Jean-François Trudeau, a member of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada ownership group, is very clear: “We don’t want to move, we want it to work.” The solution to this is both simple and complicated: we have to find a way to attract fans from all over the Lower Laurentians.
Trudeau is part of the group of five shareholders who acquired the only junior hockey club in Greater Montreal in May 2023. At that time, “the team was completely on the ground,” Mr. Trudeau said in an interview with The PressFriday.
Since then, several improvements have been made to the customer experience, in order to attract people to the Centre d’excellence Sports Rousseau, the club’s home. This season, “it didn’t go very well” in terms of ticket sales. “We had hopes of attracting a certain number of people, and we were in the three worst teams in the league.”
Of course, the owners were “not expecting a miracle,” Trudeau said. “It’s a three-year plan, we’re not discouraged,” he added. To date, the group is not thinking about moving. “We’re in a mood where it has to work in Boisbriand.”
It is with this objective in mind that the Armada announced a partnership with the City of Saint-Jérôme on Friday: the team will play four preparatory matches at the Rivière-du-Nord regional arena on August 16, 21 and 23 as well as September 13.
This partnership is a way for the Armada to accomplish one of its missions, namely to “get closer to the community” of the Lower Laurentians.
It’s a regional team. It’s not just a city’s team. We’ve made it our mission to get closer to schools. Last year, we went to play a game in Sainte-Agathe, it was a success.
Jean-François Trudeau, member of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada ownership group
Without making threats or issuing an ultimatum, Mr. Trudeau confided that the club will not be able to survive if attendance does not increase in the next two years. “We will not be here for five years with 1,000 people in the stands, it is not viable,” he said.
“It’s not the people’s job. It’s our job to bring them in, to prove to them that we have a good product and that it can become interesting,” he continues, recalling that the team will reach the end of its cycle in the 2025-2026 season. “I think we’re going to succeed. I hope we’re going to succeed.” […] We don’t know the future, but our primary goal is to keep it in Boisbriand.”
” Back to the past “
In Saint-Jérôme, this partnership with the Armada marks the return of the QMJHL to the city after a 52-year absence. The Saint-Jérôme Alouettes existed from 1969 to 1972.
“I think it’s a nice nod, a return to the past, but perhaps a look to the future, you never know,” said the mayor, Marc Bourcier.
Saint-Jérôme has been constantly announcing sports news in recent months. Last January, the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation inaugurated its 14e Bleu Blanc Bouge skating rink at Honorine-Melançon Park. “I had been asking the Foundation for this for 14 years,” says Mr. Bourcier.
In recent weeks, the city has welcomed the Montreal Alouettes to the Claude-Beaulieu Centre. The team held its training camp there. “It gets people talking about Saint-Jérôme for the right reasons.”
And now the city will present four major junior hockey games at the Rivière-du-Nord regional arena, which can accommodate up to 1,300 people.
“In 2021, we were worried because there were rumors that [l’équipe partirait] in Longueuil. […] This is the Laurentians team. We are the central city. We are the regional capital. We have a lot to offer.”
Would it be possible to have a major junior club in Jérôme one of these days? “It will be up to the citizens to show us what they want, to send us a signal.”