The northern team, a second division club, faces Grenoble, defending champion, in the final on Sunday January 21. Kick-off is set for 3 p.m. on the ice at the AccorArena in Paris.
The big day is approaching for the Corsairs. Sunday January 21, at 3 p.m., they will enter the ice of the AccorArena, in Paris, with one objective: to hold up the Coupe de France at the end of 60 minutes of regulation time.
The Dunkerquois will face the Brûleurs de loups of Grenoble, winners last year at the end ofa stunning encounter against the Raptors of Gap.
If the Nordistes and Isérois are in third place in their respective championships, a division separates them. The Corsairs play in Division 1 (D1), the second level of the French ice hockey championship, while the Grenoblois play in the elite, the Magnus Line. A competition that they almost won against Rouen last April.
“Overexcitement and nothing else”
A historic match is looming for Petit Poucet Dunkirk, already defeated two Ligue Magnus clubs in the previous rounds: Cergy-Pontoise and Angers.
“It’s something exceptional,” smiles Antoine Torres, Corsaires striker, at the microphone of BFM Grand Littoral, on the sidelines of training at the Michel-Raffoux ice rink, Thursday January 18. “It hasn’t happened in 20 years that a Division 1 team has gone this far. I think, anyway, it’s just going to be overexcitement and nothing else.”
Adrien Vazzaz, goalkeeper of the Northerners, agrees: “These are moments that we will perhaps not have the opportunity to relive in our lives. We have to make the most of it and then things will go well.”
The Corsairs of Dunkirk in training on January 18, 2024. © BFM Grand Littoral
The championship, the main objective of the club
Dunkirk captain, Clément Thomas keeps his feet on Earth. The club’s main objective remains to overtake Strasbourg and Caen in the championship and finish the regular phase “in a better position to attack the playoffs”.
Offering the scalp of the Wolf Burners, “we’re not going to spit on it”, admits the person concerned all the same. And added: “If we can take a cup and win a final at Bercy in front of 13 or 14,000 people, we won’t deprive ourselves of it.”
“The pressure is on Grenoble,” argues Jonathan Lafrance, the Corsairs coach. The Canadian believes that the Brûleurs de loups will do everything to “especially not lose against a D1 team”.
Around twenty buses departing from Dunkirk
The coach calls on his players to “enjoy every moment”: “You have to have fun and give everything.”
“We have to wet our jerseys first for us and for the public, who come to Bercy to support us and those who will be behind their screen on Dunkirk,” insists Jonathan Lafrance.
Corsairs fans plan to come to the capital in large numbers. Around twenty fan buses must make the trip.
Florine Kurek with Florian Bouhot
2024-01-20 23:08:57
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