he does a few substitute lessons here and there.
“I help because the system needs it. I don't work out anymore, I have time and want to stay active. This is my fifth year as a substitute teacher. “I have had an enriching experience since I started teaching,” he says, pausing with a smile before choosing his adjective. It is interesting. I explore the world of education.”
For the love of the children
He knows this environment well. Because his partner Chantal is a 6th grade teacher at Saint-Pie-X. His love for young people is not a thing of the past. In the house where he stayed during his years with the Cantonniers de Magog in the AAA midget league, the lady greeted children from the school where he currently teaches during lunch breaks.
During his only season with the Sherbrooke Canadiens in 1988–1989, he lived in the family home where his mother ran a daycare center.
Mr. Stéphan loves children and he does not hesitate to show this in his congratulatory message at the end of each lesson.
Stéphan Lebeau is a teacher at heart and knows how to easily communicate with young children in his classes. Photo François-David Rouleau
If you had told him in June 1993 that he would one day become a professor, Lebeau would never have believed it.
“It’s proof that you never know what life has in store for you. Without COVID-19, I may never have explored this environment. Maybe I wasn't available. I became one and got my foot in the door. Suddenly everything fell into place. It’s pure coincidence.”
How did the Stanley Cup winner end up teaching young children?
It happened in the spring of 2020, when the planet was plunged into the upheaval of COVID-19. Stéphan Lebeau, ice hockey coach, a sport completely paralyzed by the pandemic, volunteered as a substitute in schools in his region.
One thing led to another and due to illness, a position as a physical education teacher became available. Lebeau met with Saint Pie-X School leadership and the school board and presented his plan and vision. Without a second thought, he stood in front of the students.
The former Canadiens did the job so well that another school heard about him and later offered him a job. He stayed there for almost three months. In the 2021-2022 school year, he returned to Saint-Pie-X, which now had new management.
“I had heard about his efficiency and professionalism. When I met him, he arrived with his folder, his preparation and his documents, all well organized according to the stages and skills, says the general director Julie Dubois. He really nailed it.”
The principal of Saint-Pie-X primary school in Magog, Julie Dubois. Photo François-David Rouleau
In fact, he was the one who assembled this thick bag that looked more like a large brick. Placed on a table next to the blackboard in the corner of the gym, it summarizes the skills to be developed, his lesson plans, his assessments and all the documents necessary to carry out his tasks. Because without a precise procedure, he himself has to shape the path of his young students by following the basic principles set by the Ministry of Education.
Impressive experiences
According to his wife Chantal Poulin, who is a professor, teaching is innate in him. “He researches, listens and sees a lot of different things. He is able to teach anything. He’s a perfectionist and has fun with everything.”
In addition to her organization, her professionalism and her love for children, the director also praises her perfectionist side. “His experience as a hockey coach led to him gaining the skills necessary to teach children. We see that he is a teacher at heart.”
“It is particularly well organized. He also has natural authority. In young children, psychomotor skills are developed through joy and action. He is proactive. We know that we can count on him for all the tasks we assign to him. We are happy to have him,” explains the one who obviously wants to keep him at her school.
Source of reflections
But if the education system were effective, one has to admit that Lebeau could indulge his other passions instead. The former Habs player doesn't shy away from words to express his opinion.
“In a high-performance society, we would have psychomotor skills specialists who would work with students from childhood to develop their diverse abilities. In Quebec we don't invest in it. We’ll let them go,” he thunders.
Photos of Stéphan Lebeau, former Montreal Canadiens player, taken at the Thibault GM Sports Complex in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, Thursday, April 26, 2018. AUDRE KIEFFER / JDEM AUDRE KIEFFER / JDEM
“In an ideal world, Stéphan Lebeau wouldn’t be in schools. You would count on highly specialized and certified people,” he continues.
“How can it be that in Quebec we have a shortage of teachers and a lack of vision?” he asks himself, when the education system has been failing on all sides for too long. “Like tens of thousands of people in the province, I wonder. How can we as a society get to this point?
He confirms that he still has a “great experience.”
And the weight of the 93 Cup?
Aside from making children dream and their parents smile, winning the Stanley Cup in 1993 has no bearing on his teaching duties.
Stanley Cup 1993 Stanley Cup parade in the streets of Montreal, June 11, 1993. Denis Savard, Stéphan Lebeau with the cup and Patrice Brisebois. Photo Jacques Bourdon / Le Journal de Montréal CANADIENS FILE 1993
In fact, Lebeau plays with discretion and modesty. According to his partner, with whom he walks through the school door every Thursday morning, she disappears immediately. “Stéphan gives a lot. Young people love it and it gets their attention.”
But at some schools it is not unusual for Mr. Stéphan to pull out his felt-tip pen to sign a few autographs. For both young and old.