PLSQ 2017 Season

[Gopherbashi]

http://www.plsq.ca/fr/publication/nouvelle/six_equipes_saffronteront_en_2017.html
(Thanks for nothing, non-translatable PLSQ image announcement)

Looks like the league will be down to six teams for next year:
- Dynamo Quebec are finally joining
- FC Gatineau is moving? renaming? to AS Hull.
- OFFCA, as expected, no longer exists
- Lakeshore SC is also out, due to "administrative constraints"?

[Complete Homer]

Disappointing but not surprising. As long as they keep at least 6 teams the league can continue, hopefully we see similar growth as seen with L1O in the future

[Zem]

24 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

- FC Gatineau is moving? renaming? to AS Hull.

I think "merging" might be the best descriptor. FCG was founded and operated by the local regional soccer association, while AS Hull are one of the biggest clubs in Gatineau. They say they're "passing the torch" to Hull, so it seems they're handing over FCG's assets. Hard to say if it'll be a good thing for the club in the short term.

[Gopherbashi]

8 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

Disappointing but not surprising. As long as they keep at least 6 teams the league can continue, hopefully we see similar growth as seen with L1O in the future

Yeah, being down to 6 definitely makes me worried.

[Zem]

The final paragraph doesn't sound too great for Lakeshore, it says that they're dropping out despite having waited a while to join the league and that "the league will need a more rigourous screening process for entry in the future to ensure that clubs are able remain in the league for many years."

Doesn't give the impression that Lakeshore will be returning in the near future.

49 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

Disappointing but not surprising. As long as they keep at least 6 teams the league can continue, hopefully we see similar growth as seen with L1O in the future

It should hopefully get better soon. Dynamo Quebec will be the first club in the league from outside the Montreal and Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan areas, and the Celtix du Haut-Richelieu (who are supposed to join in 2018 I think?) are an hour+ south of Montreal, closer to SE Quebec, so travel will be getting a lot better for clubs outside those two metropoles. I also recall reading somewhere that St. Leonard were looking to rejoin the league at some point.

 

The PLSQ's main problem is that it has very high requirements for pro players. Currently PLSQ clubs are required to have a MINIMUM of 9 players under professional contract and there is a salary cap and floor (http://www.federation-soccer.qc.ca/phocadownload/Competition/LIGUEPLSQ/Reglements PLSQ.pdf). I don't know what the roster regulations are in League1, but it doesn't have any requirement for clubs to sign players to pro contracts if I'm not mistaken. The other issue Quebec has is that it is much more spread out demographically, the league needs to get more clubs like Dynamo and Celtix to make travel costs more bearable for other clubs in those areas before they could possibly have the kind of expansion explosion that L1O has had. But I imagine just relaxing the roster regulations could do wonders for the league.

That said, I've always had the impression that the PLSQ fancies itself as an elite, competitive league and it worries me that they might not want to "water down" its image as Quebec's "professional league," even if it were ultimately for the better.

[shermanator]

After reading the comments on PLSQ requiring professional players, the league strikes me as more of a glorified beer league than a development league. That's disappointing.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Not sure I follow the logic on that. I think any league that claims D3 status should be forced to have policies like that to ensure genuine semi-professionalism is taking place (it needs to be strictly audited to make sure some of the tricks that were played by the CSL before they lost sanctioning, such as clawing the money back through fines or paying the money to middle aged guys who never get anywhere near the field of play, don't happen), because otherwise you wind up with the L1O scenario of having what is effectively an amateur league pretending to be something it's not, which is why ex-TFC players like Adrian Cann and Terry Dunfield wound up playing in an outlaw operation like the CSL over the last few months.

[Zem]

On 2016-10-22 at 6:57 AM, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Not sure I follow the logic on that. I think any league that claims D3 status should be forced to have policies like that to ensure genuine semi-professionalism is taking place (it needs to be strictly audited to make sure some of the tricks that were played by the CSL before they lost sanctioning, such as clawing the money back through fines or paying the money to middle aged guys who never get anywhere near the field of play, don't happen), because otherwise you wind up with the L1O scenario of having what is effectively an amateur league pretending to be something it's not, which is why ex-TFC players like Adrian Cann and Terry Dunfield wound up playing in an outlaw operation like the CSL over the last few months.

It needs to be a middle-ground solution I think; I definitely agree that these aren't supposed to just be leagues for development and clubs should be incentivized to field a competitive and not just a young side, but at the same time many of the clubs that have joined or could be joining these leagues don't have the finances to maintain many salaried players. League1 definitely needs to try to get its clubs to invest more money in salaries going forward so that it can actually compete with and hopefully snuff out the csl which has been holding onto a fair number of financially well-supported clubs, and also because it's now beyond capacity and needs to focus more on increasing the quality of its clubs. But L1O's approach of not regulating pro contracts has allowed it to expand in the first place, whereas the PLSQ has struggled to hold on to clubs because of financial limitations. Over time we want the level of competitiveness and player investment to increase in these leagues (and participating in the Voyageurs Cup could help expedite/incentivize this), but we need clubs to be able to actually stabilize and grow in this environment first.

[Kent]

Thanks for the info on the pro contracts minimum Zem. I was going to ask about that. Interesting that they are paying some players on each team, but L1O have won the first two inter provincial cups. I think last year was close, maybe this year PLSQ can pull out the win.

I know this was already known, but it's disappointing that Ottawa has dropped out. Also very disappointing that the Impact still haven't entered a team here. I really wish they would support Quebec leagues more than they do.

[Pqhbv]

I seem to remember someone in the PLSQ brass saying they were targeting 12 teams for 2017 including the Dynamo. Doesn't look like that panned out at all. I do agree that IMFC should put a team/academy in the league or maybe move FC Montreal there all together.

Hopefully, the new teams can help attract other communities to join such as Trois-Rivieres, Levis and Sherbrooke. I really want the PLSQ to continue building on what it has going right now.  

[Blackdude]

2 hours ago, Pqhbv said:

I seem to remember someone in the PLSQ brass saying they were targeting 12 teams for 2017 including the Dynamo. Doesn't look like that panned out at all. I do agree that IMFC should put a team/academy in the league or maybe move FC Montreal there all together.

Hopefully, the new teams can help attract other communities to join such as Trois-Rivieres, Levis and Sherbrooke. I really want the PLSQ to continue building on what it has going right now.  

Noone ever said that it was the goal for 2017. It was the long term goal. The goal is to get to 12 teams so they can start having pro-rel with LSEQ. 

[Zem]

Figured this would be the best spot to mention this since the 2016 season's basically over; the PLSQ League Cup Final is this Saturday at 6:30 ET and it's going to be streamed on on the RDS website (http://www.rds.ca/soccer/coupe-plsq) in case anyone was interested.

The final is between FC Gatineau (4th) and AS Blainville (2nd) and will be played at the Parc Multisports in Terrebonne. FC Gatineau are going for their second title (after a Cinderella story win in 2014), while AS Blainville are playing in their first-ever league cup final.

[Blackdude]

3 hours ago, Zem said:

Figured this would be the best spot to mention this since the 2016 season's basically over; the PLSQ League Cup Final is this Saturday at 6:30 ET and it's going to be streamed on on Soccer Quebec's FB page (https://www.facebook.com/SoccerQuebec/) in case anyone was interested.

The final is between FC Gatineau (4th) and AS Blainville (2nd) and will be played at the Parc Multisports in Terrebonne (one of FC Lanaudiere's home pitches). FC Gatineau are going for their second title (after a Cinderella story victory in 2014), while AS Blainville are playing in their first-ever league cup final.

As far as I know, It's not one of FC Lanaudière's home pitches. They've played a couple of matches in Terrebonne, but that was at a small park where you can't make a lot of noise. They are playing in an indoor facility. They've played this match before there 2 years ago.

[Zem]

39 minutes ago, Blackdude said:

As far as I know, It's not one of FC Lanaudière's home pitches. They've played a couple of matches in Terrebonne, but that was at a small park where you can't make a lot of noise. They are playing in an indoor facility. They've played this match before there 2 years ago.

Ah, makes sense

[shermanator]

CS St-Hubert will join PLSQ for the 2017 season. According to this release, the other clubs are AS Blainville, CS Longueuil, CS Mont-Royal Outremont, Dynamo de Québec, FC Lanaudière and FC Gatineau. No mention of FC Montreal in the article, I would hope they have enough players left over from USL to field a team in the league.

http://www.federation-soccer.qc.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1039:le-cs-st-hubert-jouera-en-plsq-cette-saison&catid=56&Itemid=808&lang=fr

[Big_M]

Its pretty clear they won't with that release. 

[Gopherbashi]

8 hours ago, shermanator said:

CS St-Hubert will join PLSQ for the 2017 season. According to this release, the other clubs are AS Blainville, CS Longueuil, CS Mont-Royal Outremont, Dynamo de Québec, FC Lanaudière and FC Gatineau. No mention of FC Montreal in the article, I would hope they have enough players left over from USL to field a team in the league.

http://www.federation-soccer.qc.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1039:le-cs-st-hubert-jouera-en-plsq-cette-saison&catid=56&Itemid=808&lang=fr

I just imagine them running around the field with coleslaw and dry rotisserie chicken.

[Gopherbashi]

The best part about this is that - with 24 teams - I now have the perfect number of teams for my fantasy L1O/PLSQ pro/rel setup.

League1: 8 teams
CS MRO, Blainville, Vaughan, Woodbridge, Nitros, FC London, Sigma, TFC III

League2 West: 8 teams
Windsor, Oakville, N Miss, ProStars, Aurora, Sanjaxx, Master's, Skillz

League2 East: 8 teams
Durham, Kingston, OSU, Gatineau, Lanaudiere, Longueuil, St Hubert, Dynamo

ITS SO BEAUTIFUL

[Blackdude]

12 hours ago, Big_M said:

Its pretty clear they won't with that release. 

What do you mean? 

[Big_M]

^ They say that there will be seven teams and no mention of fc montreal. Wouldn't be very interesting for them anyway. 

[Zem]

So the PLSQ league season has finshed, and although they weren't completely invincible, AS Blainville never really looked like losing the title race this season. Pierre-Rudolphe Mayard becomes the first player not called Freddy Moojen to have the PLSQ Golden Boot all to himself, and the team generally featured an embarassment of riches with breakout goalkeeper Erwann Ofouya (who was Gatineau's backup last year), star central midfielder Kevin Chan-Yu-Tin and Canadian futsal and beach soccer internationals Nazim Belguendouz and Maxime Leconte, among many others.

Despite a poor showing early in the season Dynamo Quebec rallied to finish second place behind Blainville, largely thanks to goalkeeper Mario Gerges who collected quite a lot of highlight-reel saves thoughout the season. Phil Davies and CS Longueuil finish third, only losing three games over the entire season, including a forfeit loss in the 80th minute last weekend when one of their players (star French winger Maxime Oliveri, who apparently is returning to France after this season) slapped the referee when Longueuil were up 2-0 against Blainville.

CS Mont-Royal Outremont finish a disappointingly middling fourth with a 6-6-6 record, while equally disappointing Lanaudiere, who made some big signings from Lakeshore in the off-season including Gabard Fenelon and Michael McIntyre, finish fifth.

Despite looking completely helpless to start the season, CS St-Hubert made a big rally to avoid finishing last with the help of Charles-David Martel, who converted from a CB to a centre forward mid-season and went on to score seven goals. Gatineau did the opposite of St-Hubert, starting the season near the top of the table and then completely falling apart from July onward as they appear to have lost a number of key starters (I don't know exactly why, whether injury, departure or both).

The league has been posting weekly highlight videos on Facebook, so I figured I'd post a couple from the last month for those who are interested, or who simply want to get a look at AS Blainville with next season's VC in mind:

And there's plenty more on the league's fb page: https://www.facebook.com/lapremiereliguedesoccerduquebec/

[Zem]

Also the PLSQ Cup final is this Saturday at 6:30 ET and will be streamed live from the PLSQ Facebook page.

It will be a mirror of last season's final, between Gatineau and Blainville. Gatineau pulled off the Cinderella run in the inaugural league cup in 2014, and Blainville beat them 4-0 last year to claim their first cup title, so the winner of this weekend's game will be the first to win two cups.

[Kent]

For anyone who has followed the league the last few years, has the league seen an influx of players looking to find their way onto a CPL team like League1 Ontario? Or has the Voyageurs Cup attracted players as well?

I still hate that they discontinued the Inter provincial cup. I'd love to see if PLSQ and L1O are improving at the same rates.

[Zem]

4 hours ago, Kent said:

For anyone who has followed the league the last few years, has the league seen an influx of players looking to find their way onto a CPL team like League1 Ontario? Or has the Voyageurs Cup attracted players as well?

Not really, or at least not to the same extent. Montreal and Ottawa academy products have always gone to the league and unlike League1, the PLSQ has always had a large veteran presence (i.e. most of the previously non-pro players with a good shot at making it into the CPL are already playing there). The other thing is that Quebec just doesn't produce nearly as many pro players as Ontario, so there's very few Di Chiaras or Monsalves from Quebec to come back to Canada in the first place.

[Toje]

Kevin Chan-Yu-Tin has 3 caps for Mauritius.  He was born in Montreal but qualifies through his parents.  

http://www.plsq.ca/en/news/retour-sur-2016-10-de-14-kevin-dean-chan-yu-tin-linternational-mauricien