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Los Angeles Kings to spend a weekend in Charlevoix in September

 Emily Smith
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Los Angeles Kings to spend a weekend in Charlevoix in September
Credit: Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images

The Kings are said to be taking advantage of their visit to Quebec in September and October… to spend a weekend in the Charlevoix region.

According to information from CIHO FM Charlevoix, where our colleague Kevin Vallée now works, the team is close to finalizing a stay at the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, before heading to Quebec City for their training camp and two games at the Centre Vidéotron.

They’ll be eating and sleeping at Le Manoir, as well as (unsurprisingly) playing golf on an 18-hole course considered by many to be one of the finest in the world.

While the Canadiens held a closed retreat at the Fairmont in 2010 under Jacques Martin, also playing an intra-squad game at the Clermont Arena, we read between the lines that it seems to be the Kings’ intention to train there, at least.

Calls have been made to Clermont and Baie-Saint-Paul, according to CIHO.

“The players are uncomfortable saying it, but they appreciate the Charlevoix experience 1,000 times more than Teen Ranch, Ontario, where Jacques Martin took them on a retreat last year” (La Presse article, October 2010).
This means that Phillip Danault, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Joel Edmundson and company will spend at least a week and a half in Quebec.

As Luc Robitaille mentioned on 98.5, even if the Kings “don’t go anywhere for free”, it’s “important to help Quebec when you can” as a Québécois.

It will be recalled that the Quebec government’s $5 to $7 million subsidy for the Kings’ visit caused a controversy that went so far as to be weaponized by the unions representing teachers and healthcare workers, who were fighting for better pay conditions when the news was announced by Minister Éric Girard…

Will the weekend in Charlevoix be paid for by the Kings, or the government? Either way, the team’s visit to Charlevoix will be a great spinoff for the companies and organizations involved, who will be just a stone’s throw from the Casino de Charlevoix. It’s worth noting that, when the Canadiens visited the region, the players met in a bar outside the hotel complex.

An ironic fact in this story: the $5-7 million envelope released by the government came from the Fonds de la région de la Capitale-Nationale (FRCN), a fund for NPOs from Charlevoix (among others) to Portneuf… which will ultimately be invested in a multi-national (Fairmont) and a government corporation (Loto-Québec).

Please note: this is an irony, nothing more, because in fact, the government has improved this budget, without touching the money destined for NPOs in the greater region.


Overtime

– They’re going to be young and dangerous!

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