Yvon Pedneault is a

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

sports journalist and television and radio broadcaster from

Chicoutimi Chicoutimi () is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and com ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

who is known for his coverage of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

. Pedneault is the only person to have worked full-time for all three French-language Montreal daily papers, as well as every French-language television station that has carried

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

games. In 1998, he was awarded the

Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award The Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award is an accolade presented annually to a print newspaper columnist or reporter in recognition of their achievements covering the game of ice hockey. The award is "to recognize distinguished members of the newspaper ...

, an award given annually by the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

to distinguished members of the newspaper profession.

Career

Early life and career

Yvon Pedneault joined the local newspaper in Chicoutimi in 1965 as the bowling writer. A year later, Pedneault was the sports editor for ''Progrès-Dimanche''. In 1965, Pedneault moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

where he was hired by Jacques Beauchamp to be a hockey writer for the ''

Montréal-Matin ''Montréal-Matin'' ("Montreal-Morning") was a Quebec daily newspaper based in Montreal. It was published from 1930 to 1978. It was politically associated to the Conservative Party of Quebec and, afterwards, its successor the Union Nationale. ...

''. With the ''Montréal-Matin'', he covered the Montreal Canadiens and the Junior Canadiens, as well as the local horse racing scene. His work would also be published in two other daily newspapers during his career: '' La Presse'', where he covered the Canadiens, and ''

Le Journal de Montréal ''Le Journal de Montréal'' is a daily French-language tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Quebec and is also the largest French-language daily newspaper in North America. ...

'', where he was a hockey reporter and later served as their sports editor.

Notoriety

During his career, Pedneault would also cover the Canadiens on four different television stations in Montreal:

Réseau des sports Réseau des sports (RDS), is a Canadian French language specialty channel oriented towards sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc. (Bell Media 80% and ESPN 20%). Its full ...

, Télévision de Radio-Canada,

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a Federal government of the United States, federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, an ...

and

TQS Noovo is a Canadian French-language terrestrial television network owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The network has five owned-and-operated and three affiliated stations throughout Quebec, although it can also be seen over-the-air ...

. Because of this, Pedneault is the only person that has worked full-time for all three French-language Montreal daily papers, as well as every French-language television station that has carried Montreal Canadiens games. Pedneault was host of one of North America's longest running sports talk, radio call-in shows, called "Les amateurs de sports" in the '70s on

CKAC CKAC is a French-language radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned by Cogeco, the station operates as a commercial traffic information service branded as ''Radio Circulation 730''. Its studios are located at Place Bonaventure in ...

in Montreal (the program airs to this day). Pedneault would also cover several

Olympic games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Pedneault also briefly served as the General Manager of Le Collège Français de Longueuil in the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The l ...

. In 1998, he was awarded the

, an award given annually by the

to distinguished members of the newspaper profession. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee. Pedneault's highest profile work has been as colour commentator for '' Le Réseau des sports'', TSN's French equivalent for the last ten years. Prior to the commencement of the 2008-2009 hockey season, RDS decided not to renew his contract due to salary demands and replaced him with former Canadiens player

Benoît Brunet Joseph Jean Luc Benoît Brunet (; born August 24, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, 27th overall, of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft. Playing career After playing th ...

, who previously provided intermission commentary. Pedneault provided commentary segments on some of the CBC ''

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

'' Canadiens broadcasts despite his less than perfect English. He also appears regularly as a panelist on the French language sports show 110% on

. He is also well-known due to his popular catchphrase "C'est l'heure!" (It's time!) followed by a drill-like sound. Yvon Pednault works since 2009 for the TVA network.

References

External links

Yvon Pedneault
at

(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pedneault, Yvon Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian sports journalists Canadian television sportscasters Elmer Ferguson Award winners French Quebecers Journalists from Quebec Living people Montreal Canadiens announcers National Hockey League broadcasters