Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey


 * See also: North American Hockey League (1973–1977) and North American Hockey League (US Tier-II Junior league).

The Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey(North American Hockey League) (LNAH) was founded in 2004 and is a low-level professional league based in the Canadian province of Quebec. It was called the Quebec Semi-Pro Hockey League from 1996 until it turned pro in 2004. It has no connection with the similarly named North American Hockey League (NAHL), an American junior league for players under twenty. Teams in the LNAH compete for the Futura Cup, which has been awarded annually since 1997.

Unlike higher-level professional leagues, such as the American Hockey League or the ECHL, the LNAH is not known for its skill level. Its teams employ many enforcers and has a rather infamous reputation for on-ice antics that mostly include fisticuffs. The LNAH has the unofficial reputation as the world's toughest hockey league; a New York Times article stated that the league averaged 3.2 fights a game during the 2010-2011 season, compared with 0.6 fights in the National Hockey League.

Despite this reputation, many of the players are ex-NHL or ex-AHL players; Patrick Cote, Michel Picard, Stephane Richer, Bobby Dollas, Guillaume Lefebvre, Garrett Burnett, Daniel Shank, Francois Leroux, Jeremy Stevenson, Eric Fichaud, Mario Roberge, David Gosselin, Jesse Belanger, Donald Brashear and Yves Racine. During the 2004–2005 NHL lockout, some NHL players played the entire season in the league, such as Sylvain Blouin, Sebastien Caron, Mathieu Biron, Marc-André Bergeron and Sebastien Charpentier. The league has a rule that stipulates that all players must either have come from Quebec, or played junior hockey in Quebec.

Another unique aspect, compared to other minor pro leagues of North America, is the absence of a veteran limit rule, which allows teams to stock up on experienced players. The league is slowly trying to clean itself up (for 2005–2006, the roster limit went from 20 to 19 players, which for most teams meant one less enforcer), but this is no easy task for a league that has always been popular with the fans for its reputation of being the toughest league in the world.

The LNAH Draft is held during the summer, including 15 rounds. Players too old for junior ice hockey may be drafted even if they were already drafted by an NHL team. Drafted players come from many leagues, including the Canadian Hockey League, American Hockey League, lower-level professional league, and the CIS.

Current teams

 * Notes


 * 1) An asterisk (*) denotes a franchise move/rename. See the respective team articles for more information.  The second date is when the team took their present name.

Team Timeline
Present teams in bold