Olympiens boys rebuilding this season

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This article was published 03/11/2021 (1755 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The head coach of the boy’s hockey team at Collège Jeanne-Sauvé is looking forward to cultivating a team culture this season after the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At press time, the Olympiens had lost their first three games of the 2021-22 season in the Winnipeg Free Press East Division of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League. But Damien Lemoine says his charges have lots of time to learn and improve.

“We’re off to a bit of a shaky start, but it’s not a huge surprise, as we have a very young team,” Lemoine said.

“Our team is mostly Grade 10s and 11s this season, and we only have three returning players. Because of this, we have a learning curve ahead of us and some growing pains, and we just had a practice this morning, and I went over what we need to do. The season is young, and I’m optimistic we can turn things around.”  

Lemoine said the Olympiens’ culture of hard work led to the team enjoying two successful seasons before last season was cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We lost some momentum,” he admitted. “This year, we need to rebuild that winning culture that’s based on work ethic, discipline, pride, and how we behave,” he added.

Noting the development of his players goes hand-in-hand with their development as young adults, Lemoine said he’s looking forward to everyone pulling together this season and praised the invaluable contributions so far this season of the team’s other coaches Claude Lemoine and Matt Gunhouse and manager Mario Desmarais, as well as his leaders on the ice.  

“The culture I’m talking about is about more than being a good hockey player, it’s about being a good person. At the end of the day, we’re all in this together. I know we might be starting off the season a little roughly, but it’s a process, and we’re going to get to where we want to be. It’s also really important that the boys are having fun and that they feel a sense of pride on game day. They’ve missed all of these interactions, which are very important, and everyone is happy to be back,” Lemoine said.

At press time, the team was next set to meet the Sanford Sabres on Nov. 2.

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