MONTREAL (CP) — Yvon Lambert and some of his fellow alumni are going back to their roots.
Former Habs Lambert, Sergio Momesso, Serge Boivert and Stephane Richer will be participating in the third annual World Outdoor Hockey Championships to be held on Lake Memphremagog in Magog, Quebec, from Feb 20-22. Growing up in St-Germain-de-Grantham, Quebec, Lambert had little access to ice time in rinks and didn’t play organized hockey until he was 15. “I was born and raised on a farm,” Lambert said at a news conference Wednesday to announce the Montreal Canadiens Alumni Association’s partnership with the event. “The village was about two miles away, so I would hitchhike there every Saturday and play outside all afternoon. That’s where I learned the game.” The scarcity of indoor rinks where he grew up is a big part of why Lambert is happy to support the World Outdoor Hockey Championships, because proceeds from the event go to the Magog Minor Hockey Association and the ultimate goal is to one day get a second arena built in the town of 24,000 some 130 kilometers east of Montreal. “We have to start thinking a little more about minor hockey, because over the last eight or 10 years I don’t think it’s been doing too well,” Lambert said. “The kids need attention, but most importantly they need to have fun. The parents were so hard on them for a while, they saw them all as future millionaires. But I think the priorities are starting to come back.” The World Outdoor Hockey Championship is international in name only, but organizers Jeremiah and Josh Gordon are hoping that is temporary.
The event has grown from 18 teams in 2007 to 27 last year and 40 this year, with about 25 from Quebec, another 10 from Ontario and five from the northeastern United States.