The Nordiques’ most beautiful sporting cave is the work of a former supporter… of the Canadian!

Sports caves, which English speakers affectionately call “man caves,” are becoming more and more popular. Sports fans are ready to do anything to make their basement an anthology room where they can gather to show their love for their favorite team, regardless of the discipline.

The Journal toured a few towns in the province, looking for some hidden treasures and came across some real gems that you will be happy to discover.

Even if the Nordiques have not been part of the Quebec sporting landscape since 1995, they do indeed have their paradise. In the most beautiful sporting cavern dedicated to them, in the basement of a residence in Quebec, their all-too-brief epic is still very vibrant. The height of irony is that it was a former Canadiens fan who designed this blue den.

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The man behind this veritable little fleurdelisé museum prefers not to be named. “Just call me Mr. Nordiques,” he tells us during a visit to his Ali Baba cave, where hundreds of treasures from his favorite team are collected with incredible attention to detail.

Whether it’s match or training jerseys worn by big names like Guy Lafleur or Joe Sakic, Dale Hunter skates, an old coat bearing the image of Rendez-vous 87 or a bar counter decorated with autographed cards, everything is there.

During our visit, we can even watch Nordiques matches on a screen overlooking the fireplace, in a row of benches brought from the good old Colosseum.

Team photos, hockey sticks, pennants, pocket-sized calendars on their original displays, pucks and countless other period items line the walls, from floor to ceiling.

The most surreal thing is that this true cult place dedicated to the Nordics was not developed by the typical die-hard fan of the Blues from the start. In fact, in his life, he only attended two team games at the Coliseum.

“I was first a big supporter of the Canadian and Mats Naslund was my idol,” Mr. Nordiques tells us seriously.

His city team

The die-hards of the Fleurdelisés will certainly forgive this slight misbehavior of Monsieur Nordiques when they read his little story.

At two years old, the toddler he was moved from Quebec, his hometown, to settle with his family in Ottawa. As he went back and forth between the provincial capital and the federal capital, he ended up asking his mother why they were moving around so much.

“We traveled to Quebec all the time because my whole family was there. I asked my mother why we were the only ones in Ottawa and she told me that I was born in Quebec. I was around 13 and didn’t even know that! From there, I said to myself: my team is the Nordiques. I loved the city. I made the cut straight away and the hardest part was not leaving the Canadian, but Naslund.”

An agreement with miss…

From 1992, Monsieur Nordiques slowly but surely began collecting objects relating to the Nordiques. His first big move was a stick autographed by every player on the team.

In 1996, he moved to Quebec for good. It was only four years ago that he found the house to install his now immense collection, in what became the basement of his dreams.

“I made a deal with my girlfriend. I told her we would buy a house and she would let me have the basement. I was going to do all the renovations upstairs so she could have what she wanted. My girlfriend doesn’t like hockey, she thinks it’s too much, but now she brings people downstairs and she’s very proud of that,” says Mr. Nordiques, laughing.

And the renovations weren’t just upstairs! Basically, there were four bedrooms in the basement when Mr. Nordiques knocked down the walls. We now find the central room, a bar area, an area with sweaters and a table air hockey in addition to a home theater type room entirely devoted to the Colorado Avalanche, descendants of the Nordiques since 1995.

Memories of the Colosseum

Over time, Monsieur Nordiques came across some real period jewelry.

This is the case, for example, of the old neon sign which overlooked the Nordiques souvenir shop at the Coliseum.

“Someone put it up for sale on Marketplace. The person told me that his mother was the manager of the store at the Coliseum. When you collect, it’s all about timing. Anyone could have stumbled upon that,” Mr. Nordiques exclaims.

In a barn on Île d’Orléans, he also got his hands on a giant poster which served as decoration at the entrance to the Nordiques offices.

“Subsequently, I was able to have it confirmed by people from the organization who came to my house and who told me that it really came from the offices,” he says proudly.

At what price?

Obviously, everyone wonders how much Mr. Nordiques was able to invest over time to make his cave a place of pilgrimage for any Nordiques fan.

“It’s priceless! There is no amount. It’s the market that decides,” he limits himself to saying.

“I also sell a lot of stuff and everything I sell, I keep the money to then buy other things. It’s my collections account and it fluctuates, but I don’t touch the joint account. So, my girlfriend is happy!” he smiled.

Today, Mr. Nordiques consoles himself for the departure of his beloved ones by diligently following the Avalanche.

“When they left, it was the same players, but in Colorado. How could I have detached myself? If you’re a real fan of the Nordiques, you can’t root for the Canadiens afterwards,” he says.

In any case, in his lair, the Nords are still very much alive.