With French club Briançon Diables Rouges taking part in the 2014/2015 Champions Hockey League, the quality of play in the French league and subsequently of the national team will only continue to increase, says national team coach Dave Henderson.
by Pavel Kuba and Derek O'Brien
Team France suprised a lot of people at this year's IIHF World Championship in Minsk with their first quarter-final appearance since 1995. Thanks in part to the offensive contribution from Pierre-Édouard Bellemare of AIK Skelleftea and the solid play of defenceman Yohann Auvitu of JYP Jyvaskyla, the team outscored its opponents over eight games. The French national team also had a couple of players from France's CHL representative this coming season, Briançon Diables Rouges: defenceman Florian Chakiachvili and forward Damien Roux.
Canadian-born Head Coach Dave Henderson started playing hockey in France in 1975 and has seen the calbre of both la Ligue Magnus and the national team increase steadily since then. The two work hand in hand, and with French involvement in the CHL, Henderson only expects that to continue. After the World Championships, he explained how.
This was the best that the French national team has done in the World Championships for a long time. How would you rate the team's play in the tournament?
It’s all really positive. We hadn’t been to the quarter-finals for 19 years before now. We also managed to score more goals than we gave up, which happened for the first time since we’ve gotten back among the elite teams. In every game, we showed our improvement and were a strong opponent for every team. We lost three games by a one goal in the group stage and we got 11 points. That was for the first time as well. It’s all positive.
It seems that French hockey will only grow in the near future, with Diables Rouges de Briançon playing in the Champions Hockey League. Do you think that could help the French hockey even more?
I believe so. We’re glad that Briançon is taking part in this competition. Last season, they won the title and now they can compare themselves with other top European clubs. It can only help them and it will certainly help the development of hockey in France.
How do you think it will help, exactly?
We’ll learn to play against strong teams. Our youngsters will face teams from Switzerland, Austria and Sweden. All the games will be fast and difficult and they will have to adapt. That’s what French hockey needs at the moment. By improving Briançon, the other teams in the league will have to do something to catch up. This will all be positive also for the national team for sure.