Yvon Pedneault (6 August 1946 – 26 August 2023) was a Canadian 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 ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, who is known for his coverage of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

. 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 Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

games. In 1998, he was awarded the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, an award given annually by the

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

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 is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

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 (historical), Conservative Party of Quebec and, afterwa ...

''. 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 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. Established by Pierre Pé ...

'', 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 Television in Canada, Canadian French language Discretionary service, discretionary specialty channel oriented towards sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Special ...

, Télévision de Radio-Canada, TVA and TQS. 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 Canadian French, French-language radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned by Cogeco, the station operates as a commercial travelers' information station, traffic information service branded as ''Radio Circulation 730''. ...

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

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

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

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...

. In 1998, he was awarded the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, an award given annually by the

to distinguished members of the newspaper profession. Pedneault was a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee from June 2005 to June 2011. Pedneault's highest profile work has been as colour commentator for '' Le Réseau des sports'', TSN's French equivalent for ten years. Prior to the beginning of the 2008–09 hockey season, RDS decided not to renew his contract due to salary demands and replaced him with former Canadiens player Benoît Brunet, who previously provided intermission commentary. Pedneault provided commentary segments on some of the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

Hockey Night in Canada ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...

'' Canadiens broadcasts despite his less than perfect English. He also appeared regularly as a panelist on the French language sports show 110% on TQS. Pedneault was also well-known due to his popular catchphrase "C'est l'heure!" (It's time!) followed by a drill-like sound. Pedneault worked for the TVA Sports network from 2009.

Death

Yvon Pedneault died of cancer on 26 August 2023, at the age of 77. He was diagnosed only one month previously.

References

External links

Yvon Pedneault
at

(French) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pedneault, Yvon 1946 births 2023 deaths Canadian sports journalists Canadian television sportscasters Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award recipients Journalists from Quebec Montreal Canadiens announcers National Hockey League broadcasters Deaths from cancer in Quebec