Community Moment | Getting pulled over to get rewarded!
It’s quite rare to get pulled over by the police and to leave with two hockey tickets. However, this is exactly what happened to many drivers in Rimouski back on September 29.
The Océanic organization found an original way to promote road safety and to thank drivers who respect the rules, especially in school zones.
A few days before their season opener, Océanic players William Dumoulin and Jacob Mathieu accompanied two Sûreté du Québec police officers on this very particular mission.
The idea behind the initiative was to reward good drivers and raise awareness about the importance of paying attention to children in school zones. This project was put together by Nicolas Thibeault, the Océanic’s Director of Communications and Marketing.
After seeing the same kind of initiative on Facebook during the holiday season a few years ago, Thibeault decided to do the same thing while he was working for the Terrebonne Cobras, a team in the Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League.
After a successful event, he decided to repeat the whole experience with Rimouski this year.
“It was a really nice activity because we were congratulating drivers. It’s pretty rare to get stopped by police officers for something positive,” he says with a laugh. “People were surprised at first. Many were nervous and wondered what they had done wrong!
But the appearance of the Oceanic’s mascot, Louky, quickly reassured the worried drivers. For their part, Dumoulin and Mathieu used the opportunity to chat with them and thank them for respecting the road safety measures.
In the end, the small group managed to hand out around 60 pairs of tickets to Océanic fans. In addition to strong reactions, the event had several unique moments, such as the two immigrant families who admitted they had never seen a hockey game in their lives.
“They told us they didn’t know what hockey was, but that they were going to the game because they had met us that day. We had a lot of great moments like that,” says Thibeault.
He also mentions that this type of activity not only has a very positive impact on the Greater Rimouski community, but also on the entire organization. The Director of Communications and Marketing stated that the experience will undoubtedly be repeated in other neighbourhoods during the season, all while involving other players.
Rumour has it that many of the residents were lining up to get a chance to see the faces of the drivers who received hockey tickets instead of a ticket!
So, if you are passing through Rimouski during winter and two Sûreté du Québec officers pull you over for no obvious reason, don’t panic!
Especially if Louky shows up… you may have just earned yourself some hockey tickets and some well-deserved congratulations for your good behavior!
