According to Maniwaki Mustangs owner Eric Gauthier, who spearheaded the initiative of establishing a Canadian Premier Junior Hockey League team in the Pontiac, the main reason for his plans not coming to fruition is the lack of local support combined with the Shawville District Minor Hockey Association’s hesitancy to share the same location as a CPJHL franchise.

Gauthier believes those running minor hockey locally thought the CPJHL would use the opportunity to poach minor hockey players in their final years of midget. Gauthier assured that the CPJHL is a development league that works to benefit minor hockey associations, not take away from what they have.

“The local population didn’t help and neither did minor hockey,” he said. “They didn’t want us to steal their players in their final years.”

In the last couple of years, Gauthier was mandated as a developer for the CPJHL, with the goal of establishing expansion franchises in the Outaouais, Laurentides and Abitibi.

“I had two successes out of three,” he said.

As the owner of the CPJHL’s Maniwaki Mustangs with a relatively well-reputed track record as a hockey-related businessman across the province, Gauthier explained that the league’s executives were confident that he would work his entrepreneurial magic in the Pontiac.

Unfortunately, things haven’t worked out as planned.

“I did a good job with Maniwaki, I’m perfectly bilingual, I’m a business man, I’m well known a little bit everywhere,” he said.

Since much of the league is centered in Ontario, having a team in Shawville after recently establishing one in Senettere, Que., would’ve had a positive impact on the league when it comes to its already arduous traveling schedule, Gauthier said.

“Teams are far away from each other,” he said. “Smith’s Falls is an hour and 15 minutes away from Shawville. Ferme Neuve is two hours away. So, it would’ve been a good town to save on travelling.”

Drawn to the town because of its rich hockey history, Gauthier initially thought that locals would be much more receptive to the idea of having a junior hockey team in town.

But after a few training camp sessions over the summer, the team had only landed around 10 players. Plus, finding billet families for players proved a struggle.

“It feels like in Shawville, people weren’t interested,” he said. “We had a meeting with about 17 people. I used the same process in Senettere and in Senettere we’ve been there for two years and had 40 participants [at training camp] and there’s a lot of people supporting. In Ferme-Neuve it wasn’t as easy but not like Shawville. Shawville was difficult.”

For Gauthier, the most disheartening part about not establishing a franchise in Shawville is knowing how much of his personal time and resources he invested in the project to only see it all go to waste.

“I’m a man of heart, a man of passion,” he said. “So, for me it’s a loss. But it’s not my fault. I tried everything. I spent money from my own pocket for this. Two months of training camp, tryouts, we rented ice, created a bank account, we tried everything but no one wanted to hop on board.”

Since his vision of the Shawville Express unfortunately went down the drain just before it finally got underway, Gauthier said he doesn’t plan on giving it a second shot anytime soon at least until the town changes its perspective on the matter.

“I already tried,” he said. “I’m not going back there. Last year, we started too early. This year, we started right away, we started okay. But it won’t work. The town has to be all in.”

If a Shawville native is truly interested in bringing the CPJHL to Shawville and is serious about doing it, Gauthier said he might just offer a hand or a voice to guide them through the process.

“When a promoter from Shawville is interested in establishing a team next year, I would help him,” he said. “But it takes someone from the town and for the town to be up for it.”

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