Quebec sports journalist Yvon Pedneault dead at 77
Celebrated Quebec sports journalist Yvon Pedneault died Saturday in the palliative care unit of Charles-Lemoyne Hospital. He was 77.
Pedneault was suffering from an aggressive cancer, after being diagnosed a month ago.
In recent years, he was a columnist for the Journal de Montréal and a hockey analyst for TVA Sports.
Active in the Quebec media landscape for nearly 60 years, Pedneault began his career at Progrès-Dimanche du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean in 1965. He then followed the activities of the Montreal Canadiens for Montreal-Matin and La Presse from 1969 to 1979.
His first stint as a columnist for the Journal de Montréal was from 1980 to 1986 and he covered the Canadiens again until 1988. He left journalism for a season, in 1988-1989, to become general manager of the Collège Français de Longueuil, the former Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team.
He then worked as an analyst for the National Hockey League games broadcast on the Réseau des Sports from 1989 to 1993, and as an analyst for the Canadiens games and sports director for TVA in 1993-1994.
"Pedneault brought a compelling mix of passion and professionalism to his work," a statement by the Montreal Canadiens reads. "His contagious energy and authenticity will be missed by all who had the chance to know him."
Pedneault joined the La Soirée du Hockey team at Radio-Canada in 1994 and the TQS network in 1997, before joining Pierre Houde at the Réseau des Sports at the start of the 1998-1999 season.
He covered several Olympic Games during his journalistic career, including those in Montreal in 1976, Lake Placid in 1980, Sarajevo in 1984, Lillehammer in 1994 and Atlanta in 1996.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998.
"Today, we lost a monument of hockey and sports journalism. A real enthusiast, a man who was always in a good mood, who had fun and entertained us by describing the matches," said Premier François Legault in a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter. "My thoughts are with his family, loved ones and colleagues. Thank you for everything Yvon Pedneault."
