SPORTS FLASHBACK 1997:Retiring coach is ‘roasted’ by his friends at Lorette

More than 100 friends, students and co-workers honoured Jude Boulianne at an evening of fun and laughter at Lorette Collegiate, sending the long-time teacher and counsellor off on his retirement in style.

Boulianne, who had announced he would be retiring at the end of the school year, has worked for the Seine River School Division for 26 years, spending the last 11 years at Lorette Collegiate, where he was the physical education instructor and coach of a successful high school hockey program, which saw the Scorpions win the provincial high school title this spring.

Seine River Superintendent Roy Seidler was the first to the microphone to ‘roast’ the guest of honour and was followed by Gord Tumlison, Rod Lindquist and John Gray, who played hockey with Jude, ran summer hockey schools and ‘go back a long way’. The trio, complete with fake mustaches, shared old hockey stories and performed a skit pretending they had always wanted to be ‘just like Jude’.

Rounding off the evening were Jude’s daughter Brigette Davies, Gary Maryniuk, a hockey parent, and Jeff Barron, a Lorette teacher and assistant coach, who all toasted ‘the great Jude Boulianne.’

For Boulianne, his final season behind the bench of the Lorette Scorpions was a particularly satisfying one, as all season long the team was the class of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League and the premier high school hockey team in the province.

Some members of the team felt they didn’t get the respect they deserved for their accomplishments from Winnipeg media and the league.

That situation has now been rectified, and city media has been taking notice of rural high school hockey, as the Scorpions proved to be the best high school hockey team in the province.

The provincial final, played March 16 in front of more than 2,000 fans at a jam-packed St James Civic Centre, had the throngs on the edge of their seats throughout the entire contest, as Lorette defeated the Stonewall Rams 3-1 in a thrilling final.

Adding to the excitement was the school spirit generated by the two rural schools, as there were hundreds of Lorette fans on one side of the rink and hundreds of Stonewall supporters on the other.

Lorette finished in first place in the Winnipeg High School Hockey League standings with an 18-1-3 record, while Stonewall finished fourth, but upset Lorette in the semi-finals of the league championships, and then went on to win the league title. That loss in the league semis dropped Lorette from first to third in provincial rankings.

Strangely, even St John’s Ravenscourt Eagles, who Lorette never played in the league play-offs, moved past them to be ranked second. But the Scorpions had the last laugh on the prognosticators.

Sunday’s finale against Stonewall, the 1995 champs, was a classic, and it was a fitting end to coach Jude Boulianne’s tenure as coach of the Scorpions.

Boulianne started the high school hockey program at Lorette six years ago as a joint effort between Lorette Collegiate and Gabrielle Roy Collegiate of Ile des Chenes. This season, six IDC players were part of the Scorpions roster.

It was announced at provincials Boulianne was named the coach of the year for Manitoba high school hockey this year.