William Yared | From Dubai to Quebec major junior

William Yared learned to skate in Dubai, on a shopping mall rink. Today, he practices his passion on the rinks of the Maritimes-Québec Junior Hockey League. Narrative.

William Yared was just a 4-week-old baby when he arrived in Dubai with his family. The latter moved there for her father’s work, then a banker at JP Morgan.

To this day, the Saint John Sea Dogs forward has few memories of his life in the United Arab Emirates, and that’s understandable, considering he only spent the first four years of his life there. However, he keeps a few scraps of memories, like the concrete slab his parents poured in their backyard.

“I was playing outside all day,” he says in a call with The Pressbetween training and an afternoon nap before his match in Sherbrooke on October 25.

As expatriates, Yared’s parents had two priorities: that their children speak French and that they knew how to skate.

Since hockey is not exactly the most popular sport in this region of the world and lessons were rare, the parents decided to pour said concrete slab in their backyard. They dyed it green so it looked like grass.

“We put up hockey nets, sticks, pucks, cones… Our oldest played a lot,” his mother, Marie-Christine Thibault, tells us. William wasn’t 2 years old when this was the only place he wanted to go. He was on that playing surface all the time.”

Armed with his little wooden Sherwood stick, little William practiced puck handling and shooting.

When the parents noticed that their son, at the age of 3, was physically strong enough, they bought him his first skates. But where would he learn the basics, in this town where “no one talks about [hockey] », said the young man?

The parents first found a small arena in the middle of the desert, before opting for the Dubai Mall, where classes were offered. We were previously talking about a shopping center; Let us point out that the Dubai Mall is not exactly the Carrefour Laval or the Galeries de la Capitale. This gigantic complex accommodates more than 1,200 stores over 1 million square meters. It is one of the busiest shopping centers in the world, if not the busiest. One of the greatest, too.

“They weren’t really coaches,” William says, laughing. They didn’t really know what they were doing! »

“It wasn’t certification, but he was super happy,” remembers Marie-Christine Thibault.

Starry eyes

William Yared was almost 4 years old when the family returned to live in Quebec. This is where its development, within the structure of Hockey Quebec, began in earnest.

“I was so happy,” remembers the center player. Every time I went on the ice, my parents would say to me, “Why are you always smiling?” I was smiling on the ice, I don’t know why! »

As his skating techniques learned in Dubai were not exactly ideal, Yared soon began taking private lessons at Anna Sherbatov’s Academy.

The little hockey player was 5 years old when his mother took him to the Bell Center for the first time for a Canadiens game. It was that evening that the seed was planted for good…

“The eyes he gave me… […] The warm-up hadn’t started, we arrived much earlier. When he saw the Bell Centre, phew. I saw it in his face: ah, that’s it! » remembers Marie-Christine Thibault.

Yared played his minor hockey in the Lac Saint-Louis Lions organization. In his second atom year, he was upgraded to pee-wee AAA. It was once in Bantam AAA, he says, that he really began to understand his potential.

“When I was bantam, or even pee-wee, I said to myself: I’m all in. This is what I want to do in my life. »

Last year, in the Quebec U18 AAA Hockey League, Yared scored 42 points in 41 games. On the Central Recruitment list published in May, with a view to the QMJHL draft, he appeared at 7^e rank. The Sea Dogs finally selected him at 5^e rank, last June.

Celiac, and then?

Yared broke into the Sea Dogs roster this season, at 16 years old. In 14 games, he has 5 goals and 2 assists.

Adapting to life in the Maritimes is going well for the Montrealer. His only worry was about diet, as he was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 8. Finally, his boarding house cooks gluten-free and the Sea Dogs organization takes it very seriously.

His mother also noted the young man’s discipline and resilience throughout his young career. “Food is often a joyful moment. There’s an end-of-year party for the team, we’re ordering pizza. It’s like that all the time. He never had his pizza; we brought a pizza on the side. »

The mother remembers a time when her son worried about his future without his parents there to help him manage his food. A few years ago, to reassure her son, she did research to see if professional athletes faced the same obstacle.

“Max Domi is celiac, Kaapo Kakko too. For me, they were two names big enough to tell him: yes, it’s possible, that’s not going to stop you, you just have to find solutions. […] It allows him to see that there are no limits. »

Today, Yared hopes, one day, to “inspire young people” who have to deal with the same illness as him.

“No other option”

Casually, William Yared will be eligible for the NHL draft in 2026. It goes without saying that the young man, a player “with a lot of offensive creativity” and “defensively responsible”, dreams of one day hitting the rinks of the circuit Bettmann.

To be honest, this is its only objective. Even if studies are, for him and all the members of his family, non-negotiable and “super important” because “there is always something after”, he knows very well what he wants.

“In my head, hockey is what I want to do,” he says with confidence. There is no other option. »

Don’t talk to him about pressure, though. The outside noise, the expectations born from his rank in the draft, Yared pays no attention to it.

“Me, really, hockey, I go there, I play, I work hard and that’s it. »

Pleasure first. A bit like in the past, on the ice rink at the Dubai Mall…