GRANBY, Québec – The weather is still very nice in the Province of Québec but, three weeks from now, the seven teams of the Ligue nord-américaine de hockey will be back on the ice.
The preseason schedule will begin on September 17 when the new Sorel-Tracy GCI host the Trois-Rivières Caron & Guay. The same night, Sherbrooke will be in Saint-Georges while Rivière-du-Loup travel to Thetford Mines.
Every team will play four preseason games. The regular season will start on September 30th with a rematch of the last playoff final between the Saint-Georges COOL FM, the defending champion of the LNAH, and the Sherbrooke Saint-François. The COOL FM team, that is. You see, Saint-Georges have new ownership and a new major sponsor, which is the local radio station.
Here’s the latest news around the LNAH:
In Sorel-Tracy: Martin Lacroix, who played many years in Europe, will be the head coach of the GCI. A Sorel native, he also played a couple of seasons with the Royaux when the LNAH was called the Ligue semi-professionnelle du Québec. He was assistant-coach in France last year… All summer long, co-owner and general manager Christian Deschênes signed, almost exclusively, players from the Sorel-Tracy region. GCI, the major sponsor of the team, makes environmental machinery.
In Thetford Mines: Bobby Baril is the new head coach of the Isothermic. Baril is that same guy who was suspended for the entire season by the LNAH last October while he was coaching the Pont-Rouge Lois Jeans. “I learned some things, but I won’t change. I’ll always be intense behind the bench”, said Baril.
In Trois-Rivières: After being LNAH’s first draft pick last June, Julien Ellis will be Caron & Guay’s man of confidence in front of the net next season. Ellis, 24, played in the ECHL and in the American Hockey League for the last four seasons… Trois-Rivières also drafted defenceman Marc-André Bergeron, who played for the Montréal Canadiens last year and for Edmonton, New York Islanders, Anaheim, and Minnesota prior to that. “Marc-André is from Trois-Rivières and he still has some good years in the NHL in front of him. But when he’ll be done, we would like him to play with us”, said co-owner, general manager and coach Dean Lygitsagos.
In Rivière-du-Loup: Jean-François Béliveau won’t be back as head coach of the 3L next season. He will make a comeback on the ice! Béliveau, 33, was behind the bench of the CIMT last year after he thought his shoulder was in too bad shape to play again. In three of five seasons in the LNAH, he spent more than 300 minutes in the penalty box … Stéfan Paradis will be the new head coach of the 3L.
In Saint-Georges: At 41, Jesse Bélanger will be back with the COOL FM next season. Bélanger, who played in the NHL with Montréal, Florida, Vancouver, Edmonton and N.Y. Islanders, had 65 points in 44 games last year.
In Saguenay: Head coach Serge Forcier waited nearly all summer before the Marquis owners finally offered him a new deal. Forcier did a good job last year after replacing Bob Desjardins at the end of October.
In Sherbrooke: General manager Jean-François Grégoire signed a new two-year deal with Saint-François.
Contact Michel.Tasse@prohockeynews.com
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