Skip to content
Your daily dose of hockey
News

Samuel Montembeault “present by default”: he is the only Québécois at the Four Nations Tournament

 Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Share : facebook icon twitter icon
Samuel Montembeault “present by default”: he is the only Québécois at the Four Nations Tournament
Credit: Getty Images

At the next World Junior Championship, there will be, at most, two Québécois on the team: Ethan Gauthier and Mathieu Cataford. And the two guys aren’t guaranteed to make the club.

That’s not much.

And if you take a look at Canada’s line-up for the Four Nations Confrontation, you’ll see that it’s the same story, with only one Québécois making the team: Habs goaltender Samuel Montembeault.

We know that in front of the net, Canada isn’t super strong… and right now, he seems to be goalie #3.

Even if we took the guys who didn’t make the club and made a second Canadian team, there wouldn’t be many Québécois. Marc-André Fleury and Alexis Lafrenière are the only ones on Sportsnet’s fictitious #2 roster. It’s a good club, though.

The fact that there’s only one local guy raises the question: was Samuel Montembeault chosen because he speaks French?

It’s a legitimate question, given that the #3 goaltender position was probably the last decision to be made. One wonders if this was a factor in the decision.

On this subject, there are two schools of thought.

On the one hand, there are those who think it did. David Staples, who covers hockey in Alberta, believes that you can’t separate politics from hockey, and that Montembeault’s selection had something to do with it.

If you look at the ratio of Francos to Anglos on the team, Canada had no choice but to select Samuel Montembeault. – David Staples

In his eyes, there were better candidates, but the decision to take a Québécois (who won’t play much, in his opinion) is politically motivated. He also adds that it’s not a knock on Monty, whom he considers a good goalkeeper.

Is he saying this to start the debate again, or because he knows something? Is he basing his remarks on what John Shannon (who makes a similar point) says? Is it just to avoid insulting Québécois? Who knows.

For his part, Marco D’Amico, who works for Responsible Gambler, has done his homework and talked to people who think otherwise. According to them, Monty deserves his place.

And according to them, Montembeault has been on Team Canada’s radar for a long time.

Because Montembeault won gold at the World Championship in 2023, because he’d be better if he played for a good NHL club and because he knows what it’s like to play at the Bell Centre, where the tournament starts, he was a good candidate in the first place.

That’s the view of a lot of people, anyway.

It’s worth noting that Montembeault has been monitored by Hockey Canada for many years and has been part of the program in the past. That must be part of the equation, too.

When it comes down to it, we’ll probably never know 100% of the reason for his presence. At this point, the Habs goaltender can only push himself and try to earn playing time.


Extension

The Canadiens will have three representatives at the tournament. In addition to the Québécois, Finns Joel Armia and Patrik Laine will be representing their country.

Is it too early to pick Laine? Your guess is as good as mine.

Note that Cole Caufield (USA) and Nick Suzuki (Canada) are two candidates who failed to make the cut. But perhaps if there are injuries, they could end up with an invitation?

Being them, I wouldn’t plan my February vacation in the sun too quickly…

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!
More Content