Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey

	Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1996
No. of teams	8
Country(ies)	Canada
Most recent champion(s)	Sorel-Tracy Éperviers (2018)
Official website	www.lnah.com

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)^[1]^[2] (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.^[3]

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.^[3]

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

Team	City	Province	Arena	Joined
Jonquière Marquis	Saguenay	Quebec	Palais des Sports de Saguenay	1996
Rivière-du-Loup 3L	Rivière-du-Loup	Quebec	Centre Premier Tech	2008
Saint-Georges Cool FM 103.5	Saint-Georges	Quebec	Centre Sportif Lacroix-Dutil	1996
Sorel-Tracy Éperviers	Sorel-Tracy	Quebec	Colisée Cardin	1996
Thetford Mines Assurancia	Thetford Mines	Quebec	Centre Mario Gosselin	1996
Trois-Rivières Draveurs	Trois-Rivières	Quebec	Colisée de Trois-Rivières	1996

Notes

An asterisk (*) denotes a franchise move. See the respective team articles for more information.

Champions

Season	Champion
1996-97	Saint-Gabriel Blizzard
1997-98	Lachute Rapides
1998-99	Joliette Blizzard
1999-00	LaSalle Rapides
2000-01	Joliette Mission
2001-02	Laval Chiefs
2002-03	Laval Chiefs
2003-04	Verdun Dragons
2004-05	Québec Radio X
2005-06	Sherbrooke Saint-François
2006-07	Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Summum-Chiefs
2007-08	Trois-Rivières Caron & Guay
2008-09	Pont Rouge Lois Jeans
2009-10	Saint-Georges CRS Express
2010-11	Sherbrooke Saint-François
2011-12	Thetford Mines Isothermic
2012-13	Jonquiere Marquis
2013-14	Jonquiere Marquis
2014-15	Thetford Mines Isothermic
2015-16	Rivière-du-Loup 3L
2016-17	Jonquiere Marquis
2017-18	Sorel-Tracy Éperviers
2018-19	TBD

Defunct teams

Team	Seasons	Fate
Acton Vale Beaulieu	2000–2001	became Saint-Hyacinthe Cousin
Acton Vale Nova	1996–2000	renamed Acton Vale Beaulieu
Asbestos Aztèques	1997–2001	renamed Asbestos Dubé
Asbestos Aztèques	2002–2003	folded
Asbestos Dubé	2001–2002	renamed Asbestos Aztèques
Cornwall River Kings	2012-2016	folded in August 2016
Côte-de-Beaupré As	2000–2001	became Québec As
Côte-de-Beaupré Caron et Guay	1999–2000	became Côte-de-Beaupré As
Granby Blitz	1997–2002	renamed Granby Prédateurs
Granby Prédateurs	2002–2004	folded
Haut-Richelieu Dragons	1996–1997	renamed Iberville Dragons
Iberville Dragons	1997–1998	became Saint-Laurent Dragons
Joliette Blizzard	1998–2000	renamed Joliette Mission
Joliette Mission	2000–2002	became Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Mission
Jonquière Condors	1997–2002	renamed Saguenay Paramédic
Lachute Rapides	1996–1999	became LaSalle Rapides
LaSalle Rapides	1999–2003	folded
Laurentides Gladiateurs	1996–1997	became Sainte-Thérèse Chiefs
Laval Chiefs	1998–2005	renamed Laval Summum-Chiefs
Laval Prédateurs	2013-2017	folded when unable to relocate or find new owner
Laval Summum-Chiefs	2005–2006	became Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Summum-Chiefs
Louiseville Jets	1996–1997	folded
Pont-Rouge Caron et Guay	2001–2004	became Trois-Rivières Caron et Guay
Pont-Rouge Grand Portneuf	1996–2001	renamed Pont-Rouge Caron et Guay
Québec As	1997–1998	dormant in 1998–1999 became Côte-de-Beaupré Caron et Guay
Québec As	2001–2003	(played Charlesbourg in 2001–2002 and Beauport in 2002–2003 renamed Québec Radio X
Rive-Sud Chacals	1996–1998	became Saint-Georges Garaga
Rivière-du-Loup Promutuel	2001–2004	folded
Rivière-du-Loup CIMT	2008-2010	renamed Rivière-du-Loup 3L
Saguenay Marquis	2009-2012	renamed Jonquiere Marquis
Saguenay 98,3	2008-2009	renamed Saguenay Marquis
Saguenay Fjord	2004–2005	folded after 24 games
Saguenay Paramédic	2002–2004	renamed Saguenay Fjord
Ste-Marie Poutrelles Delta	2008	folded during the season
Sainte-Thérèse Chiefs	1997–1998	became Laval Chiefs
Saint-Gabriel Blizzard	1996–1998	became Joliette Blizzard
Saint-Georges Garaga	1998–2005	renamed Saint-Georges CRS Express
Saint-Hyacinthe Chiefs	2008-2009	folded
Saint-Hyacinthe Cousin	2001–2005	renamed Saint-Hyacinthe Cristal
Saint-Hyacinthe Cristal	2005–2006	renamed Saint-Hyacinthe Top Design
Saint-Hyacinthe Top Design	2006–2008	renamed Saint-Hyacinthe Chiefs
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Mission	2002–2004	became Sorel-Tracy Mission
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Summum-Chiefs	2006–2008	became Saguenay 98,3
Saint-Laurent Dragons	1998–2001	became Verdun Dragons
Sherbrooke Saint-François	2003-2011	became Windsor Wild
Sorel Dinosaures	1996–1999	renamed Sorel Royaux
Sorel Mission	2004–2008	folded
Sorel Royaux	1999–2004	folded
Thetford Mines Coyotes	1996–2000	renamed Thetford Mines Prolab
Thetford Mines Isothermic	2007-2015	renamed Thetford Mines Assurancia
Thetford Mines Prolab	2000–2007	renamed Thetford Mines Isothermic
Trois-Rivières Blizzard	2014-2017	Renamed Trois-Rivières Draveurs
Trois-Rivières Viking	2003–2004	folded
Valleyfield Braves	2013-2013	relocated to Laval in November 2013
Vanier Voyageurs	1996–1997	became Québec As and played at Val-Bélair
Verdun Dragons	2001–2005	renamed Verdun-Montréal Dragons
Verdun-Montréal Dragons	2005–2006	folded
Waterloo 94	1996–1997	became Granby Blitz
Windsor Lacroix	2001–2003	became Sherbrooke Saint-François
Windsor Papetiers	1996–2001	renamed Windsor Lacroix
Windsor Wild	2011-2012	become Cornwall River Kings

References

↑ RDS (LNAH's broadcaster) article.
↑ Le procès de Éric Haley aura lieu en décembre, La Tribune.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Jeff Z. Klein (2011-03-01). A Place for Pro Hockey Players Fighting to Stay in the Game. New York Times. Retrieved on 2011-03-01.

External links

Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (French)
RDS coverage of the LNAH (French)

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).

[1] RDS (LNAH's broadcaster) article.

[2] Le procès de Éric Haley aura lieu en décembre, La Tribune.

[NYTimes-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Jeff Z. Klein (2011-03-01). A Place for Pro Hockey Players Fighting to Stay in the Game. New York Times. Retrieved on 2011-03-01.

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