Music: {allcanada} Fleury, Letang, others barnstorm Quebec

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

{allcanada} Fleury, Letang, others barnstorm Quebec

Would you pay $20 to see two teams of NHL players face off?

The Quebec barnstorming circuit of locked-out NHLers begins play Thursday at the Centre Multisports de Châteauguay.

Organized by Philadelphia Flyers teammates Max Talbot and Bruno Gervais, La Tournée des Joueurs is set to pit two teams -- one representing Montreal, the other Quebec City -- against each other in a series of non-contact scrimmages in various arenas around the province.

"It's a way to keep in shape and raise some money for charity," Talbot, who's expecting a sellout crowd of about 1,000 for the first five-on-five match, told the Montreal Gazette on Monday. "We hope to play twice a week on Thursday and Friday nights. We've had a lot of arenas around the province express interest in having games, and we'll talk to the players and see what works best."

In addition to the list of confirmed players (below), NHL stars rumoured to be participating include Claude Giroux, Danny Briere, Patrice Bergeron and Carey Price.

The exhibition series has its own logo and Facebook page where you can track its upcoming dates.

The Talbot-Gervais effort falls in the footsteps of La Caravane McDonald's, orchestrated by defenceman Joel Bouchard during the 2004-05 lockout. That series raised more than $800,000, with assits from corporate sponsors.

"Our format was a little different because we played four-on-four, but we had 16 games over eight weeks and they were all sold out," Bouchard told the Gazette. "I talked to Bruno and gave him some advice and wished them luck because he and Max are good guys who are involved in the community."

La Tournée des Joueurs - confirmed players:

1. Max Talbot

4. Josh Gorges

8. Kris Letang

10. David Perron

11. Marc-Edouard Vlasic