Stéphanie Poirier | The brain in turmoil

“I want to have a global impact on the development of this sport, which is a passion, even an obsession! »

When Stéphanie Poirier sits down at her desk as the new women’s hockey and development director of Hockey Quebec on May 6, she will have a “blank page” in front of her.

This is the first time that the provincial federation has established such a service. This aims to “contribute to the advancement and growth of women’s hockey”, as the executive director of hockey operations, Stéphane Auger, recently said in a press release.

Only a huge challenge could make Stéphanie Poirier one day leave her position as director of Center 21.02. This position is exactly that: a huge challenge that excites him to the highest degree.

“There are so many things we can do. (…) The majority of people are there for the right reasons, so we have to help them, but we also have to make them understand that we play for a big club. Everyone must push in the same direction, or substantially, by understanding the regional reality. »

When it comes to women’s hockey, Poirier has a lot to say. His passion is contagious.

It must be said that the native of Lorraine has been immersed in the industry since adolescence. Initially a figure skater, she made the jump to hockey around the age of 10. At age 13, she moved from mixed hockey to women’s hockey. She was notably part of Team Quebec at the 2001 Canadian Championships in Trois-Rivières.

At the age of 20, Poirier became a coach for the Saint-Jérôme CEGEP hockey school, then assistant coach of the Cheminots women’s team. She then made the leap into refereeing for eight years.

In 2011, after her studies in kinesiology, she found a position as head coach in pee-wee AA, in Laval, in men’s hockey.

“I had the interview and they hired me,” she says. (…) They told me the story afterwards, but they didn’t realize it was Stéphanie when they received my CV. They read quickly and they read Stéphane, which happens regularly. »

Over the years, the friendly woman has had a series of experiences. She was head coach of Team Quebec under-16, then assistant coach of Team Quebec under-18. In 2015, she became a video coach for the UdeM Carabins, before accepting the position of assistant coach in 2017. Through all of this, she became a coaching trainer for Hockey Quebec and Hockey Canada.

In 2019, she joined Center 21.02, launched by Danièle Sauvageau. It was in 2023 that she became its full-time director.

Which brings us to today.

“It was difficult (to leave the 21.02 Center) because we had so many great projects that I was working on,” she says. My brain was in turmoil. »

The rest of our conversation convinces us quite quickly that this excitement should continue in the Hockey Quebec offices…

A guideline

“There are a lot of questions to ask,” the new women’s hockey director will repeat several times during our interview.

When he takes up his position, Poirier intends, above all, to “become aware” of what is happening in women’s hockey throughout Quebec, from one region to another. Because there is a difference between knowing women’s hockey and knowing the reality of the structure of the North Shore, she notes.

Once this task has been completed, she will focus on her major objective: that of establishing a clear direction for women’s hockey in Quebec. A guideline.

“I want a picture, a concrete diagram of who goes where. How do we make that make sense? »

“Everyone has good ideas, but cannibalize themselves in women’s hockey. You say to yourself: I got funding, I’m launching a program. But you’re going to steal half of the other guy’s program. That’s a problem and it always has been. »

The questions

According to figures from Hockey Quebec, the number of female hockey players in the province in 2023-2024 was 8,145. In 2022-2023, this number rose to 7,654, or 1,400 more than in 2021-2022. It was the first time, in 20 years, that there were more than 7,000, Stéphanie Poirier points out.

But the number remains small.

“In British Columbia, there are 5 million inhabitants. There are more than 8 million of us. Their player ratio is double ours. »

As we said: there are many questions to ask. Among these: “What attracts girls to hockey?” »

“We already know that what attracts girls to sport in general is social affiliation,” she explains.

“We need to have supervision that ensures that young people stay and that parents feel comfortable. It’s 2024, and there are still, despite everything, mentalities that want little guys to play hockey and little girls to ringette. »

The creation of the LPHF and all the enthusiasm surrounding the Montreal team led by a certain Marie-Philip Poulin should allow for more rapid growth in the number of players, she believes. But from the moment “they enter our arenas, we must keep them, supervise them,” she insists.

“When we talk about development, we don’t just talk about the elite. It’s about moving girls from one stage to the next. In general, girls, around bantam age, stop playing sports, regardless of the sport. The fall is drastic. How do we keep them interested in hockey? There, we are not talking about having them play in the national team or in the LPHF. We’re just talking about keeping them active, studying while doing sports. »

“Yes, publicity is important, but it takes more than that. When little girls go to the arena, do they have fun? »

Regarding elite development, Poirier notes that Quebec teams experience a lot of difficulty, for example, at the Esso Cup, the national U18 AAA women’s championship.

“Is it because we’re escaping from it? We know that our numbers, in relation to our potential, are below what they should be. »

“Yes, we want the elite, but to have the elite, you need a very good base. We already have a lot of elite despite the fact that we have a base that is far from being the strongest in the country,” she mentions, recalling that the best players on the national team, in the last 20 years, are almost all Quebecois.

Imagine with a revised and improved structure.