The Trois-Rivières Lions have changed coach and GM again

The ECHL’s Trois-Rivières Lions are clearly having trouble buying stability. For just under a year now, the club’s top management has been changing quite frequently.

In the club’s first year, 2021-2022, Marc-André Bergeron was GM and Éric Bélanger was coach. The duo worked together for over a year before Bélanger stepped down last November.

He then accepted the coaching job with the Drummondville Voltigeurs… before leaving this summer.

Marc-André Bergeron then took on both Lions jobs, and ended the 2022-2023 season that way. But in the end, he too chose to leave Trois-Rivières recently, last June.

His assistant Pascal Rhéaume had then taken both positions. A few days before the ECHL free-agent market opened, he was thrown into the deep end.

And now, two months later, Rhéaume has left the organization. He’s now on his way to the AHL, but we don’t yet know which team he’ll be heading for.

As a result, he has never coached a single game in the Mauricie region in his new role.

To replace him, Ron Choules, who was hired as an assistant a few weeks ago, takes over as GM and head coach of the Trois-Rivières club. Mathieu Brodeur and Alex Cousineau will be his assistants behind the bench and on the second floor.

Unlike the QMJHL, where many places are increasingly deciding to have two different people as head coach and GM, the Lions are doing the opposite.

The last three coaches have also held the GM position at the same time. #Budget

This means that Choules, a Montrealer who was involved in the QMJHL from 2005 to 2021, will be thrown into the ECHL fray fairly quickly. How long will he be on the job?

Let’s hope the club finds some stability.

Gossip

– Nice picture.

– Speak of the devil.

– What a bad season in New York.