Things are (really) not going well for Canadian school clubs

Last year, Laval Rocket had a season that can be described as magical. For the first time since 2011, the Canadian school club won the MLS playoff round. The Rocket had even lost in the seventh game of the semi-finals.

Place Bell, often packed with explosions, was known for its stunning atmosphere.

At Trois-Rivieres, the Lions did well in their first year of existence. With a 34-29-5-1 record, the team even qualified for the playoffs, but lost in the seventh game of the first round. For the first time in its history, the Canadian had an affiliated team in ECHL and the inaugural season was a success.

But a month into the start of the 2022-2023 season, the situation was completely different. The two Canadian school clubs are struggling, accumulating a string of losses.

Earlier today, the Rocket lost in overtime by 3-2 against the Leigh Valley Phantoms. This is the fourth defeat in a row for the forces of Jean-Francois Houle.

At Trois-Rivières, the Lions lost 6-1 against the Adirondak Thunder. This is Eric Bellanger’s fifth loss in their last six games.

With a 2-5-1 record, Lions are 23rd (out of 28) in percentage in ECHL.

Habs has quite a few interesting possibilities in Trois-Rivières, but the fact remains that this league is a very important tool for development. For example, there are still three players who played a game for the Canadians this year and have undergone ECHL (Mike Hoffman, Chris Weidmann and Michael Pesetta).

In the medium and long term, Lions must become a respected franchise in order to ensure sustainability in the development of the Canadian youth organization.

For its part, the Laval missile is now 2-6-3 and 30 (from 32) in percentage. My colleague Charles Alexis Presboa spoke about it a few days ago, but the top players lack opportunism and the club is not playing well in defence.

Anthony Richard and Barndon Gignac, two MLS veterans, are the team’s top scorers. Al-Kindi’s hopes, produce little. William Trudeau has zero points in six games, Jan Misak has only one point in 11 games and Justin Barron has only four points in 11 games.

Even Rafael Harvey Benard, who is in his third season with Laval, has just five points in 11 games.

If there is a lesson to be learned from the age of Mark Bergievin, it is that developing when there is a loser culture in the school club is not ideal. So let’s hope the boat recovers in Laval and Trois-Rivieres.

Many of

– After Alphonso Davies earlier today, that’s bad news for Canada.

Maxime Crepeau may have sacrificed his World Cup presence to avoid a goal in the MLS Cup.

You can use this for future tweets from “Damn Soccer Fakes”.# telescope

– Nilton George (@NiltonJorge) November 5 2022

At least Crépeau allowed his team to win the MLS Cup.

Los Angeles wins the title at home 🏆Tweet embed Is 2022 # telescope Champions! pic.twitter.com/bJP6fJ3MTP

– FOX Soccer (FOXSoccer) November 5 2022

– A great achievement!

to see | Career goal number 300 for Jiro! It is also his first match against FLYERS! 😱 pic.twitter.com/HNfF9EEXNn

– TVA Sports (TVASports) November 5 2022

– Campbell doesn’t look like a savior in the network in Edmonton.

Jack Campbell starts with 4.20 GAA and .874 sv% in 8 this season. #LetsGoOilers

– NHL Watcher (NHL_Watcher) November 5 2022

– The Karabeans are going to the Dunsmore Cup.

Quebec direction 😤 pic.twitter.com/iftUhqmzpA

– carabines (@carabines) November 5 2022