Ligue Magnus preview

12 Sep 2014 | Nicolas Leduc

The season starts tomorrow for the 14 teams of french Ligue Magnus.

Who will win the championship ?

ROUEN obviously is one the favorite teams for the title.A long-time experience of high level and the addition of good players like Defender Coulombe,goalkeeper Riopel or forwards Lacroix and Leveillé can make the difference.

The runner-up of the last season ANGERS will be at least in the semifinals again.the departure of key players (Bellemare,Fortin,Hardy) had been offset by new players(Bisaillon,Tifu) and ex-NHL goalkeeper Aubin.The « Ducs » want to take the power !

GRENOBLE wants to dominate once again the championship.After five disappointing years,the club signed the Canadian coach Richard Martel .The best players of last season (Y.Treille,Lessard,Petit) stayed and the arrivals of forwards Chouinard and Bouchard contribute to a solid squad.However the level of Swedish goalkeeper Zajkowski is an interrogation.

The underdogs :

AMIENS is a hard opponent but his lack of regularity can be a damage.The canadian legion headed by Barry Smith can be a good surprise .

Defending champion BRIANCON will have problem to realize the same performance.The legendary coach Luciano Basile leaved the club with five key players and his best player of last season, Kearney has gone to Norwegian Championship.The club started the season earlier and will certainly miss energy to the end of the season.

The Neighbouring club of GAP welcomed Basile and Co. and seems to be able to reach quarterfinals.

DIJON ally defensive strictness and offensive efficiency but the depth of the bench shan’t be enough to do better than first round of Play-Offs .

The outsiders :

EPINAL opened a new era.The club has a new name(GamYo,reference to a start-up creating video games and the new sponsor),new colors and new ambitions.The all-time best French player Philippe Bozon became the new coach but it will be difficult this year to do better than quarterfinals.

Due to financial reasons MORZINE-AVORIAZ and STRASBOURG had to control their recruitment .Both teams will have to count on young players to save the season.

The stability of CHAMONIX will allow the club to reach the first round of the Play-Offs.But no more hope…

The battle for relegation :

It will be the first appearance in the highest level of French hockey for LYON.However the club signed experienced players from Ligue Magnus and can avoid relegation.

As in the last season,CAEN and BREST(which replaced Villard de Lans) will certainly face again to stay one more time in the League.

The season will consist in a round-robin of 26 games.Teams 1st to 4th after the regular season qualify for the second round of Play-Offs.teams classified 5th to 12th qualify for the first round.

Teams finishing 13th and 14th go to relegation series.