The Trois-Rivieres Lions begin their 2023-24 season on Friday. The Canadiens' ECHL affiliate plays a key role for the organization's AHL team, Laval Rocket.
The Trois-Rivieres Lions kick off the 2023-24 regular season on Friday by hosting the Maine Mariners (Boston Bruins) at the Colisee Videotron. Last season, Trois-Rivieres finished sixth place in the North division, 14 points away from clinching a playoff spot.
What's New?
The Lions offseason was highlighted by several changes off the ice. In June, Marc-Andre Bergeron was let go as coach and general manager of the squad. The Lions promoted assistant coach Pascal Rheaume to take over the dual roles. Rheaume added experience behind the bench with the hiring of Ron Choules as his assistant in July. A month later, Choules was promoted to coach and general manager after Rheaume was named assistant coach of the Bridgeport Islanders, the New York Islanders' AHL affiliate.
The ownership of the Canadiens ECHL affiliate was up in the air during the summer. Rumours began in May that Deacon Sports Entertainment (DSE) was negotiating the sale of the team. The team owed nearly $600,000 to the city of Trois-Rivieres for rent and a percentage of ticket sales.
On Tuesday, the sale became one step closer as the city approved the lease transfer of the Colisee Videotron from DSE to Leal Sports Entertainment (LSE) led by Steven Leal. Leal also owns Quebec-based Fix Auto. The final step to officialize the transaction is the approval of the ECHL’s Board of Governors. The debt to the city will be covered by DSE as part of the change of ownership.
Trois-Rivieres' Important Role
The Lions have played an important role for the Laval Rocket since their affiliation began in 2021. Last season, there were nine players that played at least one game in both Trois-Rivieres and Laval. Forward Riley McKay and defenseman Olivier Galipeau both spent time with the Lions last season and began this season on the Rocket’s season opening roster.
Jean-Francois Houle expects their ECHL affiliate to play a key role again this season. "It's an important part of Laval because they're the extension of us and when we do have injuries or callups and we're asked to call some players, we got to make sure they're ready," he said. "They have been in the past and we hope it continues like that. It really helps to have good depth in the ECHL and it's been a key to our success in the last couple of years."
To help with the consistency between the two teams, Choules, Houle and their respective staffs spent time at the rookie camp in Buffalo, and in Laval during the Rocket's training camp. The objective was for Trois-Rivieres' staff to get accustomed to Laval's system.
Prior to the Canadiens' affiliation with Trois-Rivieres, Laval had to place calls around the ECHL when they needed a player or wanted to give ice time to player that had a limited role in the AHL.
There’s 140 kilometres that separate the cities of Laval and Trois-Rivieres, which simplifies the movement between the two teams. "Having a team here in Quebec really helps for the callups, because they could get here within hours compared to what it could have been before where it's in the US and it takes a day and a half and you have to deal with visas and all that stuff. It's really nice and it facilitates everything to have a team in Quebec," explained Houle.
Season-Opening Roster
On Thursday, the ECHL unveiled the season-opening rosters for the 32 teams. For the first 30 days of the regular season, teams can carry up to 21 players on the active roster, with two players on reserve and an unlimited number of players on the 14-day injured reserve. After 30 days, the limit to the active roster is reduced to 20 players.
These are the players on the Trois-Rivieres Lions’ season-opening roster:
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