GRANBY, Québec – The Ligue nord-américaine de hockey will begin next season with a seven-team line-up. Two years after saying good-bye to minor pro hockey, the city of Sorel-Tracy is back in the LNAH.
Sorel-Tracy was there, in 1996-97, when the Ligue nord-américaine, then called the Ligue semi-professionelle du Québec, was born. For 11 years, fans supported their team well, whatever they were called: Dinausores, Royaux or Mission. Senior and minor pro hockey have strong traditions in Le Pays du Survenant.
Christian Deschênes is at the head of a six-man business group bringing hockey back to Sorel-Tracy, a town of 35,000 people located about 45 minutes south-east of Montréal. A Sorel-Tracy native, Deschênes was still playing for the Thetford Mines Isothermic a couple of months ago.
“It’s a great day for the hockey fans of Sorel-Tracy and for the LNAH”, said commissioner Michel Godin. “Those people (Deschênes’ group) are very serious and they worked very hard to bring back hockey in their community. It’s fun to have a new franchise but it’s even more fun to know we have serious people to run it.” There will be no expansion draft since the Sorel-Tracy team got their hands on the late Pont-Rouge Lois Jeans protection list.
Pont-Rouge was removed from the LNAH in February after team owners failed to pay the $18,000 fine for not respecting the league’s salary cap .
The Sorel-Tracy arrival is good news for the LNAH. But people from the Trois-Rivières Caron et Guay are probably the most happy about it.
“The rivalry between Trois-Rivières and Sorel-Tracy is so natural”, said co-owner, general manager and coach Dean Lygitsagos in Le Nouvelliste daily paper. “There’s less than an hour drive between the two towns and this rivalry is intense since Trois-Rivières and Sorel were in the Québec Major Junior Hockey League in the seventies.” In a Pro Hockey News interview in January, commissioner Michel Godin said he was hoping for a eight team league in 2010-2011. It was before the Pont-Rouge franchise was removed.
“We would like to have nine or ten teams in a couple of years but we need to go slowly”, said Godin this week. “The most important thing is to have strong ownership, people who really believe in our league.”
Rivière-du-Loup, Saguenay, Saint-Georges, Sherbrooke, Thetford Mines and Trois-Rivières will all be back next season.
The LNAH’s annual meeting will be held in Rivière-du-Loup this weekend. It will be Sorel-Tracy’s first appearance as a member of the LNAH.
Contact Michel.Tasse@prohockeynews.com
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