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SPORTS
From the Stands to the Owner’s Box Young hockey players from St. Leonard inspire local business owners Joe Perretta and Lina Di Giovanni to buy the team By Joey Strizzi
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nspiration can come in many forms. Joe Perretta and Lina Di Giovanni found it in a group of little known young hockey players. For Joe, who owns his own sub-contracting company called Pajo Industries Inc. and Lina, owner of Décor En Folie, hockey was a favourite pastime, watching the Canadiens on TV or playing with friends as they were busy running their own companies. That is, until they attended an Artic game in January of this year. Now, they are also owners of a hockey team. “My cousin invited us to watch his son [Adriano Leone] play hockey,” says Lina. “Adriano has been playing for so long and we had never had the chance to go see him play, so we went as a family, our daughter Alexia included, to watch. We haven’t missed a game since.” The St. Leonard Arctic is a Junior “AAA” ice hockey team that plays in the Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League (LHJQ) , one-tier below Quebec Major Junior hockey (LHJMQ) and the team has struggled in its three year existence, winning only 26 of 104 games over the last two seasons, finishing near or at the bottom of the league standings. Things weren’t just tough on the ice. There was a serious lack of stability and investment in the team, both financially and emotionally. The boys play out of a temporary home in Montreal-North as Martin Brodeur Arena is being renovated. “Last year was tough,” says 18-year-old Arctic defenseman Bruno Di Dodo, who is also studying Law at Dawson College. “We weren’t always treated the way other teams treated their players and we fell into a pattern of losing more games than we won. And with school, it was tough.” Despite all of these challenges, the group of 17 to 20 year-olds kept pushing forward. Travelling with the team to play around the province and witnessing firsthand the differences between the St. Leonard team and its opponents in terms of equipment, management and handling, Joe and Lina became true fans of the young men. “We fell in love with the hockey players and their parents and the whole idea of team work and community,” explains Lina. “The determination the players showed to continue to fight, despite the tough results on the ice, despite having inferior equipment, was just inspiring to us. Imagine, they have to balance school, part-time jobs and being on the ice five times a week for practice and games. It’s incredible!” So after just a couple of months of being dedicated super fans, Joe and Lina decided that the team needed more than just their support in the stands, they needed it at the ownership level. “People thought that we bought the team because we have a son, but we don’t,” explains Lina. “We bought the team because we believe in the players. We want to give them the chance to play at their full capacity.” 76
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