page_title: Jean Bégin
section_title: Drummondville Voltigeurs
hierarchical_section_title: Jean Bégin / Coaching career / Drummondville Voltigeurs
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of the Memorial Cup trophy on display at the 2015 Memorial Cup tournament
context_page_description: Jean Bégin was a Canadian ice hockey coach and convicted sex offender. He worked six seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and one season in the Nationale 1A league in France. He was the first coach in the QMJHL to make three appearances at the Memorial Cup tournament. He won two President's Cups coaching the Laval Voisins and the Verdun Junior Canadiens to QMJHL championships. He later served as an assistant coach on the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team. Bégin was convicted on seven counts of sexual contact with boys in 1989, and served six months in prison. He committed suicide after his release from jail at age 47.
context_section_description: Bégin was named head coach and general manager of the Drummondville Voltigeurs for the 1987–88 QMJHL season. He earned the nickname "Johnny B. Good" from his players. His team included future NHL players Frédéric Chabot, Rob Murphy, Claude Boivin, Daniel Doré, and Mario Doyon.
  On November 6, 1987, he was announced as an assistant coach to Dave Chambers on the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team, to replace Clément Jodoin who joined the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Canadian juniors travelled to Moscow for the 1988 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, and won the gold medal with a record of six wins and a draw. Canadian author Gare Joyce described Bégin as the easy-going part of the "good cop/bad cop" duo of the team's assistant coaches, compared to Ken Hitchcock.
  The Voltigeurs completed the regular season with 35 wins in 70 games, and placed second in the Dilio Division. In the playoffs, Bégin's team defeated the Victoriaville Tigres four games to one in the first round, defeated the Shawinigan Cataractes four games to one in the second round, then faced the Hull Olympiques in the finals. Bégin was one win away from his third President's Cup title as Drummondville held a three games to one lead in the series, but lost the final three games of series to Hull.
  The 1988 Memorial Cup was hosted by the QMJHL in Chicoutimi. The league chose to send its two league finalists to the tournament, instead of a host team. Bégin became the first coach in the QMJHL's history to make three appearances at the Memorial Cup tournament. During the tournament, he was given an interview by Hockey Canada for the national junior team head coach position at the upcoming 1989 World Championships. Drummondville team lost the first game by a 8-3 score to the Windsor Spitfires, and lost the second game by a 7-1 score to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Bégin's record now stood at eight losses in eight Memorial Cup games. He questioned the intensity of Quebec teams in the tournament, and said that it was easy to win in the QMJHL without playing with intensity. He went on to say, "I prefer to be 0-8 than all the coaches who are 0-0 right now. I could be 0-20 and I'd be happy". Bégin's team lost the third game by a 5-2 score to the Hull Olympiques, and he became winless in all nine Memorial Cup games coached.
  Bégin returned as coach and general manager for the 1988–89 QMJHL season. He added future NHL player Denis Chassé to the team for the season. The team achieved 23 wins in the first 52 games of the season. On February 9, 1989, Bégin was suspended indefinitely as coach and general manager of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, after he was arrested on accusations of sexual assault. He was replaced by his assistant coach Gervais Rioux.
caption: Bégin was winless as a coach in three tournaments for the Memorial Cup.
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