Home Of Nhl Dreams -- In Chicoutimi, Quebec, Hockey Is The Religion

CHICOUTIMI, Quebec - The name of the town sounds almost musical, almost magical, almost mystical. Pronounce it with a French accent and the music, magic and mystery only intensify.

Chicoutimi, a French-speaking community of 57,000 nestled into foothills of the Laurentian Mountains, bears an Indian name that means ``up to where the river runs deep.''

Some would take the translation a step further and say the name Chicoutimi means, simply, ``end of the line.''

Chicoutimi, the place where the Saguenay River stops running deep on its way east to merge with the St. Lawrence, is a rugged and forbidding outpost even to Canadians accustomed to the rigors of this province's cruel climate.

Chicoutimi is a six-hour drive north of Montreal and a three-hour trek from Quebec City. The roads in and out of town are treacherous in winter, and winter here can last a very long time. There are lifelong residents of Quebec who never have ventured to Chicoutimi and who never intend to, regardless of the season.

But to this isolated spot every year, from September through March, troop legions of ambitious young hockey players. These aspiring pros, 16 to 20 years old, journey to Chicoutimi in search of tickets to the National Hockey League.

They are members of the 11 teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and the Sagueneens de Chicoutimi are located in the most remote part of the province.

But while the Sagueneens play in the hinterlands, they do not labor in obscurity. The team is owned by the town's economic development corporation, which provides roughly $500,000 a year to keep hockey alive in Chicoutimi.

That money talks. Unlike many clubs in the Canadian junior hockey league, the Sagueneens de Chicoutimi have a full-time coach, a full-time trainer and a full-time public relations director. One former coach is ex-Chicago Blackhawk skipper Orval Tessier, who toiled in Chicoutimi for two seasons.

The Sagueneens have 34 corporate sponsors whose names are plastered on the boards at 35 home games. The team sells more season tickets (900) than any team in the Quebec league and ranks first in attendance (averaging 1,900 per game). And the Sagueneens play in the largest junior hockey arena (capacity 3,800) in Quebec. It is named for Chicoutimi's most famous alumnus, goaltender Georges Vezina, who played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1918 through 1925. Every year the Vezina Trophy is awarded to the best goaltender in the NHL.

Since the franchise became part of the Quebec junior league for the 1973-74 season, 26 of its players have graduated to the NHL. Among them are Montreal Canadiens captain Guy Carbonneau and Islander Marc Bergevin.

``They operate the team like an NHL franchise,'' says Quebec league President Gilles Courteau. ``Hockey is a major event in Chicoutimi. It's a very special situation.''

Downtown Chicoutimi is both Old World and New. Like San Francisco, the town sits on a hill. Its steep streets are narrow in the European fashion, and there's an impressive stone cathedral off the city's main artery. Yet steps away from this 19th century church are a modern bank building, a contemporary art gallery and a chic restaurant furnished in the art deco style. No structure reaches higher than a few stories.

Blanketed in snow, the town in winter resembles a ski resort. And indeed, skiers flock to the snow-capped peaks nearby and ice fishermen camp on three neighboring rivers - the Saguenay, the Shipsaw and the Moulin.

But the scene is far less idyllic at the city limits. Away from the eyes of the tourists stand the industries that provide the city's lifeblood. Alcan Aluminum operates a huge plant here, and its gray smelters have put a harsh mark on the landscape. Pulp and paper manufacturers also contribute heavily to the local economy and to a serious water-pollution problem as well. But it is these and other major employers who help support the hockey team on such a grand scale.

``It's like Montreal with the Canadiens,'' says Robert Leclerc, sitting behind his modest desk at the offices of Ultramar Oil and Gas. ``Hockey players here are stars.''

Robert Leclerc played hockey for the Sagueneens in the 1950s, and though he never achieved the status of former teammate Germaine Gagnon, who played for the Blackhawks, people around the area still remember him. ``It helps me in business,'' he says.

Leclerc and his wife, Cammy, are among the many families in Chicoutimi who volunteer to house Sagueneens players for the season. The team pays the families $75 a week to shelter, feed and do the laundry for these hockey hopefuls, but the money barely covers expenses.

Current Blackhawk farmhand Jimmy Waite was once part of the Leclerc family, and he still returns every summer. Much of the lure is his girlfriend, Caroline, who lives down the road from the Leclercs. ``And he loves my wife's raspberry pie,'' Leclerc adds with a laugh.

Waite, 20, remembers Chicoutimi for more than the raspberry pie. ``It was the first time I left home,'' the goalie says. ``A lot of players didn't want to go to Chicoutimi. It was too far. Every time you play a road game, it's four or five hours by bus. But I was happy when they drafted me. I don't know anybody who went there and didn't like the city.

``For a junior player, there's no better place.''

People here remember Waite well. ``When Jimmy was here,'' recalls team public relations director Gerard Lapointe, ``the arena was full.'' Sometimes that meant standing-room-only crowds of nearly 5,000.

``He was the guy who received the most exposure of all the others who played in the junior hockey league,'' Chicoutimi coach Gaston Drapeau says through an interpreter. ``He got more than Guy Lafleur, more than Michael Bossy. He was so scrutinized by the scouts it was a burden for him to play a game. Even the Soviet (junior) coach said he was the most talented player under 20 in the world.''

Drapeau's newest star is Paul Brousseau, whom Drapeau thinks has NHL potential. Brousseau is not just the youngest player on the team (barely 16) but also the only one who speaks English.

The Sagueneens wanted the strapping 6-foot-2-inch defenseman despite the language difficulties they knew would arise. He was the best player available in last May's draft, a definite big-league prospect, and they went ahead and selected him.

Ask people in Chicoutimi about hockey in their town and the phrase you hear again and again is, ``It's special.''

``The only difference between Chicoutimi and a pro team,'' says center Daniel Maurice, ``is we go by bus.''

Coach Drapeau knows how special hockey is here. The press scrutinizes his every move, and after every home game as many as 10 journalists grill him. ``There's pressure,'' he admits.

On game nights, Chicoutimi's fans gather early at the Centre Georges Vezina and stand behind the boards to watch the team skate.

``Hockey is just like a religion here,'' says retired electrical contractor Conrad Emond. ``We talk about it at lunchtime, at play time, in social conversation. Ninety percent of our kids play the game.''

``My son grew up in this arena,'' says Sears employee Richard Fortin, who met his wife, Micheline Savard, watching the Sagueneens play. ``It's a prime thing in my life.''

The town's arena is as sophisticated as any in the NHL. Players have a weight room and a color TV on which to view game tapes. There's an organist at every game and a singer to render ``O, Canada.''

And just off the ice is a small VIP room, not unlike the Governors Room at Chicago Stadium, where Blackhawk management wines and dines influential guests. On game nights in Chicoutimi, the VIP room is crammed between periods with fashionable women and well-dressed men, some of them corporate sponsors or members of the economic development corporation.

Inside the Centre Georges Vezina, it's easy for a visitor to forget that this place is very, very far from the big city. It's easy to forget that outside there are no high-rises rimming the arena, no bright lights bathing bustling city streets, no elegant restaurants or trendy downtown bars beckoning fans after the game.

It's easy to forget that the things that mark Chicoutimi are towering spruce trees laden with snow, stretches of mountain range and a river that doesn't run deep. It has those things, and a hockey tradition that grows richer with each passing year.