Mr. Simard spoke as he watched a sport performed by Quebec’s junior league group, the Remparts, on the Vidéotron Heart — the expensive area that provincial and metropolis leaders in-built 2015 with public funds to point out the N.H.L. how dedicated they have been to getting a group.
But when followers of Mr. Simard’s era tended to share his emotions towards the Nordiques, the group’s significance didn’t appear to resonate with youthful hockey followers on the area, many born after the group’s departure.
“Me, I’m a fan of the Montreal Canadiens, whereas my father nonetheless has the Nordiques in his thoughts,” mentioned Mathis Drolet, 17, a scholar who grew up in Quebec.
His good friend, Justin Tremblay, 17, mentioned he was conscious of how the Nordiques have been tied to earlier generations’ aspirations — “Quebec desirous to change into a nation and all that” — however these hopes felt distant to him.
“They’re issues we realized in school,” Mr. Tremblay mentioned.
Situated within the league’s smallest market — the Quebec metropolitan space now has about 800,000 individuals — the Nordiques struggled financially for years and left for Denver in 1995. Within the group’s first season in america, renamed the Colorado Avalanche, it gained the Stanley Cup — deepening a way of betrayal in Quebec.