Greetings to all!

Here we are; the fourth article of the Mascot Corner. Hopefully, you’re enjoying the articles – don’t hesitate to send me email with comments, questions or suggestions!

This week, I’ll tell you about how I started my career in the United States and about my experience in the Québec Junior Major Hockey League, where I was the first mascot to get traded!

After my season with the Montréal Expos, I left my job as Youppi for several reasons and found myself a bit discouraged after having reached the pinnacle of the mascot world in Québec.

After the baseball season, I got the opportunity to go work in the Québec Junior Major Hockey League. It was something familiar to me since I had worked previously for the Morrisette brothers with the Laval Titans, where we had lots of success with their mascot Ti-Boum.

I had the chance to be around guys like Patrice Brisebois, Gino Odjick, Martin Lapointe, and many others when they were playing for Laval in the QJMHL. So I was back in that league with the team in St-Hyacinthe and I had lot of success along with the advantage of being with my friend Jean-François Tremblay who plays for the team. During the Christmas holiday, I got a phone call from the team’s general manager, who told me that the Granby Prédateurs (owned by some of the Morrisette brothers) wanted me in their organization! Both teams traded some players, including J-F Tremblay, and the mascot ended up in Granby for the remainder of the season. Unbelievable! I was now with a team that had a chance to win the league’s championship and the Memorial Cup.

Luck was with me because I lived memorable moments as a mascot with that team. People who follow the QJMHL a little bit know the Morrisette brothers! After winning the QJMHL championship, the team moved on to the Memorial Cup Tournament, which crowns the best junior hockey team in Canada. The last team from the province of Québec to win the tournament did so 25 years earlier. That year the tournament was held in Peterborough, Ontario, and it turned out that the final game showcased Granby against the Ontario representatives, the local Peterborough Petes. Believe it or not, two days before the final game, Jean-Claude Morrisette called me at home and told me that he wanted me to be at the game!

It was the first time that the mascot from the visiting team was present. But that was a strategy for Mr. Morrisette. It was quite a surprise for the fans when they presented me over there! I impressed people enough during the game that people were congratulating me. The biggest surprise was that Granby won 4-0, bringing back the Memorial Cup to Québec after 25 years! The parade in Granby along with the evening when they presented a video on the victory was something to remember. That’s another moment where I had some tears in my career. The Morrisette brothers might be involved in lots of controversy but they know how to win and are very good to the people working with them. Jean-Claude Morrisette is another person to whom I owe a lot.

Some weeks later, I got a call from the Vermont Expos to become their mascot for the summer. Unbelievable! I ended up in minor baseball with a team affiliated with the Montréal Expos. I headed there for the summer and the fun started for me! For the summer, I lived in a trailer near left field! But the surprise is that I won a championship with them! I got two championship rings in the same year; one in hockey and the other in baseball.

Their mascot, CHAMPS, is one of the most popular mascot in minor baseball. The fans are really happy with CHAMPS, who is more popular than the players over there. It was a great time and I must thank Kyle Boswick for giving me the opportunity to perform there.

After the season, though, I found myself without a full-time job. I had to find something to pursue my career. In my next article, I’ll tell you about the next step of my career that brought me out of Québec toward minor-pro hockey in the USA.

If you have comments, suggestions or stories for me, you can visit my website at www.promascot.com or send me email.

See you soon!