The Midget AAA Circuit Playoffs have seen a “revolution” this year, which will culminate Thursday in Saint-Hyacinthe with the new Classique des Champions. An event that will become an important day in Quebec, hopes the president of the league, citing the example of the famous Frozen Four in American varsity hockey.
Yanick Lévesque, who arrived five years ago, was looking from the start for a solution that would allow his players to stay on the ice for as long as possible while reducing the number of games played on weekdays when they were at school are to be played.
“We wanted to keep them motivated,” he says. Our youngsters are in physical education and when their team got eliminated we felt that their motivation dropped a bit and it became more difficult to manage them.
With the new formula, eliminated teams have another chance to qualify for the Ultimate tournament, where all matches are single matches.
Open to change
This change made it possible to extend the season by almost three weeks, the president proudly emphasizes.
But he was not free from criticism. QMJHL General Managers and Scouts regret the return of eliminated formations and the elimination of the best-of-7 Finals series more familiar to us from Canadian hockey.
Mr. Lévesque is aware that the changes have not gone unnoticed, especially since the format of the playoffs has been the same for 45 years.
However, the president mentions receiving “only good comments from the players”. “They got in at the end! starts Yanick Levesque. There was also positive feedback from the teams and schools.
“Even the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship will be decided by a game,” he adds. It’s a formula that exists. And we are not closed to adaptation, on the contrary. This is the first year, we will listen to the comments.
All seven games
Mr. Lévesque also believes that both the public and scouts will have good hockey food to eat over the weekend. “All games will be like the seventh game in a row,” he said. The intensity will be great.”
The top three teams overall for the season, namely Saint-Eustache Vikings, Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François and Lac-Saint-Louis Lions, will be there.
After finishing fifth and seventh during the season, the Gaulois de Saint-Hyacinthe and the Estacades de Trois-Rivières will face off in a play-off on Thursday, hoping to continue their tournament and put their hand on the Jimmy – Ferrari Cup on Sunday.
“These are for the majority of players who have or will be drafted into the QMJHL. There will be a lot of good players on the ice this weekend,” said Yanick Lévesque, who dreams of this season-ending tournament being televised one day.