Rocket de Laval

Rocket de Laval
founding	2017
history	Voyageurs de Montréal 1969–1971 Nova Scotia Voyageurs 1971–1984 Canadiens de Sherbrooke 1984–1990 Fredericton Canadiens 1990–1997 Citadelles de Québec 1999–2002 Hamilton Bulldogs 2002–2015 St. John's IceCaps 2015–2017 Rocket de Laval since 2017
Stadion	Place Bell
Location	Laval , Quebec
Team colors	Red, white, blue   
league	American Hockey League
Conference	Eastern Conference
division	North Division
Head coach	Joël Bouchard
General manager	Larry Carrière
Cooperations	Canadiens de Montréal ( NHL )
Calder cups	no

The Rocket de Laval ( English Laval Rocket ) are a Canadian ice hockey franchise from Laval in the province of Québec , which has played in the American Hockey League (AHL) since the 2017/18 season . It acts as the farm team of the Canadiens de Montréal from the National Hockey League and plays its home games in the newly built Place Bell .

history

In July 2016, the Canadiens de Montréal announced that they wanted to relocate their AHL farm team from St. John's in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador to Laval , a suburb of Montréal. The St. John's IceCaps there had only emerged from the Hamilton Bulldogs the year before . A fan vote was then held from mid-July to the end of August 2016 to find a name, from which the nickname “Rocket” emerged as the winner with 51% of the votes and the two other finalists “Rapides” and “Patriotes” came out on top. "Rocket" pays homage to Maurice "Rocket" Richard , who played over 1000 games for the Canadiens de Montréal and was considered one of the best players in the National Hockey League in the 1950s and 1960s . The same nickname was used by the Rocket de Montréal from the Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec from 1999 to 2003 .

The Rocket's home venue is Place Bell, which opened in 2017 . The team's first head coach was Sylvain Lefebvre , who had been in charge of the franchise since 2012, when it was still known as Hamilton Bulldogs. After the first season, which ended the team as the worst team in the AHL, Lefebvre was dismissed and replaced by Joël Bouchard .

Web links

• Official website
• Rocket de Laval at eliteprospects.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Canadiens moving AHL affiliate to Laval in 17-18. theahl.com, July 11, 2016, accessed July 3, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Laval's AHL team nickname unveiled. nhl.com, September 8, 2016, accessed July 3, 2017 .