Équipe Québec: 2021 Season Update
Author: Dave Rouleau
Disclaimer: I work as a Communications Assistant for the Quebec City Capitales.
The situation is frustrating, to say the least.
Conflicting reports have been published in the last 48 hours about the fate of Équipe Québec and its possible return to home games in Québec and Trois-Rivières, starting July 23rd. Most of these reports have been in French, so why not take a minute to inform the english-speaking public of what’s transpired during that time.
To that end, I will refer to the best journalism that has been done on the subject, meaning Carl Tardif from Le Soleil. The link guides you to his text on the matter and you can translate it for you to understand the situation.
Originally, Équipe Québec had until June 24 to give an answer as to whether the home games would be possible in Canada starting July 23rd. Given the fact that no such answer was available at that time, a one-week delay was granted by the Frontier League, meaning last Thursday. The team was waiting for a call by the Federal government; it never came. The Trois-Rivières Aigles President, René Martin, had this to say:
“Tell us if the answer is no. We’ll understand, but we just don’t have an answer, it’s amazing. Facing the Frontier League, it becomes embarrassing, but our American partners really want to help us.”
The new order is that the first two home series will be cancelled, meaning the new home calendar would start July 29 in Quebec City with the Tri-City ValleyCats as the first Frontier League visitors to enter Canada. Michel Laplante, President of the Capitales:
“Our American partners are fantastic and very generous. They understand that the restrictions may be different in Canada, but a little less the incoherence in which we find ourselves. Despite this, they agreed, once again, to give us another week to see if we will be allowed to cross the border.”
The way this situation is handled by the government officials is shameful (those are my words and won’t back down from it). The communication is poor and reasons for the current state of affairs are not logical, unless there is political posturing at play.
On the other hand, the Frontier League officials and other 13 teams have shown an amazing openness to work with the team. That being said, they also have plans/staff to put in place if they are to host Équipe Québec for the rest of the season, so them asking for some answers is more than understandable.
I’ll let René Martin finish this resume with these words:
“Team Quebec is in first position while still on the road. Patrick [Scalabrini] is working miracles. At a time when the guys were living with the hope of playing in front of their fans, of seeing their loved ones again, he has to be told to wait longer, that’s a shame. “
