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Post by chootoi on Dec 15, 2023 12:29:13 GMT -4
Without Maritime expansion the league probably loses out on talents like Crosby, Mackinnon, Marchand, Richards, etc. Before the territorial rights kicked in those guys probably go play in Ontario or NCAA. League rosters today are made up of approx 20% Maritime talent. And it's increasing and not just roster filler. 27% of first round QMJHL picks in the last 5 years are from the Maritimes.
40% of the top 10 in yearly attendance and revenues are Maritime teams (love that money). Maritime teams have delivered the league 4 of 10 Memorials Cup since expansion, including 4 of the last 6 (love those ships). I could go on and on but we all know the story and how foolish the argument is. Unfortunately the biggest blowhards have the biggest mouths.
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Post by catnut on Dec 15, 2023 12:39:41 GMT -4
In the comments on sports sites, the loudest critics of this decision in Quebec are often people who have no idea about the evolution of the league.
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Post by lirette on Dec 15, 2023 12:43:36 GMT -4
It is comical to me that we have a reporter like Renaud Lavoie who claims that this decision was only done to generate discussion, when him and a handful of reporters are the ones who are generating the discussion. They all could have simply reported the change and moved on with their day, given this really has zero negative impact to them. These journalists are essentially generating their own story.
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Post by lewis94 on Dec 15, 2023 13:09:55 GMT -4
But I thought the league didn't like the Maritimes teams? Seriously, the Major in the name doesn't make any sense. Time to include the Maritimes in the name! I hope the owners make the right decision. It says in the article that before it was Gilles Courteau who wasn't keen about making the change. Courteau certainly didn't. He had 30 years to do this. How did it take them 30 years to make a basic English QMJHL logo?
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Post by lewis94 on Dec 15, 2023 13:10:55 GMT -4
Pretty clear Corteau had a hard line against the name change. It's unfortunate the league owners allowed their leader to be someone who clearly viewed the maritime teams as lesser members. Again with the own victimization? It's easy to stick your fingers in your ears when you cheer for a Quebec team. Maybe, just maybe Maritime fans have some legitimate grievances after 20-30 years that you don't see over there in ivory tower land.
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Post by sc74 on Dec 15, 2023 13:14:07 GMT -4
Again with the own victimization? It's easy to stick your fingers in your ears when you cheer for a Quebec team. Maybe, just maybe Maritime fans have some legitimate grievances after 20-30 years that you don't see over there in ivory tower land. Just like every small markets in Quebec (which is most of them) have grievances with the likes of Moncton, Halifax and Saint John (and Quebec City as well). That's how own victimization works. Those who are against the change are doing the exact same thing you're doing. Maybe you have more in common than you think.
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Post by lewis94 on Dec 15, 2023 15:06:04 GMT -4
Leroux was also cheering on the Q and Matt Hicks when they screwed us over in the final, acting like there was absolutely nothing wrong with the call. Shameful that "journalists" like him are cheerleaders for the league office.
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Post by lewis94 on Dec 15, 2023 15:08:34 GMT -4
Are they not all saying Corteau was the person standing in the way of this change? It was UNANIMOUS. The only change is the commissioner. What all of a sudden changed to make every single team want this? It's laughable you want to admit Corteau himself didn't want them recognized yet also laugh at how people viewed the league under his watch as having clear bias against Maritime teams. It's not even debateable after this decision. We were living in a world where the leader of the entire league viewed his own region and his own teams as superior to ours and didn't want to give us any recognition or consideration under the actual name of the league. What I said is that I viewed him as an old man who didn't like change in his last years. He probably should have been gone 10 years ago. I really don't see it as him not recognizing the Maritimes. That's bullshit but I guess it reinforces your own sense of victimization. Courteau is the one who came up with the expansion because he knew the Maritimes were essential to the league's growth. He said multiple times it was one of his greatest achievement as commissioner. His career wasn't without mistakes but I believe his work towards expanding the league in the 90's and 2000's was his biggest legacy. If he didn't work towards it, you wouldn't be here feeling not recognized. That's laughable... I don't like Leroux or his opinion on this matter but he actually had to make a post he recognized what the Maritimes teams brought to the league. For some people life is black or white I guess, we're either with you or against you. And why did he want to do that? To boost the league's coffers, of course. He would've been an idiot not to recognize the economic potential of Maritime expansion. It doesn't mean he didn't treat Maritime teams and fans as second-class citizens.
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Post by Futuremoosefan on Dec 16, 2023 11:27:25 GMT -4
There are some people saying they should have gone with East Hockey League. Imagine the crisis lol. I prefer keeping the QMJHL/LHJMQ. Just thinking out loud...but here's a question; is the French abbreviation still LHJMQ? My French isn't good enough to know proper syntax, but shouldn't it be LHJQM? It makes sense to not change it from a cost saving view...changing every instance of the logo to switch the "MQ" order would be a pretty big task (think Edmonton Elks not changing their EE branding). I actually don't know the proper way to say it. In English, the order of Q and M doesn't matter, just a preference...so wouldn't the Quebec teams 'prefer' to put 'Quebec' ahead of 'Maritimes'?
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Post by sc74 on Dec 16, 2023 11:33:00 GMT -4
There are some people saying they should have gone with East Hockey League. Imagine the crisis lol. I prefer keeping the QMJHL/LHJMQ. Just thinking out loud...but here's a question; is the French abbreviation still LHJMQ? My French isn't good enough to know proper syntax, but shouldn't it be LHJQM? It makes sense to not change it from a cost saving view...changing every instance of the logo to switch the "MQ" order would be a pretty big task (think Edmonton Elks not changing their EE branding). I actually don't know the proper way to say it. In English, the order of Q and M doesn't matter, just a preference...so wouldn't the Quebec teams 'prefer' to put 'Quebec' ahead of 'Maritimes'? It stays LHJMQ in french. Ligue de hockey junior Maritimes Québec. Although it would sound better as : Ligue de hockey junior des Maritimes et du Québec.
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Post by lewis94 on Dec 18, 2023 9:52:15 GMT -4
It's easy to stick your fingers in your ears when you cheer for a Quebec team. Maybe, just maybe Maritime fans have some legitimate grievances after 20-30 years that you don't see over there in ivory tower land. Just like every small markets in Quebec (which is most of them) have grievances with the likes of Moncton, Halifax and Saint John (and Quebec City as well). That's how own victimization works. Those who are against the change are doing the exact same thing you're doing. Maybe you have more in common than you think. Except they don't have legitimate grievances, they just don't like major Anglo cities being allowed into the league - even though it massively boosts the league's bottom line. Our grievances are about differences in treatment between Quebec and Maritime teams, from the league branding to the Quebec media to on-ice officiating. That ludicrous call against Chtown during the 2022 final certainly didn't help - probably the most embarrassing penalty in QMJHL playoff history.
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Post by Mika on Dec 18, 2023 10:23:55 GMT -4
Just like every small markets in Quebec (which is most of them) have grievances with the likes of Moncton, Halifax and Saint John (and Quebec City as well). That's how own victimization works. Those who are against the change are doing the exact same thing you're doing. Maybe you have more in common than you think. Except they don't have legitimate grievances, they just don't like major Anglo cities being allowed into the league - even though it massively boosts the league's bottom line. Our grievances are about differences in treatment between Quebec and Maritime teams, from the league branding to the Quebec media to on-ice officiating. That ludicrous call against Chtown during the 2022 final certainly didn't help - probably the most embarrassing penalty in QMJHL playoff history. In Saint John's run the year Charlottetown had theirs with Sprong, the refs allowed Chicoutimi to score a blatantly kicked in goal in overtime in the semi-finals. I remember talking to some of the Islanders players (French players at that) and they were pissed at the call in Saint John saying it was favoritism. I get brushing off what the fans might have to say; but when it's players, managers, coaches, and hell probably even the equipment managers saying the iffy calls almost always go the Quebec team's way; it's worth considering that the league isn't as impartial as they may want you to think. Look at the COVID relief money the league had. Quebec teams all got their fair share, while the Maritime teams were basically told "good luck". I do have hope for this new commissioner though, already he seems to understand the value of the Maritimes and how beneficial it is to keep everything running smoothly rather than just 2/3 smoothly.
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Post by Briwhel on Dec 18, 2023 10:31:47 GMT -4
The league doesn't have a bias against the Maritime teams. They have a bias FOR a couple of specific teams (and for whatever reason, those teams seemed to change from time to time). It's great to say that they didn't play favorites until you realize that the entire league executive (including the director of officiating) is sitting with the ownership of one of the two teams playing in the Finals (for the whole series)
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Post by Jack Bauer on Dec 18, 2023 10:35:04 GMT -4
Except they don't have legitimate grievances, they just don't like major Anglo cities being allowed into the league - even though it massively boosts the league's bottom line. Our grievances are about differences in treatment between Quebec and Maritime teams, from the league branding to the Quebec media to on-ice officiating. That ludicrous call against Chtown during the 2022 final certainly didn't help - probably the most embarrassing penalty in QMJHL playoff history. In Saint John's run the year Charlottetown had theirs with Sprong, the refs allowed Chicoutimi to score a blatantly kicked in goal in overtime in the semi-finals. I remember talking to some of the Islanders players (French players at that) and they were pissed at the call in Saint John saying it was favoritism. I get brushing off what the fans might have to say; but when it's players, managers, coaches, and hell probably even the equipment managers saying the iffy calls almost always go the Quebec team's way; it's worth considering that the league isn't as impartial as they may want you to think. Look at the COVID relief money the league had. Quebec teams all got their fair share, while the Maritime teams were basically told "good luck". I do have hope for this new commissioner though, already he seems to understand the value of the Maritimes and how beneficial it is to keep everything running smoothly rather than just 2/3 smoothly. Take it a step further... The league under Corteau let the provincial government in Quebec get into bed with the league and dictate rule changes in exchange for payments. We got no say in any of it. Say what you will about fighting in hockey....nobody has been more opinionated on it than I have...but it should not be provincial governments making that decision for our teams and our league. Especially when there's a bribe tied to it and call the covid payments to the Quebec based teams whatever you want but they were only done in exchange for the elimination of fighting. I honestly think they're all too incompetent to have officials working for 1 side but there's enough off ice stuff since Halifax joined the league to say that there's been clear bias from off ice officials and that point is confirmed with the name change stuff happening like it did.
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Post by lirette on Dec 18, 2023 10:58:19 GMT -4
Except they don't have legitimate grievances, they just don't like major Anglo cities being allowed into the league - even though it massively boosts the league's bottom line. Our grievances are about differences in treatment between Quebec and Maritime teams, from the league branding to the Quebec media to on-ice officiating. That ludicrous call against Chtown during the 2022 final certainly didn't help - probably the most embarrassing penalty in QMJHL playoff history. Look at the COVID relief money the league had. Quebec teams all got their fair share, while the Maritime teams were basically told "good luck". That doesn't really have anything to do with the league bias. The Quebec provincial government isn't going to give money to companies run out of other province. That would be horrendous politics and I'm not entirely even sure of the legalities. The Quebec government would have provided the money to the league contingent on it going to Quebec teams. Imagine if Stephen Macneil had given covid relief funds that went to the Quebec Remparts. I guess the league could have turned down the money, but I really dont think thats realistic given the state of things at the time.
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