New Colisée in Trois-Rivières won't host Canadiens farm team

Sounds like the chances of an ECHL club in Trois-Rivières are dead.
Radio Canada reports that the mayor unilaterally rejected the application. His preference for a QMJHL team is known.https://t.co/bWBb7NkwBZ

— Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) December 13, 2019

The long-rumoured establishment of an ECHL franchise in Trois-Rivières, which was supposed to act as the Canadiens', and more directly, the Laval Rocket's farm team, looks like it won't happen after all.  

This arena, which was built at great taxpayer expense, now seems destined to host les Patriotes de l'Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, according to the reports by Steve Turcotte of Le Nouvelliste.  They play in the U Sports OUA East Division, and if this stumps you, well that's your first indication of the potential draw this team will have on fans.  In a 5 000-seat arena.  Mr. Turcotte suggests the long game might be to wait for a LHJMQ team, either through expansion or another franchise's move.

The mayor and council are also trying to pitch the venue as an arts and culture destination, with Trois-Rivières having a good track record over the last few years as a Cirque du Soleil summer destination.

Which is all fine and good, but this is kind of a bummer for me.  The establishment of an ECHL team was in the long run, I thought, going to be another major asset for the Canadiens, a way to flex its financial might and gain an advantage over more penurious NHL franchises.  Having a wealth of players and prospects under team control in the immediate vicinity of Montréal was going to provide at least a marginal benefit in my opinion.  

Just seeing the way a few injuries on the Canadiens and the Rocket have plucked the latter's roster to the bone, and seeing it have to resort to putting players on PTOs in the lineup, is all the demonstration I need that the Canadiens need to shore up this area of their system.  If this was a one-time thing, you could shrug it off as bad luck, but going back to the Hamilton Bulldogs days, it seems that every season a 'promising' roster in the AHL is proven to be too threadbare, perennially in crisis in the event of a few sprains or callups.

I try not to get too upset over specific games, the wins and losses, even my beloved team missing the playoffs.  As long as there is progress, even the 'one step back' kind, when a Max Pacioretty is sent packing, or when we agonize and cross our fingers until the day of the Draft Lottery.

So when the Canadiens' affiliation with the ECHL Brampton Beast was discontinued a couple seasons back and not replaced with another ECHL team affiliation, but seeing instead the Canadiens placing/loaning surplus AHL'ers to various ECHL franchises, I took it in stride, believing a long-term solution was afoot.  I figured these last couple of years without a dedicated ECHL team were one of these 'one-step-back' moments, that would pay off in the long run.  So I'd grit my teeth at the fact that Michael McNiven is banished to one rival's ECHL team after another, with no control on coaching and minutes on our part.  These stumbles will pay off in the long run, I thought.

But now that this purported plan is not going to come to fruition, I'm going to grouse about this.  This situation cannot endure.  Either Geoff Molson enters the dance and sweetens the offer so that Trois-Rivières does an about-face, or the Canadiens next season have to sew up an American ECHL franchise's affiliation.  They need to stack it with Québec coaching and organizational talent to stock the pond further, give our prospects, even the longshots, the best environment possible to progress and maybe even succeed.

And long-term, they have to get an ECHL franchise set up nearby, possibly on the South Shore, and provide deep organizational support to the Canadiens and Rocket and its players.