Éric Houde may have played in the NHL, but like all of us, he is fascinated by excellence. “I’ve always been fascinated by the best. Tiger Woods, Sidney Crosby… They are hard workers. They could sit on their laurels and they would be fine,” he says.
Houde will be able to observe excellence up close this fall. The former Canadian was in fact hired as assistant coach to Kori Cheverie by the future Montreal team in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF).
“It’s the chance to rub shoulders with the best in the world. Marie-Philip Poulin is the best in the world, he recalls. Top athletes are often special, they always want to be the best. I will be able to rub shoulders with Poulin, Ann-Renée Desbiens too. And I will learn from these athletes. I hope they enjoy my work! »
At the time these lines were written, Houde did not yet know the extent of his tasks. Moreover, the future Montreal team, still without a name like the grocery products, has not yet made the news official. It was Houde himself who revealed it on social networks.
But what he does know is that there will be “quite a lot of staff” and that “it clicked” with Cheverie. In short, the work environment seemed interesting enough for him to leave his two main jobs: coach of the French College of Longueuil, in the Junior AAA Hockey League, as well as at the Juillet Academy.
“It’s a day job, it’s professional, so it’s full time,” he recalls. In other words, the desire to professionalize the league is good for the coaches too, not just the players.
“The schedule is 24 games this year, 32 next year, so it’s not an 82-game schedule. I wasn’t ready to upset the family, but they play in Verdun and I’m in Candiac, so it’s okay. The train doesn’t pass all the time. When it passes, you have to jump in! »
The “train” here is a call from Danièle Sauvageau, general director of the team. Houde says he “roughed shoulders” with her here and there, nothing more. Sauvageau could not be reached for this article. Regardless, he was the first to be surprised when his phone rang, since he has never worked in women’s hockey.
“But I played pro 14 years and I coached 12 years. So I feel like I’m ready to help the pros. In coaching, I have done all categories, from MAHG to junior. Sometimes you start at a certain level and you get burned out. But I started from the bottom, I did civilian work, school work, integrated structure work. I have experience with the future generation. And I got information from other coaches who have coached women’s football. »
The question of gender remains delicate among the public. It would indeed be logical, given an NHL where the hockey operations departments remain overwhelmingly male, for the LPHF to push to also train female managers.
“It takes a good mix. We saw it with Kori in Pittsburgh,” says Houde, referring to Cheverie’s presence as a guest coach at Penguins camp.
“Quietly not quickly, it will get mixed up. Competent women will go to the male side and competent men will go to the female side. I don’t see it as a guy/girl or franco/anglo question. It’s like a spag sauce, it takes everything to make a good sauce! »
The fact remains that Houde, for the first time in his professional life, will find himself in the same position as that in which Cheverie was at the Penguins camp, or that in which Poulin is when she comes to give a boost to the Canadian.
“Of course it will be different to be the outsider,” he concedes. But with my character, I think I adjust easily. I see it in a positive light, but I will surely be a better coach, a better person.
“It’s still hockey. The dynamics, the pedagogy could be different, I don’t know, I’m going to learn it. But they are still players who want to improve and win the big trophy at the end. That doesn’t change. »