(Sunrise) The home of the Florida Panthers has often been invaded by Quebecers over the years. But once in June, the snowbirds become less numerous. The proof: even the famous Frenchie’s restaurant-bar, a haunt of Quebecers in Hallandale Beach, is closed for the summer.
There were, however, some locals who came to celebrate St. John’s Day in the corridors of the Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.
It starts with Stéphane Chartrand, whose Quebec origins are betrayed by the Guy Lafleur Canadiens jersey that his partner, Lisa, wears.
He is from Quebec, but has lived in the United States for 40 years. She is American. They left northern Georgia on Monday morning for a 24-hour trip to southern Florida, just long enough to attend the seventh game of the final.
And the Canadiens jersey? “My mother, Paulette Prévost, looked after Guy Lafleur when he was little,” he says proudly. I saw it a few times, and my dad often had tickets to go to the Forum in the 1970s.”
Given the family’s closeness to Lafleur, the jersey was autographed by the Blonde Demon “when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988,” says Lisa.
We continue our hunt for Quebecers in the corridors when we see in the distance a couple each wearing a number 73 Vincent Desharnais sweater. No need for a long investigation to guess that we have before us Vincent’s brother, Alex, and his girlfriend, Monica. The resemblance is striking, worthy of that between Marc Labrèche and Christopher Columbus.
The best moment: seeing the tipsy Oilers fans who approach him, without ever noticing that he is the exact copy of the colossus defender.
Alex and Monica left Lac-Mégantic on Sunday to come here. Joining them were Kevin Raphaël and Emmanuel Anderson De Serres, former leaders of the Montreal Force. They had to go through Burlington to find a flight taking them to the distant suburbs of Miami.
Their obstacle course, however, has nothing to do with that of Éric Généreux, Henrick Parent and Jean-François Nadeau, three guys from Sorel crossed paths in the corridors. Généreux was at the Beauchemin-Fleury-Beauvillier-Aubé-Kubel Golf Classic on Friday. The sixth game of the final was played during dinner, and it was there, seeing that the Oilers were on the verge of forcing a seventh game, that the plan began to take shape.
The problem: no way to find a flight from Montreal. So it was from Boston that they had to take off.
Our three companions left Sorel at 10 a.m. Sunday morning, for a flight scheduled for 6:50 p.m. at Logan airport. Said flight was delayed at 9:30 p.m., so it was 3 a.m. when they were finally able to check in at the condo.
The rest will be even more rock and roll. Their return flight took off in the evening on Wednesday, landing in Boston around midnight. And it is at night that they will make the Boston-Sorel journey. “We’re working Thursday! », says one of them.
Cost of hockey tickets: $1900 CAD.
“If the Oilers win, we will have quite the experience,” says Jean-François Nadeau. And if they lose, we will still have spent time in a beautiful place! »