Peewee B Flyers to be recognized

Louis Martel

Commentaire mis en ligne le 14 février 2007
Monsieur Lambropoulos

Après visionnement plus d’une fois de la bande vidéo, voici la réplique à vos commentaires :

St-Laurent : It is about our St. Laurent kids feeling, and justifiably so, that their hard work and dream of winning the St. Laurent Tourney was taken from them in an unjust way.

St-Hubert : Affirmation fausse. Aucune injustice n’a été commise à l’endroit de l’équipe de St-Laurent. Il ont été punis pour leur geste disgracieux et rien d’autre ne leur a été enlevé.

St-Laurent : The decision to go with the protest at center ice, to refuse the silver medals had 3 thoughts that went into it. 1) The kids really believed in their heart that this was the right thing to do based on what they saw and heard.

St-Hubert : Il faut croire que St-Laurent n’a pas vu le même match que nous car, à notre avis, ce fut un match tout à fait juste pour les 2 équipes.

St-Laurent : It has been said that we refused to shake hands with St. Hubert. This is not true. … Once they gave the medals, they gave the banners, and then the other team started celebrating and skating around. We did not know what to do as we wanted to shake hands.

St-Hubert : Il y a probablement eu confusion chez les organisateurs suite au refus de St-Laurent d’accepter les médailles.

St-Laurent : The actions that led us to believe that we should protest the game are as follows:

St-Laurent : The linesman, spoke to the opposing coach after the play.

St-Hubert : Faux. Aucun arbitre n’est venu à notre banc avant d’aller au banc de St-Laurent.

St-Laurent : He then went to speak to the ref. He came to our bench, and did not even know the number of the player (Robert joe), who committed the infraction.

St-Laurent : At that point, he looked at the crowd and coach of the other team who were yelling #15, #15, … then you do not ask the opposing team …

St-Hubert : Les arbitres n’ont aucunement demandé à nos coachs quel joueur était fautif chez St-Laurent.

St-Laurent : At that point, the coach of the other team went on the ice to not only scream, but get his players' equipment. This is a clear 2 minute penalty. When the linesman was told this, that the coach was on the ice without permission, he ignored us.

St-Hubert : Les officiels nous ont clairement indiqué que nous pouvions aller chercher l’équipement du blessé sur la glace. De plus, quel est le rapport avec l’incident ? À notre avis, cela n’est que des excuses additionnelles. Come on, soyons sérieux.

St-Laurent : When we were finally told that our player was getting a 5 minute major, plus a game misconduct, plus another 2 games, of course, we could not believe it. We demanded a protest.

St-Hubert : Le tournoi était soumis aux règlements administratifs de la Fédération Québécoise de Hockey sur Glace, Région du Lac St-Louis. Selon le site Web de FQHG Lac St-Louis / Hockey Québec Règlements administratifs 06-07 / article 7.4 Protêt, il est mentionné qu’aucun protêt concernant le jugement d'un officiel (arbitre, juge de lignes, etc.) ne doit être pris en considération, la décision de l'officiel à ce sujet est finale.

St-Laurent : Witnesses say that our player was told to shut up on numerous occasions when he asked what he did wrong.

St-Hubert : La bande vidéo montre que le juge de ligne qui a accompagné le joueur expulsé vers l’extérieur de la patinoire semble avoir agi de façon très correcte.

St-Laurent : They scored a goal on the power play, when there should never have been a power play if they had called the other coach for jumping the boards and coming on the ice like they were supposed to.

St-Hubert : Tel que mentionné ci-haut, les officiels nous avaient accordé le droit d’aller sur la patinoire quand notre joueur se tordait de douleurs suite au coup de bâton.

St-Laurent : When we scored a goal at the end of their power play, the referees disallowed the goal. When called upon to receive an answer, the officials refused to give an explanation.

St-Hubert : Il n’y a jamais eu but. Le no 8 de STL a lancé, notre gardien a fait l’arrêt, le no 5 de STL a trébuché et heurté notre gardien. L’arbitre situé à environ 1 mètre du but a signalé qu’aucun but n’a été marqué. Selon la bande vidéo, la rondelle n’a jamais pénétré dans le filet. La bande vidéo démontre également qu’aucune demande des coachs de STL n’a été faite aux arbitres suite à ce jeu.

St-Laurent : In the third period we had multiple breaakaways where our players were clearly hauled down, and there were no calls made.

St-Hubert : Faux. Aucune punition nous a été infligée en 3e période et la bande vidéo démontre très bien que nous n’en méritions aucune.

St-Laurent : The game ended, we could not believe what happened and we decided that this game had to be reviewed by a higher authority.

St-Hubert : Pas de problème. La bande vidéo est disponible pour consultation.

St-Laurent : We have never disrespected the St. Hubert team. We stood there and waited to shake hands, but it did not happen as the celebration began.

St-Hubert : Nous vous croyons. Nous aurions bien voulu vous serrer la main également.

St-Laurent : I also want to say that in general, St. laurent ref are very fair. This was a situation that was not normal, and that official does not represent what I have seen from St. Laurent officials in the past.

St-Hubert : Le travail des arbitres pour le match final a été, à notre avis, très adéquat.

St-Laurent : Our request for a second gold medal was based on the Olympics of some years ago when figure skaters were given joint gold medals based on the fact that there were questionable markings of the figure skaters.

St-Hubert : Le pointage sur le tableau indicateur indique qui est le vainqueur d’une partie de hockey et non pas un pointage donné par des juges.

St-Hubert : Les arbitres du match final du tournoi ont appliqué les règlements de façon adéquate. Arrêtons de trouver toutes sortes d’excuses les unes après les autres et acceptons la défaite en toute dignité.

Louis Martel
Gérant des Jets 5 de Saint-Hubert, Peewee B
14 février 2007

Tom Lambropoulos

Commentaire mis en ligne le 13 février 2007
I would like to respond to the St. Hubert team and their fans regarding the St. laurent Final. Many things have been said and have been taken out of context.

First of all, we never said that St. Hubert was not worthy of their victory. They have a great team and gave us very good competition. They say they beat the Rockets and that was great because the Rockets are a good team.

The coaching staff of St. Hubert devised a good strategy and I am sure they know what I am talking about. The problem has NOTHING to do with them. This is NOT about St. Hubert.

It is about our St. Laurent kids feeling, and justifiably so, that their hard work and dream of winning the St. Laurent Tourney was taken from them in an unjust way. In a free and democratic society like Quebec, you have a right to refuse an award, or a trophy. They refused the medals based on principle and I am proud of them for doing so. Democracy was born out of protest and power to the little people, the masses, and in our society, you can protest if you believe in your rights. If others believe that you are wrong and are protesting unjustifiably, this is the risk you take when you are brave enough to stand up to the establishment, and when you stand up against what you believe are unfair circumstances that led to your predicament.

The decision to go with the protest at center ice, to refuse the silver medals had 3 thoughts that went into it. 1) The kids really believed in their heart that this was the right thing to do based on what they saw and heard. 2) If we had accepted the medals, this would have been an admission that everything was OK, and we accepted the strange decisions of the official who put us in that situation. This would then count against us if we protested officially. 3) We wanted to send a message that this should not happen again, even if we were villified for it. I truly do not want to see this happen again to another kids' team.

VERY IMPORTANT: It has been said that we refused to shake hands with St. Hubert. This is not true. If that was the case, we would have just walked out and that would be the end of it. We actually stood at center ice, watched the other team get the gold medal, and waited so that we could line up so that we could shake hands. Once they gave the medals, they gave the banners, and then the other team started celebrating and skating around. We did not know what to do as we wanted to shake hands. I repeat, we wanted to congratulate the St. Hubert team but that moment never came. When we saw the celebration, we thought that the other theam did not want to acknowledge us so we did not know what to do. At that point we left the ice.

The actions that led us to believe that we should protest the game are as follows:

---The linesman, spoke to the opposing coach after the play. He then went to speak to the ref. He came to our bench, and did not even know the number of the player (Robert joe), who committed the infraction.

---At that point, he looked at the crowd and coach of the other team who were yelling #15, #15, and then tried to find him on our bench. In a big game like this, you have to be absolutely sure you saw the incident. If you did not see the incident or know the number of the player who committed such a huge infraction, then you do not ask the opposing team who has a conflict of interest in the game. His uncertainty made us think that he did not see the incident.

---The referee did not believe that there was a penalty on the play. When we asked him to come and see our bench, the linesman was blocking us at first from speaking to the ref, and then when we did see him, he told us that he saw nothing.

---The linesman who called the play was asked if he saw the incident. He said yes. When asked for the details, he could not be clear. When we told him that it did not happen that way, he responded that he "heard" it. That he 'heard a crack". I have many witnesses that heard him say this. This gave us the indication that he heard a crack, and not seen the play clearly. When he was asked why he did not even know the number, he did not want to answer.

---At that point, the coach of the other team went on the ice to not only scream, but get his players' equipment. This is a clear 2 minute penalty. When the linesman was told this, that the coach was on the ice without permission, he ignored us.

---When we were finally told that our player was getting a 5 minute major, plus a game misconduct, plus another 2 games, of course, we could not believe it. We demanded a protest.

---The linesman told us that if we did not shut up, we would get a penalty. Later, after the game, when we went to protest, we were told that a protest had to be done on the spot. When we went to the office to protest that the rules were not clearly given to us, we were told that we had to protest to the region. nobody knew the exact rules.

---Witnesses say that our player was told to shut up on numerous occasions when he asked what he did wrong. This is a situation that Robert's mom will or will not pursue. This is her right as a mother. I am not sure where she stands on this so I will not speak for her.

---They scored a goal on the power play, when there should never have been a power play if they had called the other coach for jumping the boards and coming on the ice like they were supposed to.

---When we scored a goal at the end of their power play, the referees disallowed the goal. When called upon to receive an answer, the officials refused to give an explanation.

---In the third period we had multiple breaakaways where our players were clearly hauled down, and there were no calls made.

The game ended, we could not believe what happened and we decided that this game had to be reviewed by a higher authority. That is when we decided that we would not accept the silver medals.

Since that time, our team has won 4 games in a row, and they are using this as motivation to continue to move forward even stronger than before. The team's reaction after they made a point to not accept a silver medal because they thought that they were unjustly dealt with, has led me to believe that they know in their hearts that they were right.

We have never disrespected the St. Huber team. We stood there and waited to shake hands, but it did not happen as the celebration began. My teams have won many Gold Medals over the years, we have also received silver medals. We have always accepted them and we have always shook hands. This case was special and different and protocal was not followed in order to ensure a just result in our opinions. I am sure we can play St. Hubert 100 times and they would all be good games. They don't need help to be champions.

It has nothing to do with St. Hubert. In fact we would like to play them again, this time shaking hands before the match. But when you believe in your heart that you have to take a stand, my advice is do it. Never stand down. Stick up for your rights.

I also want to say that in general, St. laurent ref are very fair. This was a situation that was not normal, and that official does not represent what I have seen from St. Laurent officials in the past.

Our request for a second gold medal was based on the Olympics of some years ago when figure skaters were given joint gold medals based on the fact that there were questionable markings of the figure skaters. We do not want to take away from the gold medal of the other team. Whether we get that or not, I do not really know, but that is not for me to decide at this point. My job is to get the team focused for future tournaments and we are moving on with more determination than ever towards our new goals.