LAVAL – The Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate will be just a stone’s throw away from the Bell Centre – and the Bell Sports Complex – come the fall of 2017.
On Monday, the Canadiens officially announced that the city of Laval would be welcoming an AHL franchise that would make its home at Place Bell beginning with the 2017-18 season.
Several days ago, at the AHL Annual Meeting in Hilton Head, SC, the league’s Board of Governors approved the relocation of the St. John’s IceCaps to Laval in a year’s time, paving the way for Canadiens president and CEO Geoff Molson to make the news of the future move public at the brand new state-of-the-art facility on the North Shore.
Bergevin believes there are many advantages that come with having the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate so close to home.
Molson is adamant that a Laval-based AHL franchise will also serve to better prepare prospects within the organization to handle the inevitable media attention – and scrutiny – that comes with playing in a pressure-packed market like Montreal. Players will have the opportunity to experience it first-hand on a daily basis, so they'll be well-equipped to handle it effectively when the Canadiens eventually come calling for their services.
Monday morning’s announcement took Bergevin back in time to his playing days as a youngster in Quebec. Laval, he says, was a good place to play all those years ago, and it has remained that way ever since.
Community, according to Molson, is what Laval's AHL franchise will be all about.
The first step in that process is inviting hockey fans in Quebec aged 18 and over – and specifically those in Laval – to submit names for the new club via www.placebell.ca beginning on Monday. The “Name The Team Contest” is divided into three separate phases, with the winning name scheduled to be announced this fall.