This will be a homecoming for Thomas Chabot.<\/p>\n
And, he could hardly wait to get there.<\/p>\n
The Ottawa Senators defenceman had a bounce in his step after the club skated on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre, with the organization shifting its training camp to Quebec City for the next five days.<\/p>\n
Chabot, 28, is excited about the opportunity to spend time with his teammates where he grew up, in the nearby suburb of Saint-Marie-de-Beauce, as the Senators prepare for exhibition games against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday and the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The players will have a scheduled off-day on Friday and Chabot has set up a golf game for those interested. There was a team dinner on Thursday night after the club arrived and, on Saturday, it\u2019s back to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I was going to play in Quebec City with the Senators,\u201d Chabot said before the club left. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senators are playing at the Videotron Centre as part of an effort to attract fans in Quebec City. The city lost its National Hockey League team at the end of the 1994-95 campaign when the Nordiques moved to Denver and were rebranded as the Colorado Avalanche.<\/p>\n
Chabot knows that people in Quebec City remain hopeful that the NHL will return to the city one day. The Videotron Centre accommodates 18,000 people and, last year, the rink hosted part of the Los Angeles Kings\u2019 camp.<\/p>\n
Chabot and his father, Francois, would love to see it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Chabot said when asked if he\u2019d like to see the Nordiques return, \u201cFrom my perspective and my dad\u2019s, he loved the Nordiques. It\u2019s a hockey city, it\u2019s a Canadian city and they love the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d love to have a team there. It\u2019s a beautiful city, there are a lot of fans there and I would love to see it happen for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opportunities like this don\u2019t come along very often in an NHL player\u2019s career. That\u2019s why Chabot wants to make the most of this. His family and friends will be on hand, which is why this will be so special for Chabot.<\/p>\n
He purchased 70 tickets for both games and asked coach Travis Green to suit up for both. That\u2019s unusual for a veteran like Chabot in the pre-season, but he wants to savour every moment he has in front of his hometown.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never know when you\u2019re going to get a chance like this again. I have a lot of people coming to both games,\u201d Chabot said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to be sitting in the stands watching a game in Quebec City when I know there are so many people that are coming to see me play.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, it\u2019s only a pre-season game, but it\u2019s going to be fun to have everybody in the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green knows what this means to Chabot.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime you go back to your hometown and get a chance to play where you grew up, it\u2019s always special,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n
This trip is no different for Chabot than it was for captain Daniel Alfredsson to return to Sweden in 2008 or captain Erik Karlsson to Stockholm in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, it\u2019s going to be a little bit of a dream that you dream of playing in front of your friends in your hometown,\u201d Chabot said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a fun weekend. We\u2019re going to do some things in the community. We\u2019re definitely looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
A lot of Chabot\u2019s teammates already have been to Quebec City when he got married last summer to his wife, Marion, and several of them were on hand.<\/p>\n
The players will get a chance to enjoy the city. The club will stay in Old Quebec, which will allow them the chance to explore the history and get a feel for the European flavour of the location.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t get to make our way to Old Quebec a lot, but we know some places,\u201d Chabot said. \u201cThere is a lot to do there, there are a lot of restaurants, and I\u2019m sure it won\u2019t be hard. I sent a list to the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chabot\u2019s teammates will have fun with the experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe market there is great,\u201d alternate captain Claude Giroux said. \u201cI played there in junior in the same building that the Nordiques used to play in, and it was always packed. The fans were pretty loud, so I expect we\u2019re going to have a good crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n