As part of a training course in 1998, a young Quebec coach named Pascal Daoust was to write where he saw himself in 10 years. His response was quick: New York.
The birth of his children prompted him to postpone this project, but he never abandoned it. Now, in 2023, he has just been appointed general manager of the future New York club in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF).
“I think that’s a damned good reason for waiting another 15 years!” exclaimed Daoust, speaking of his family, on Friday, during the virtual presentation of the new DGs of the circuit.
The children have now grown up and, above all, the opportunity has presented itself to him without him really asking for it. Fired by the Val-d’Or Foreurs last February after seven seasons in Abitibi, he was not actively looking for a plan B in hockey. He certainly wasn’t when his phone rang at the end of July, while he was at Disney World with his family.
“It started with a pole to measure my interest in returning to women’s hockey,” said the man who had been an assistant coach with the University of Montreal Carabins from 2010 to 2016. Yes, his interest was there. He was also informed that a new league was taking shape and that positions would be available.
Time has passed, without new developments. And over the past few days, “everything has happened extremely quickly.” Following official interviews with the leaders of the LPHF, he was at the head of the New York formation.
“Let’s call it Disney magic!” “, he launched, laughing.
We feel he is overexcited by this new challenge. “I never wanted to look for work, but rather for projects,” he said. And that, we call that a real project. »
The word is weak. Within three weeks, Daoust will have to have built its roster of 23 players, through the draft and the free agent market. This, in a market that is new to him, and which will not necessarily be the most attractive for players, who might prefer strongholds like Toronto, Montreal or Boston, and who might also be put off by the cost of living in the Big Apple.
None of this seems to dampen his enthusiasm. From his years with the Carabins, he kept a large number of contacts within women’s hockey. He also has his entry into hockey as a whole, since he works on the preparation of NHL players in the summer.
He will try to recruit players from the “Tri-State area”, an expression which refers to the region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but not only. For he relishes the prospect of starting from scratch and putting his “fingerprint” on the new franchise.
He will of course be looking for talent, but also committed players, motivated to play for his team. “I want them to be our plan A, but we want them to be their plan A too,” he summed up.
To achieve this, he will have to move away from his family, established in the Montreal area, for a while, in order to lay the foundations of the organization south of the border. He will later reassess the prospect of a bigger move.
Anyway, the road never scared him. “At the time [of the Foreurs], I always said that by driving five hours, it is Val-d’Or in the north or New York in the south, he imagined. Chance causes the new opportunity to be in New York. It is an exceptional privilege to have this position. I take it with open arms. »
History will no doubt teach him that it is a little more than a five-hour drive. But that’s not much when you’re lucky enough to touch a quarter-century-old lens.
