An eternity. The French team has not participated in the Olympic Winter Games for… 20 years! It was in the United States, in 2002 in Salt Lake City. Nineteen years later, the Blues have the opportunity to return to this competition where they reached the quarter-finals in 1992 in Albertville. But to participate in the Winter Olympics in Beijing (China) from February 6 to 20, 2022, it will be necessary to achieve the feat of beating Latvia at home this Sunday (4 p.m.) in this "final" of the TQO (Olympic qualifying tournament). ). “We are in the scenario we wanted. It will take the perfect match and we are aware of it to reach this Olympic qualification, said coach Philippe Bozon. The group has been ready for this for several weeks. "
To afford this "final", the Blues beat Hungary on Thursday (5-3) then Italy (2-0) on Friday. Latvia has crushed the Transalpines (6-0) then the Hungarians (9-0). “The Latvians have beaten up, they have an impressive team, we are not favorites, admits striker Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. We made a few mistakes but we were able to win our two games. Now there is one game left. "" We should not rely on the results but we will face a very good team opposite, says Philippe Bozon. We believe in our chances. We know what we have to do, we are well focused. This is the last chance for some to participate in the Olympics. It will be necessary to be very good defensively and above all to show solidity from the first minutes and not to panic. Then we have offensive arguments. "
"I want to take this team to Beijing"
The Habs can rely on his trio of NHL players (the North American championship, the equivalent of the NBA for basketball players), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (Tamba Bay Lightning), Antoine Roussel (Arizona Coyotes) and the nugget Alexandre Texier (Columbus Blue Jackets) author of an important double against Hungary, as well as several experienced players like Stéphane Da Costa (Kazan) and Sacha Treille (Grenoble) decisive against Italy.
Does the success of the French men's teams at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo 3 weeks ago give hockey players wings to take part in the Winter Olympics next February? “I used that in my speech,” replies Philippe Bozon. The emotions it provides make you want to sublimate yourself. "I have always dreamed more of the Olympics than of the NHL," says Bellemare. It is always a pride to wear the blue jersey. I want to take this team to Beijing. He knows what remains for him to do.