The Trois-Rivières Lions are a professional

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team in the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

based in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The team began play in the

2021–22 ECHL season The 2021–22 ECHL season was the 34th season of the ECHL. The regular season was scheduled to run from October 21, 2021, to April 17, 2022, with the Kelly Cup playoffs to follow. Twenty-seven teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces were ea ...

, with home games at

Colisée Vidéotron Colisée Vidéotron is a multi-purpose arena in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. Opened in September 2021, the arena replaced the aging Colisée de Trois-Rivières and seats 4,390 fans. Starting with the 2021-22 season, its main tenant is the Tr ...

. They are affiliated with the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

and

Laval Rocket The Laval Rocket (french: Rocket de Laval) are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League (AHL) as an affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Montreal Canadiens. Based in Laval, Quebec, Canada, the Rocket play th ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

History

The city of

, Quebec, began construction on a replacement for the aging

Colisée de Trois-Rivières The Colisée de Trois-Rivières is an arena in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. It has a capacity of 3500, with 2700 seated. It opened in 1938. The Colisée was home to the Trois-Rivières Draveurs of the QMJHL from 1969 to 1992. From 2004 to 2018 ...

with an expected completion date of 2021, but had no permanent tenants scheduled. In July 2020,

Newfoundland Growlers The Newfoundland Growlers are a professional minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The team began play in the 2018–19 ECHL season and have home games at Mary Brown's Centre. They are membe ...

' majority owner Dean MacDonald (through his group Deacon Sports and Entertainment) came to an agreement with the city to place an ECHL team in

, pending league approval, for the 2021–22 season. On November 30, the team finalized its lease agreement. Finally, on January 12, 2021, the team was approved by the ECHL Board of Governors to join the league for the 2021–22 season. On January 19, the

had announced that the new team would serve as their ECHL affiliate. On June 10, 2021, the team name was announced as the Trois-Rivières Lions, named after the only previous professional team to play in the city, the

Trois-Rivières Lions The Trois-Rivières Lions are a professional minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL based in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. The team began play in the 2021–22 ECHL season, with home games at Colisée Vidéotron. They are affiliated with t ...

, from 1955 to 1960. On June 15,

Éric Bélanger Éric Bélanger (born December 16, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played the majority of his professional career as a centre in the National Hockey League (NHL), representing the Los Angeles Kings, Carolina Hurrican ...

was named the team's first head coach.

Season-by-season records

Players

Current roster

Updated November 29, 2022.

References

External links