NATIONAL CHAMPIONS - MONTMORENCY NOMADES
Congratulations to the Nomades of Montmorency for their great season. Winning the Dawson classic, having the best record in the league (13-1), and winning the provincial championship is definitely something to be proud of. It could have stopped there and Montreal (and Laval) would have been proud, but they weren't done. They decided to show the rest of Canada that the best basketball team in the country is from Québec.
Montmorency’s two all Canadians; Kevin Civil and Alix Lochard came up big when they were needed the most. Lochard dominated the paint as he always does and Civil overcame a poor shooting game and hit huge shots in the 4th quarter, leading his team to their first national championship since 2006. While this team was great all year and surely felt like they could or rather should win the national championship, their accomplishment is not something to be taken lightly. Being a national champion is very difficult to achieve. It is also a rare accomplishment for a Québec team to be crowned CCAA national champions in men's basketball.
The last team from Québec to do so was the 2011 Vanier Cheetahs. They also went on a really special run and were able to attain the ultimate goal. Similar to the 2017 Montmorency team that cheetahs team was stacked and almost everyone from that team went on to play university basketball at either Usports or Division 1 levels. Even some of the role players went on to have all star years at the university level (s/o Jonathan Bermillo) and even played pro overseas (s/o Ben Millaud). They had a solid coaching staff and all the tools to win a national championship and it still wasn't an easy road. They almost lost in the semifinal of the provincial tournament and they might have if it wasn't for a game winning buzzer beater from Lenny Austin. The final wasn't any easier and their season could've ended there if it wasn't for a 41 points explosion from Jerome Blake. That brought them to nationals where they faced the second best team in the country. They sneaked by with a 2 pts win and that happened to be their last real test as they cruised to a championship after that with other big scoring performances from Jerome Blake.
Therefore, congratulations to Montmorency for bringing back the championship to where it belongs —Quebec! Hopefully it remains here for many years to come…
Check out the last time a Quebec team won the CCAA mens basketball championship:
s/o to the OG Keehs Productions, now known as S.Bakush Films & Photography.