Laval Rocket

Place Bell Laval

Moved to Hamilton in 1996 from Sydney, Nova Scotia where the franchise played as Cape Breton Oilers. Affiliated with Edmonton Oilers at that time, the club was subject to relocation to Toronto in 2001. However, local investment acquired the ownership of Quebec Citadelles and AHL stayed in Hamilton.

On March 12, 2015, Michael Andlauer announced that he had sold the Hamilton Bulldogs AHL franchise back to the Canadiens, and that the team would move to St. John s, Newfoundland for the 2015-16 season as the St. John s IceCaps (the current, True North Sports and Entertainment owned IceCaps, which are affiliated with the Winnipeg Jets, will move back to Winnipeg, as the Manitoba Moose). Concurrently, Andlauer announced his acquisition of the Ontario Hockey League s Belleville Bulls, and that the team would be moved to Hamilton and adopt the Bulldogs name.

Upon the franchise s relocation, the Bulldogs team would have been 7th longest in tenure (behind only Rochester, Hershey, Providence, Portland, Syracuse, and Springfield).They are also the longest serving non-NHL professional hockey team in Canada, the longest serving Canadian AHL team, and one the AHL s most successful teams with over 2,500,000 fans to date

The team was originally affiliated with the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets from 2011 to 2015. However, beginning with the 2015-16 AHL season, they will be the top affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL) after the Jets relocated their franchise back to Manitoba and the Canadiens moving the former Hamilton Bulldogs franchise to St. John

On July 11, 2016, the AHL and the Montreal Canadiens announced that they would be moving their affiliate to the Montreal suburb of Laval for the 2017-18 season. A name-the-team contest was held from July 11 until August 31, with Patriots, Rapids and Rocket as the final three. On September 8, the winning Laval Rocket name was announced, a tribute to Canadiens legend Maurice Rocket Richard which got a 51% majority of the fan votes. The Rocket will actually be the second hockey team in Greater Montreal to use that nickname, after the QMJHL s Montreal Rocket (1999-2003, currently playing as the Charlottetown Islanders).

• from 1991 to 2015: Hamilton Bulldogs AHL
• from 2015 to 2017: St. John’s IceCaps
• from 2017 to present: Laval Rocket

• 2006-2007: AHL

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