There was a time, long ago [Len writes] when giving an interview in la langue de Moliere was no biggie for a captain of les Glorieux, because he would have been a francophone -- native Canadian French speaker. But in the 21st century NHL, the Flying Frenchmen are lucky to have even half a dozen French-Canadian players. I can remember a couple of years back when David Desharnais was voted the fans favourite francophone players, and commented, "Hey, I yam de only one!"
All the same, there is a certain expectation that he who wears the "C" should learn the language, sooner or later. Since being named the youngest captain in franchise history three years ago at age 23, Nick Suzuki has embraced the role, and shown his understanding of the history and character of la Sainte Flannelle. Here's his interview with Félix Séguin of TVA Sports.
Believe it or not, this is the first time a Canadiens captain had been interviewed in French since Vincent Damphousse -- a francophone -- more than 25 years ago. Suzuki is the first English-speaking captain to learn French and do an interview in that language since Bob Gainey, who felt it was his duty to learn French and taught himself.
Fellow Canadiens Hall of Famers Larry Robinson and Ken Dryden also learned French. The Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby learned to speak French during his two seasons playing for the QMJHL’s Rimouski Océanic and Suzuki spoke with him about it when the two captains were together recently in Las Vegas for an NHL media event. “He said he didn’t really have much of a choice when he was playing junior... He said all the bus rides they watched French movies and he'd watch them with the guys."
There are language zealots on both sides of the Two Solitudes and Suzuki will never make everyone happy. But he should be applauded for taking a big first step. Il a gagné ses épaulettes!
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