High school baseball in Quebec and Shingoryeo

In Quebec and Shingoryeo, Gogyo-yagu (고교야구) refers to five annual tournaments played by Quebecois high schools, which usually culminate into single-elimination showdowns in Joongyeong and Songak, two capitals of Quebec and Shingoryeo. With the first of the tournaments having been created in 1921, the tournaments are organised by the Quebecois Baseball Federation (QBF) in association with five national newspapers based in those cities.

Competitions

The Power of Five

Traditionally the Goyo-yagu tournaments refer to the five annual tournaments played by Quebecois high schools, which usually culminate into single-elimination showdowns in Joongyeong and Songak, two capitals of Quebec and Shingoryeo. All five tournaments are broadcasted live by the QBC Sports+ or the True North Sports:

Competition	Shortened term	Month	Start Year	City	Number of teams	Newspaper in association
Her Majesty's Cup	Hwangjebae (황제배)	Late February-Early March	1955	Joongyeong	128	Le Mazepa
Blue Dragon Classic	Cheongryonggi (청룡기)	Mid-Late March	1921	Songak	64	Gaegyeong Gazette
Golden Dragon Cup	Bonghwanggi (봉황기)	Early-Mid April	1924	Joongyeong	64	Northern Calania Morning Post
Silver Leaf Classic	Eundanpoonggi (은단풍기)	Late April-Early May	1984	Songak	128	The Praetorian
Golden Lion Invitational	Hwanggeumsajagi (황금사자기)	Early June	1946	Joongyeong	Varies	The Taegukgi

Additional Tournaments

In addition to the five major tournaments during the spring season, there are additional off-season or summer tournaments held during the calendar year.

Each tournament has its own characteristic feature and invites different schools according to it. The National Sports Festival selects one representative from each of Quebec & Shingoryeo's 12 provinces. It is generally recognised as the most difficult of the tournaments to win, as seniors who have already graduated from the previous summer are not eligible for the tournament, meaning that it retains the uncertainty of the team's respective skill/competition level on the preseason environment.

The youngest of all nine tournaments listed, the Odesza National Showcase is organised by the QBO in association with the QBF. Unlike others 'The Odesza' does not select sides by school, but by region or city all-stars. All twelve provinces each field a side, with additional slots going to a region or city all-star depending on the previous spring/summer season's performance.

Competition	Shortened term	Month	Start Year	City	Number of teams
National Sports Festival	Jeon-gookchaejeon (전국체전)	Late September-Early October	1925	Varies	12
QBO Odesza National Showcase	-	Late June-Early July	2016	California City, Yoseo-Manitoba	16 (provincial or regional all-star teams)
First-Class Cup	명문고 야구열전	Late December	1997	Dongnae-Halifax County, Acadie	8
All-Quebecois Baseball Showdown	야구대제전	Mid-late August	1964	Kingston, Mahan	16

Qualification

The QBF, in affiliation with hosting newspaper companies, has changed the tournament size since the first pair of national championships that ran in 1921. Most of the competitions' changes have stayed minor, with the changes included to accommodate the increase in the number of teams and removal of third-place matches. Aside from that, however, the tournaments have stayed as single-elimination tournaments.

Each tournament has a different number of teams qualify for the respective national tournament. Excluding the National Sports Festival that is held each October, each school only able to qualify up to three tournaments each year. For the first four of national championships the teams usually qualify through a mix of district leagues and provincial championship tournaments that determine the qualification in Spring, with a small but noticeable number of spots given to at-large bids, which are determined by joint QBF-media selection committees. A minor, controversial part of Quebecois high school football, at-large bids are usually given to the schools known for their past history in Quebecois high school baseball or those viewed to be solid contenders for said championship.

Each tournament awards bids according to province and region, with the number of slots dependent upon said province or the region's past history with the tournament. Nunavut and County Ferris, two states with fewest number of schools registered by the QBF, are combined with Nord-Est and Mahan provinces when fielding their representatives:

Province/Region	Hwangjebae	Cheongryonggi	Bonghwanggi	Eundanpoonggi	Total
Yoseo-Manitoba	15	4	5	12	36
Abitibi-Agawa	11	3	5	13	32
Honam (Mahan, County Ferris)	15	7	8	14	44
Terre-Aux-Oiseaux	9	4	5	11	29
Songak	16	11	7	17	51
Joongyeong	15	9	10	16	50
Acadie	14	10	5	13	42
Saguenay	9	8	9	9	35
Inteachan	4	1	2	5	12
Yeongdong (Nord-Est, Nunavut)	6	3	2	5	16
At-Large bids	14	4	6	13	39

The exception applies to the Golden Lion Invitational, however, as it is exclusively determined by the number of schools who have qualified for the semifinals of the first four national championships, as well as the previous year's National Sports Festival. This rule means that barring qualification into the Golden Lion, most schools would qualify between one and two tournaments a year. The rarity of the invitations themselves, and the trifecta of national championships only happening once in history, mean that the Golden Lion is usually considered to be the most prestigious of five championship tournaments, even more so than Blue Dragon Classic and Golden Dragon Cup, both of whom share a longer history than the Hwanggeumsajagi.

Notable Episodes

"The All-Shingoryeoite Conquest"

Known in Quebecois Korean as '전국제패' (Jeon-gook-je-pae) or the All-Shingoryeoite Conquest, this means a school's winning of the five national tournaments, or four oldest tournaments (if already achieved before the Silver Leaf Classic's addition in 1984) held in Spring and early-Summer. A rare feat that is considered a mark of excellence of its own, only fourteen schools have accomplished this feat:

School	City	Province	Year by Original Four	Year by Power Five	Hwangjebae	Cheongryonggi	Bonghwanggi	Eundanpoonggi	Hwanggeumsajagi
Veronaville High School	Veronaville	Songak	1950	1998	1948	1926	1949	1998	1949
Gyeongnam Collegiate Institute	Dongnae-Halifax county	Acadie	1957	-	1949	1924	1957	-	1932
Lycée-Alexandre-III	Joongyeong	Joongyeong	1959	2010	1955	1928	1948	2010	1959
Lycée-Frédérick-Sullivan	Joongyeong	Joongyeong	1965	2013	1954	1938	1964	2013	1965
Gyeongbuk Collegiate Institute	Chicoutimi	Saguenay	1968	1999	1967	1963	1959	1999	1968
Lycée-Koreana	Songak	Songak	1971	2001	1961	1925	1971	2001	1957
Sangwon Collegiate and Vocational Institute	Chicoutimi	Saguenay	1978	1988	1973	1931	1978	1988	1974
Erskine Collegiate Institute	Kingston	Mahan	N/A	1995	1995	1927	1956	1984	1948
Kjipuktuk Grammar School	Dongnae-Halifax county	Acadie	N/A	2000	1989	1979	1987	2000	1963
Nakseon Commercial High School	Hwado Valley	Joongyeong	N/A	2033	2033	1962	1994	2009	1996
École Secondaire de Songrim	Levis	Joongyeong	N/A	2040	1952	2033	2027	2040	1991
Bugil College	Oceanopolis	Terre-Aux-Oiseaux	N/A	2054	1958	2054	1967	1987	1987
Western Quebec HS	Anju	Abitibi-Agawa	N/A	2055	2048	1920	1958	2055	1942
Westheafer School	California City	Yoseo-Manitoba	N/A	2057	1965	2050	1972	2057	1958

Regional Champions

Into the Agawa Pass

This term, a Quebecois baseball jargon, is used when a team from the southern half of Agawa-Abitibi province wins a tournament. The Agawa Pass, a mountain pass that is located about 50 kilometres east of the city of Agawa, the pass's namesake, in central Abitibi-Agawa. The pass, now bypassed by both the Graceland (Attawapiskat-Kingston) and Sentinel highways, is considered to be the start of western Quebec region.

So far only three schools have entered the Agawa Pass. The first school to enter the Agawa Pass was Birchaven High School in the 1962 Hwangjebae, while Kagawong High School, only secondary school in a small community of 12,000 people, is the only school to have won more than one title in the region. No school has passed the Agawa Pass on the Cheongryonggi or the Hwanggeumsajagi tournament:

Agawa teams that have won a national championship tournament

Year	Tournament	School	City	Example	Example	Example
1962	Hwangjebae	Birchaven Commercial High School	Birchaven
2005	Bonghwanggi	Kagawong High School	Kagawong Island
2017	Eundanpoonggi	Séminaire-Armand-Belleran	Bellwood Park
2045	Eundanpoonggi	Kagawong High School	Kagawong Island