Lionel Fleury (December 25, 1912July 12, 1997) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator who served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association from 1964 to 1966. Under his leadership, the Canada men's national ice hockey team transitioned from student athletes coached by Father David Bauer into a year-round national team program. Fleury welcomed the Newfoundland Amateur Hockey Association as a new branch member of the national association in 1966, and changed the format of the Memorial Cup playoffs in Eastern Canada from an elimination bracket into a round-robin format to reduce travel costs and address concerns of imbalanced competition. He sought an end to the National Hockey League system of sponsoring amateur teams by replacing it with a draft of players who had graduated from junior ice hockey, and negotiated for a new agreement that was realized after his term as president concluded.
Fleury was a lifelong resident of Quebec City where he organized minor ice hockey leagues, established the Quebec City District Minor Hockey Association, and chaired the city's parks and playgrounds association. He later served as president of the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association and oversaw the establishment of a Quebec Junior Hockey League composed of local talent that operated without seeking financial assistance from professional leagues. As a spokesperson for sports associations in Quebec, he appealed for the Government of Canada to co-ordinate amateur sports nationally, and was named to the committee which organized the inaugural Canada Games. Fleury was recognized for his contributions to sport with the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967, and was inducted into the inaugural class of the Hockey Québec Hall of Fame in 1991.
Early life and Quebec hockey
Lionel Fleury was born in Quebec City on December 25, 1912. He was involved in ice hockey at an early age, and later became a referee, coach and manager in junior ice hockey. During the Great Depression, he assisted in founding the first public recreational facility in the Saint-Sacrement neighbourhood of Quebec City, organized local minor ice hockey leagues, then established the Quebec City District Minor Hockey Association. He served as a vice-president of the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association (QAHA) from 1940 to 1955, representing the Quebec City district.
The QAHA sought a more equal distribution of talent among teams in the Quebec Senior Hockey League in 1942, and passed a resolution which limited teams to signing no more than four players who had been in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the previous season. Fleury gained the QAHA's approval to seek a similar rule for all of Canada, and to welcome teams of servicemen in the Canadian Armed Forces into the Quebec's leagues without requiring registration fees.
Fleury was president of the four-team Quebec Junior Hockey League during the 1954–55 season. The Quebec Frontenacs had been invited to join the Ontario Hockey Association's junior division, but sought to remain in the Quebec league and play an interlocking schedule which generated more attendance at home games versus the Ontario teams. The other teams in Quebec were opposed to playing teams from Ontario, and Fleury reached an agreement for a schedule among the four teams in Quebec. Two months later, the Jonquière Marquis suspended operations due to the imbalance of talent in the league and financial issues. After Quebec senator Donat Raymond donated the Wilfrid Laurier Trophy as a challenge cup to create more interest in junior ice hockey in Quebec and Ontario, Fleury redrew the schedule with the remaining three teams in the playoffs. The Quebec Junior Hockey League folded after the season.
The registration of minor hockey players in Quebec City was criticized by alderman Gaston Flibotte in January 1955, who felt that municipally funded recreational facilities and programs should not be regimented by the QAHA. He claimed that in order to gain access to the city's rinks, six-year-olds were required to sign QAHA registration cards which tied them to the association for five years, and that higher-ranked players were given preferential treatment by the QAHA. Fleury was chairman of the city's parks and playgrounds association at the time, and felt that the QAHA was giving children a place to play recreational hockey and denied any intentions to produce professional athletes.
QAHA president
Fleury was elected president of the QAHA to succeed Robert Lebel in June 1955, and was the first person to live outside of Greater Montreal to hold the position.
Fleury planned to replace the Quebec Junior Hockey League with a new league composed of local talent on teams that operated at a lower level of junior hockey, and be purely amateur without seeking financial assistance from the NHL. The new league grew as two seasons passed, but its teams were unable to compete at same level as the Montreal Junior Canadiens or teams in the Ontario Hockey Association. The QAHA contended those teams were operating on a semi-professional basis since they paid a weekly stipend to their players and were too strong of competition in the Memorial Cup playoffs for the Canadian junior championship. In January 1957, the QAHA reached an agreement with the Maritime Amateur Hockey Association and the Ottawa and District Amateur Hockey Association to establish a new junior championship at a lower level than the Memorial Cup. They invited teams from the Northern Ontario Hockey Association and Western Canada to join, then presented the plan for approval by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). The CAHA voted instead to allow its weaker branches to strengthen their championship teams by adding up to six players in the Memorial Cup playoffs.
The Confederation of Recreation in Quebec City chose to operate independently and leave the jurisdiction of the QAHA in 1959, due to continued disputes on the registration and release of players in minor hockey. The QAHA regained a presence in the city after it gave approval to establish the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament in 1960, which operated as a minor hockey event during the Quebec Winter Carnival. After five years as president, Fleury was succeeded by Clyde McCarthy in 1960.
Canadian Amateur Hockey Association Second vice-president Fleury was elected second vice-president of the CAHA on May 28, 1960, and served two one-year terms.; During this time, the CAHA sought better financial arrangements for international ice hockey competitions to assist in financing the Canada men's national ice hockey team, and that the reigning Allan Cup champion team was the best choice to represent Canada. Fleury served as chairman of the CAHA's Minor Hockey Week In Canada in 1961 and 1962. He sought to have parents more involved, felt that it was important to keep youths involved in sports for the physical benefits, and that the event had become "an accepted and important part of the national sports program".;
Fleury was the spokesman for amateur sports associations in Quebec which appealed to member of parliament Jacques Flynn for the co-ordination of amateur sports in Canada. Fleury presented a brief to Flynn in January 196, that included eight recommendations as "constructive suggestions for the renovation of athletics in Canada".
List of recommendations: Appointment of a national sports commissioner to co-ordinate sports activities in Canada and be a liaison to the federal government Establish a National Sports Council composed of leaders from the national amateur sports associations to advise the commissioner and promote co-operation Establish inter-provincial sports competitions to stimulate growth in amateur sport in Canada Establish a national medical research facility to specialize in the benefits of exercise in sports Appointment of government-funded technical instructors to teach training methods to athletes and to study the financial needs of amateur sports groups Grant access to military sports venues due to the lack of facilities for amateur athletes Establish a government-funded Canada men's national ice hockey team Establish a system of ranking and awards for national athletes to stimulate interest in competitions
First vice-president
Fleury was elected first vice-president in May 1962, and served two one-year terms. The CAHA general meeting in 1962 debated alternate methods of selecting the Canadian national team instead of sending the reigning Allan Cup champion to international events. Later in August, the CAHA approved a proposal by Father David Bauer to establish a team of student athletes to train at the University of British Columbia to form the core of the Canadian national team. Fleury made plans for an international tournament to be hosted in Canada, but instead exhibition tours were scheduled and the Swedish national team made its debut in Canada in December 1963. He accompanied the 1963 Allan Cup champion Windsor Bulldogs on a European exhibition tour, and based on the results he felt that the Soviet national team would be the strongest in ice hockey at the 1964 Winter Olympics.
Fleury oversaw the 1963 Memorial Cup playoffs in Eastern Canada, when the junior champions from Quebec and the Maritimes declined to participate and complained that the national deadlines did not allow adequate time to decide their leagues' champions. The CAHA was concerned about the quality of Memorial Cup competition due to the rapid expansion in junior ice hockey, and named Fleury chairman of a committee to investigate the imbalance the competition in Eastern Canada and find a solution to include all branches of the CAHA in the national playoffs. He opted to change the format of the Memorial Cup playoffs from an elimination bracket into a round-robin format to reduce travel costs.
Fleury oversaw the 1964 Memorial Cup playoffs in Eastern Canada, and scheduled a three-team round-robin series for the champions of the QAHA, the Ottawa and District Amateur Hockey Association, and the Maritime Amateur Hockey Association. After the Summerside Legionnaires lost their first two games by scores of 9–1 and 15–0, Fleury felt there was no point in continuing the series. The team withdrew but protested that they should have been allowed to play, and demanded money to cover their travel expenses to Montreal for the series.
President First term Fleury was elected president to succeed Art Potter, during the 50th annual general meeting of the CAHA on May 22, 1964. The CAHA was criticized at the time for neglecting minor hockey concerns, and responded by instructing its branches to begin overseeing tournaments for players under age 10 by implementing standard conditions which included limits on travel distance and the number of games per day.
The CAHA wanted to end the NHL system of sponsoring junior hockey teams and replace it with an NHL draft of players who had graduated from junior hockey. The CAHA felt that the current system concentrated talent on a small number of teams and sought for the NHL to spread out that money it invested equally among the junior leagues and branches in Canada. Fleury wanted a junior-aged player to complete an education, rather than be encouraged to quit schooling to focus on playing hockey. In December 1964, he presented the CAHA's proposal to the NHL for a new draft system which would allow players remain in junior hockey until age 20 instead of the NHL obtaining the player's rights at age 18.