The Laval Rocket, AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens, will commence their 8th season this week. The Home opener is schedule for Friday October 18, 2024 when Laval plays host to the Syracuse Crunch.

This season’s expectations for the Laval Rocket are higher than in previous seasons.  The team is younger, but more importantly, it’s stocked with many of the recent draft picks of the Jeff Gorton & Kent Hughes regime.

Lead by prospects up front like Own Beck, Sean Farrell, Riley Kidney, Florian Xhekaj, Filip Mesar, Luke Tuch, and Joshua Roy.  And on defence Adam Engstrom, Logan Mailloux and William Trudeau.  Unfortunately Rocket fans will not see Canadien’s 2023 1st round pick, David Reinbacher, out 5-6 months with a knee injury he suffered during a Canadiens pre-season game.  In goal, Laval is opting with two young prospects.  Connor Hughes is a UFA goalie coming out of the NCAA ranks.  Whereas Jakub Dobes is a 2020 5th round draft pick who impressed many at the Canadiens training camp last month.

Place Bell

Despite lack of success over the last few seasons for Laval Rocket, that hasn’t stopped fans from wanting to catch a game at Place Bell.  Place Bell is ideally located in the heart of Laval, a suburb of Montreal.  It’s next to a metro station on the Line 2 (orange line).  And it’s a 30 minute metro ride from downtown Montreal.  Last season, Laval Rocket average just over 8,300 spectators.  Place Bell’s capacity is about 10,000 seats.

One thing is certain, win or lose, the atmosphere at Place Bell is electric. Most hoke games are played on Friday nights and Saturday matinees. With some mid-week games. For a complete list of home games, check out the schedule.