THE QUEBEC CUP?

La Presse is reporting that the Quebec Hockey Federation is working on hosting the Quebec Cup in the first week of August in 2011. The National Quebec team will be made up of Quebec-born NHL players and they will play the National teams of France, Switzerland and Italy. Yes those hockey powerhouses Italy and France will be invading Quebec.

It will be interesting to see if NHL players will support this venture. Guys like Vincent Lecavalier, Marc-Andre Fleury, Martin Brodeur and Simon Gagne will be asked to lead their fellow Quebecers, commit their time to the tournament and do so to support hockey in Quebec. The team will be made up of Quebec-born players, not just francophones.

Hockey Canada has given their blessing to this venture and now it is up to the Quebec Hockey Federation to cement their plans for this tournament.

They plan on making it a cultural event. They will have Poutine when France plays, Raclette when the Swiss play and have lots of Italian music to celebrate the Italian team, plus many more events throughout the tournament.

The major question from most Canadians will be who pays for this event. Will it be provincially funded, or will their be any government funding at all? For hockey fans,despite it being a regional tournament, if it is on TV when no other hockey is being played, will you watch solely out of curiosity?

I will most likely have one of the organizers of the event on my radio show tomorrow to find out more specifics about the Quebec Cup, but according to Rejean Trembley’s article it seems, that barring being shunned by NHLers, this event will happen next August.