(Buffalo) At the end of the line, July Bergeron takes us back when it is suggested to her that she has made sacrifices for her children. “These are not sacrifices. It’s just a mother’s love! »
Use any word you like; the fact is that July Bergeron has done a lot to ensure that the four children of her and her husband, Yanic Perreault, play hockey at a good level.
But the years pass and in a few weeks, the youngest of the family, Gabriel, will hear his name somewhere in the first round of the National League draft. At 18, the winger has just completed his second season in the United States National Development Program, in suburban Detroit. To ensure proper guidance, July Bergeron followed Gabriel to Michigan, where she lived with him.
“I have one in California [Jacob, who plays for the Anaheim Ducks farm club], my daughter is in Pennsylvania [Liliane, at Mercyhurst University] and the oldest coach here in Chicago [Jérémy , Chicago Mission under-18 coach.
“It wasn’t so bad, we were four hours away. When Gabriel went to play on the road, I came home. And Yanic came to see his matches when he could. I enjoyed my experience and Gabriel was grateful. »
In a family that eats, drinks and breathes hockey, that’s kind of the norm, and has been for years. Yanic Perreault himself retired as a player in 2008. The family then returned to Magog.
“All four kids were playing hockey and I was pretty busy with the older ones,” Chicago Blackhawks player development coach Yanic Perreault said on the phone. So when Gabriel started playing, [July] got involved with the younger guys. »
Involved how? “I did my coaching training. It was half coaching, half daycare! “, she says, laughing.
“He was starting to skate and we were playing on halves of ice,” she describes. The coaches are on the ice with the players during games. These are beautiful memories. It was just to have fun.
“The kids were always looking forward to the end, because I was coming with my loot bag. If it had been good, they chose from the bag. It was like their medal. It was things from Dollarama, pencils, little toys. I was trying to avoid sugar! »
From these training sessions in Magog, which we guess early in the morning, to the two years in Detroit, Gabriel Perreault is well aware of the efforts made by his parents, his mother in particular.
“He was my first coach, proudly launches the young man, seated at the restaurant of a hotel in Buffalo, during the evaluation camp of the NHL. I don’t really remember, but I know that in Magog, she coached me. Then it was cool that she came to live with me in Michigan! »
“We spent a lot of time in arenas,” admits Yanic Perreault. The first year back in Chicago, the four were playing and they were based at four different arenas! We were wondering how to handle that. We were trying to make it as best we could. The parents of the other players helped us, and we tried to take care of our youngest a little more. At the end of the day, we spent a lot of family time thanks to hockey. »
Official NHL measurements list Gabriel Perreault at 5’11” and 165 lbs, numbers that seem believable when the tall, dapper teenager sits in front of us.
He will also be able to earn money in the coming years, since he will play at Boston College, in the NCAA, unlike his brother Jacob, who went through the Ontario Junior League (OHL). “Jacob was bigger than me. In the NCAA, there are fewer games, so it will help me spend more time in the gym,” he explains.
The various classifications of hopefuls place Perreault in the middle of the first round of the repechage. The young man, on the other hand, says he hopes to hear his name “in the top 10, top 15”, but “it doesn’t change anything, where you go out, it’s what you do after”, he hastens to d ‘add. It’s the culmination of a tremendous 132-point, 62-game season with the American program, in which he formed a devastating trio with Will Smith and Ryan Leonard, two other expected top-10 prospects.
Currently, the Canadiens hold the 5th pick and the 31st or 32nd pick, depending on the result of the Stanley Cup Finals. Barring a transaction, it would therefore be very surprising if Perreault ended up in the city where his father made his career between 2001 and 2004.
That said, the Habs have done their homework. Kent Hughes and his men have requested a meeting with Perreault this week. “It was one of the toughest interviews,” he agreed. They asked me what animal I was. This is a question that CH has been asking hopefuls for several years.
His answer ? ” A panther. It’s smart, snappy and sneaky [cunning]. As a player, I think I’m sneaky, in the defensive zone and on offense. »
The CH is obviously not alone. A dozen teams had already met him at the time of our interview, and the Penguins, who will pick 14th overall, invited him to dinner one night this week.
Even though Gabriel Perreault has lived in Chicago for about ten years, even though his hockey environment is entirely English-speaking, he still speaks fluent French and gave the entire interview in that language. The family returns to Magog each summer, and the parents have made efforts to ensure that the whole family remains bilingual. “When I came to Chicago, I knew zero English! recalls Perreault. It’s good to keep both languages. I went to school in Quebec until grade 3. Then, we always spoke French at home and my parents wanted us to keep it. »
