Gatineau Olympiques

Updated on Sep 29, 2024

Edit

Comment

City Gatineau, Quebec Home arena Robert Guertin Centre Arena/Stadium Robert Guertin Centre Conference Telus		Division Telus West General manager Marcel Patenaude Location Gatineau, Canada Date founded 1969

League Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Colours Black, white and silver Profiles Twitter Facebook

Vitalii abramov 2015 16 highlights gatineau olympiques

The Gatineau Olympiques are a major junior ice hockey team based in Gatineau, Quebec, that plays in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The Olympiques play home games at the Robert Guertin Centre. The club, then known as the Hull Festivals, was granted membership in the QMJHL in 1973. The Olympiques have appeared in the Memorial Cup seven times, winning once in 1997. Over eighty former players and coaches have gone on to play or coach in the National Hockey League (NHL), including Martin Biron, Aleš Hemský, Luc Robitaille, Jeremy Roenick, Michael Ryder, Maxime Talbot, José Théodore, Colin White, Claude Giroux, David Krejčí, Jack Adams-winning head coaches Alain Vigneault and Pat Burns and 2011 Stanley Cup-winning coach Claude Julien.

Saint john sea dogs vs gatineau olympiques october 5th 2016

History

Before joining the "Q", the team was a member of the Central Junior A Hockey League, known originally as the Hull Castors but later as the Hull Hawks. Originally Hull and the CJHL were eligible to compete for the Memorial Cup, the Major Junior crown, but were relegated to Tier II Junior "A" in 1970. Three seasons before joining the QMJHL in 1973 they became the Hull Festivals, and in 1976, they became the Hull Olympiques; the team name was changed to the Gatineau Olympiques one year after the city of Hull was amalgamated into Gatineau in 2002.

The Olympiques share a junior hockey market with the Ottawa 67's, across the Ottawa River. Pre-season games between the two teams were a regular occurrence from 1975 to 1986. The teams have played interleague regular-season home and home games in the 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2009–10 seasons since.

The Olympiques have won the President's Cup seven times, most recently in 2007–08. The team has been to four Memorial Cup finals, losing three (1986, 2003 and 2004) and winning the 1997 Memorial Cup, which they also hosted.

On May 31, 2010, it was announced that former Olympiques coach Benoit Groulx, who had left the organization to coach the Rochester Americans would be returning to be the general manager and head coach.

For the 2011–12 season, the Olympiques returned to the colours of black, silver and white following an eight-year absence.

In 2016, coach Groulx left the Olympiques again to become the head coach of the Syracuse Crunch. He was replaced by Mario Duhamel who would only 47 games with a 19–24–4 record. Duhamel was replaced by assistant coach Éric Landry.