Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Quebec has lost three world junior hockey titles since 1960
Quebec City was first to pick up the hockey puck after it made its debut at a tournament in the middle of the French-speaking province, but it has struggled to win a hockey tournament on the international stage.
Quebec was the last Canadian team to win a gold medal at the world junior hockey championship, before losing to Sweden in 2002. And now it is languishing in last place in the standings of Canadian provincial championships.
Barely a month into the new year, relations between Quebec’s premier and the Canadian Olympic Committee, which has run the national junior team since 2010, are in turmoil.
This month Philippe Couillard used his government’s authority to pressure the COC to deliver on promised resources to Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, which is the venue for this year’s world junior tournament.
The Quebec government made its stance clear in a statement : “It would not be a bad idea to first ensure Montreal fills its most important stadium and then look at appointing an international governing body to the world junior championship. Quebec’s interest requires that its teams are well represented in this world championship,” the statement read.
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