Report: University professor in Quebec refuse to teach young hockey player English.

A decision made by a university professor in Quebec, Canada has sparked a major controversy in the hockey world. 

Professor Michel Roche from the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi has refused to teach a 17-year-old Russian hockey player the English language after his team, a team within the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League requested that he do so. 

"I told myself, 40 years after the charter of the French language, in a symbolic way, it's a considerable step backward," said Roche as per the CBC.

Now the QMJHL wouldn't have a dog in this fight where it not for the National Hockey League requesting that all their players be able to speak English in case they ever do get called up or drafted into the NHL. 

The QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau made a simple but effective case for why they focus on English for their players, at the NHL level the language of hockey is English, and furthermore players will likely have to sit through English-only interviews when trying to earn a spot on an NHL club.

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"When it comes to coaching on the ice and during the game, we favour English. It's the language of hockey," Courteau said.

Needless to say this has sparked an age-old debate within the Province of Quebec, however fans of the game outside that province are likely to be more sympathetic towards a young Russian player who is caught in the middle of all of this.