Jean Bégin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1944 Quebec, Canada |
| Died | November 20, 1991 (aged 47) Stoneham, Quebec, Canada |
| Occupation | Ice hockey coach |
| Years active | 1982 to 1989 |
| Known for | Quebec Major Junior Hockey League head coach,Canada men's national junior ice hockey team assistant coach |
| Criminal charges | Child sexual abuse |
| Criminal penalty | Six months in prison |
| Awards | President's Cup (1984, 1985) |
Jean Bégin (1944 – November 20, 1991) was a Canadianice hockey coach and convicted sex offender. He worked six seasons in theQuebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), and one season in theNationale 1A league in France. He was the first coach in the QMJHL to make three appearances at theMemorial Cup tournament. He won twoPresident's Cups coaching theLaval Voisins and theVerdun Junior Canadiens to QMJHL championships. He later served as an assistant coach on theCanada men's national junior ice hockey team. Bégin was convicted on seven counts ofsexual contact with boys in 1989, and served six months in prison. He committed suicide after his release from jail at age 47.
Bégin was born in 1944 inQuebec.[notes 1] He playedminor ice hockey for the Quebec Junior Aces during the 1964–65 season.[5]
Bégin coached hockey in theQuebec City region from 1967 to 1982. After he led a team fromSainte-Foy to a junior-B championship during the 1981–82 season, he was considered for theShawinigan Cataractes coaching position.[1]
Bégin started his career in theQuebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) as the head coach and general manager of theHull Olympiques during the1982–83 QMJHL season.[6] He was named coach on July 27, 1982, at age 37.[1] He led the team to 30 wins in 70 games, and a fifth-place finish in the Lebel Division.[7] FutureNational Hockey League (NHL) players on the team wereJoel Baillargeon,Yves Beaudoin,Alain Raymond,Serge Roberge andSylvain Turgeon.[8] In the playoffs, Hull faced the Laval Voisins who won 53 games and placed first in the division. Bégin's team extended the series to its maximum seven games, but lost the series by three games to four.[9]
Bégin served as head coach of theLaval Voisins for the1983–84 QMJHL season.[6] His team included future NHL playersMario Lemieux,Vincent Damphousse,Bobby Dollas,Steve Finn,Yves Courteau, andMichel Mongeau.[10] Bégin made the decision during the pre-season to put Lemieux on a forward line with Jacques Goyette, after Lemieux asked to play with him.[11] The move was successful, as Lemieux won the QMJHL scoring title with 133 goals and 282 points in 70 games.[12]
Laval won 54 games during the regular season, and compiled the best record in league by 14 wins more than the next best team. In the playoffs, the Voisins defeated both the Drummondville Voltigeurs andGranby Bisons in four consecutive games, then defeated theLongueuil Chevaliers in six games in the league finals. Lemieux scored 52 points in the playoffs, including 29 goals. The victory was the firstPresident's Cup for Bégin, and earned the team a berth at the1984 Memorial Cup for the national championship.[13]
Bégin and the Voisins travelled to the 1984 Memorial Cup tournament hosted inKitchener, Ontario. The presence of Lemieux was highly anticipated.[12] Before the tournament, Bégin was quoted as saying, "It will be the 66th Memorial Cup and I hope our #66 [Lemieux] will continue his output of the regular season and playoffs".[12] The Voisins lost 8–2 versus theKitchener Rangers, then lost 6–5 versus theOttawa 67's, and lost 4–3 versus theKamloops Junior Oilers, leaving Bégin winless in coaching at his first Memorial Cup.[13] The QMJHL recognized Bégin by naming him coach of the second all-star team for the season.[6]
Bégin returned as head coach for the1984–85 QMJHL season. After 19 games, his team had a record of 7 wins and 12 losses.[14] Laval struggled without Lemieux who was now on thePittsburgh Penguins in the NHL, and the Voisins were drawing an average crowd of only 750 fans per game. Team owner Claude Fournel fired Bégin, and commented on the season by saying "this is like a cold shower".[15] Bégin was replaced by Marcel Patenaude as coach.[16]
Bégin was named head coach of theVerdun Junior Canadiens for the final five games of the 1984–85 QMJHL season and the playoffs.[14] He took over forYvon Lambert who resigned on March 8, 1985, because he said "it was too difficult for him to motivate amateur-level players".[17] The team included future NHL playersClaude Lemieux,Jimmy Carson,Gerry Fleming,Shane MacEachern, andEverett Sanipass.[18]
Bégin led Verdun to three wins in the remainder of the regular season, and a first-place finish in the Lebel Division. In the playoffs, Verdun defeated the Hull Olympiques four games to one in the first round, then defeated theShawinigan Cataractes four games to one in the second round, and defeated theChicoutimi Saguenéens in four consecutive games to win the President's Cup. Claude Lemieux led the league in playoffs scoring 23 goals, and 40 points. Verdun's games in the1985 Memorial Cup were played inDrummondville, Quebec. Verdun lost 6–3 to theSault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in game one, lost 5–3 to thePrince Albert Raiders in game two, and lost 5–1 to the Shawinigan Cataractes in game three. Bégin finished the tournament with losses in all six games coached at the 1984 and 1985 Memorial Cups.[19]
Bégin was named head coach of theTrois-Rivières Draveurs for the1985–86 QMJHL season.[6] He led the team to 36 wins, and a second-place finish in the Dilio division.[20] The team's top scorer wasMartin Desjardins with 118 points. The Draveurs had three future NHL players, includingClaude Lapointe,Donald Dufresne, andFrank Breault.[21] In the first round of the playoffs, the Draveurs were defeated in five consecutive games by theLaval Titan.[22]
Bégin relocated to France and became head coach ofHC Amiens Somme for the1986–87 Nationale 1A season. His team placed fourth overall in the league, and includedMichel Galarneau who finished tenth in league scoring and François Dusseau who won theJean-Pierre Graff Trophy as the league's rookie-of-the-year.[23][24]
Bégin was named head coach and general manager of theDrummondville Voltigeurs for the1987–88 QMJHL season.[6] He earned the nickname "Johnny B. Good" from his players.[25] His team included future NHL playersFrédéric Chabot,Rob Murphy,Claude Boivin,Daniel Doré, andMario Doyon.[26]
On November 6, 1987, he was announced as an assistant coach toDave Chambers on theCanada men's national junior ice hockey team, to replaceClément Jodoin who joined the Pittsburgh Penguins.[27] The Canadian juniors travelled toMoscow for the1988 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, and won the gold medal with a record of six wins and a draw. Canadian author Gare Joyce described Bégin as the easy-going part of the "good cop/bad cop" duo of the team's assistant coaches, compared toKen Hitchcock.[28]
The Voltigeurs completed the regular season with 35 wins in 70 games, and placed second in the Dilio Division. In the playoffs, Bégin's team defeated theVictoriaville Tigres four games to one in the first round, defeated the Shawinigan Cataractes four games to one in the second round, then faced the Hull Olympiques in the finals.[29] Bégin was one win away from his third President's Cup title as Drummondville held a three games to one lead in the series, but lost the final three games of series to Hull.[30]
The1988 Memorial Cup was hosted by the QMJHL inChicoutimi. The league chose to send its two league finalists to the tournament, instead of a host team. Bégin became the first coach in the QMJHL's history to make three appearances at the Memorial Cup tournament.[25][29][30] During the tournament, he was given an interview byHockey Canada for the national junior team head coach position at the upcoming 1989 World Championships.[25] Drummondville team lost the first game by a 8–3 score to theWindsor Spitfires, and lost the second game by a 7–1 score to theMedicine Hat Tigers. Bégin's record now stood at eight losses in eight Memorial Cup games.[29] He questioned the intensity of Quebec teams in the tournament, and said that it was easy to win in the QMJHL without playing with intensity.[31] He went on to say, "I prefer to be 0-8 than all the coaches who are 0-0 right now. I could be 0-20 and I'd be happy".[25][30] Bégin's team lost the third game by a 5–2 score to the Hull Olympiques, and he became winless in all nine Memorial Cup games coached.[29][30]
Bégin returned as coach and general manager for the1988–89 QMJHL season.[6] He added future NHL playerDenis Chassé to the team for the season.[32] The team achieved 23 wins in the first 52 games of the season.[14] On February 9, 1989, Bégin was suspended indefinitely as coach and general manager of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, after he was arrested on accusations of sexual assault.[2][33] He was replaced by his assistant coach Gervais Rioux.[34]
Bégin's career QMJHL coaching record,[14] and his Nationale 1A season.[24]
| Season | Team | League | Games | Won | Lost | Tied | Points | Win % | Division standing | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982–83 | Hull Olympiques | QMJHL | 68 | 29 | 39 | 0 | 58 | 0.426 | 5th in Lebel | Lost in round 1 |
| 1983–84 | Laval Voisins | QMJHL | 66 | 51 | 15 | 0 | 102 | 0.773 | 1st in Lebel | WonPresident's Cup 4th place,1984 Memorial Cup |
| 1984–85 | Laval Voisins | QMJHL | 19 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 14 | 0.368 | (4th in Lebel) | Fired midseason |
| Verdun Junior Canadiens | QMJHL | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0.600 | 1st in Lebel | Won President's Cup 4th place,1985 Memorial Cup | |
| 1985–86 | Trois-Rivières Draveurs | QMJHL | 45 | 26 | 19 | 0 | 52 | 0.578 | 2nd in Dilio | Lost in round 1 |
| 1986–87 | HC Amiens Somme | Nationale 1A | 36 | 19 | 13 | 4 | 42 | 0.583 | 4th overall in league | |
| 1987–88 | Drummondville Voltigeurs | QMJHL | 62 | 32 | 26 | 4 | 68 | 0.548 | 2nd in Dilio | Lost in President's Cup finals 4th place,1988 Memorial Cup |
| 1988–89 | Drummondville Voltigeurs | QMJHL | 52 | 23 | 25 | 4 | 50 | 0.481 | (5th in QMJHL) | Suspended indefinitely |
| Totals | 317 | 171 | 138 | 8 | 350 | 0.552 | 2 division titles | 2 President's Cups 3 Memorial Cup appearances | ||
An unnamed player from the Drummondville Voltigeurs had contacted agentGilles Lupien regarding Bégin's conduct. Lupien stated the player's initial complaints were, "the coach always wants a private meeting with me after every practice, and he talks about all kinds of things, but never hockey".[35] Later complaints mentioned that Bégin insisting on taking showers together, and the player stating that "he touched my ass in the shower".[35][36] Two hockey players complained to the police in 1989, regarding inappropriate sexual behavior by Bégin.[33][36]
Bégin was arrested at his home in Drummondville on February 8, 1989, and charged withsexual assault against an 11-year-old boy.[2][34] He was married with three children at the time of his arrest, and released a day later onC$1,000 bail.[2] The charge was dropped in June 1989.[3] He was later arrested and charged with seven counts of sexual assault involving two boys, neither of whom played on his team.[35] At the sentencing hearing, Bégin wept as he told the court that he had been sexually abused as a youth and considered himself to be deeply scarred.[37] He pleaded guilty to seven charges of sexual contact with boys in incidents between November 1988, and January 1989.[3] In 1991, he was convicted on all seven counts of sexual assault, and served six months in prison.[33][38] He was also banned from sporting activities including minors and to seek professional counselling.[37]
Bégin was released from prison in 1991.[33][35] On November 20, 1991, his burned corpse was found by police in a car nearStoneham, Quebec. The car had a pipe which redirectedcarbon monoxide exhaust to the inside which had then burst into flames.[37] His death was reported as a suicide.[33][35][38] He was 47 years old.[4][37]