Hockey players do not get to the NHL without help along the way, and the Montreal Canadiens have decided to thank those who played a role in their players' lives with a mentor trip.
Over the years, we’ve seen the Montreal Canadiens organize mom-and-dad trips on which players had one parent tag along. This initiative is always appreciated by parents, who have made tremendous sacrifices to ensure their son reaches the NHL, but this year, the Habs decided to change things up with a mentor's trip.
If it takes a village to raise a kid, it takes a city to raise an NHLer. Throughout their careers, players have had many coaches and friends or family members who have helped them along the way, so it only makes sense to allow them to take those crucial people along for the ride now that they’ve made it.
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In La Presse earlier this week, Simon-Olivier Lorange wrote a feature about forward Zachary Bolduc in which he reveals that the forward’s guest for the trip is Sebastien Lemay. Lemay was Denis Francoeur’s assistant when Bolduc attended his hockey clinics, which Bolduc attended from a young age. Lemay eventually started running the program himself and has coached the Canadiens’ forward in 700 to 800 practices. It’s no wonder that the Canadiens’ summer acquisition considers him a mentor worthy of the trip.
According to photos posted on the Canadiens’ X account, Arber Xhekaj decided to take his sister, Sophia Xhekaj, on the trip. The Xhekaj brothers’ older sister is a firefighter who knows a thing or two about determination and hard work.
Cole Caufield also elected to go the sibling way, taking older brother Brock on the trip. The 26-year-old was also a hockey player, served as a teammate of his for two seasons with the Wisconsin Badgers, and has spent time in both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers organisations with their ECHL affiliates. He has now retired from the game and works as a Regional Sales Associate at Rock Harbour LLC.
It will be interesting to see who else joins the Canadiens’ players over the next few days.
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