Montreal Canadiens announce the acquisition of a new NMFHL franchise to be located in Laval suburb

After the construction of the new Bell Centre in downtown Montreal, the construction of a mysterious new arena in Laval now has a rhyme and reason to it. 

The new Montreal Canadiens franchise announced today the acquisition of a new franchise to play in the NMFHL.  This means its association with the Mississauga Steelheads of the NMFHL has come to an end. It’s not clear if that franchise will be dismantled, remain associated with the current Calgary Flames or simply find a new NFHL team to associate with.  What’s clear is the current players in development and players who won’t make the cut will now be playing only 15 km away from the main roster.

The new franchise has been named the Laval Rocket, an obvious reference to legend Maurice “Rocket” Richard but also, less obviously making reference to the nearby Cosmodome, a NASA space camp of sorts, which sports a giant rocket ship in front of its building that’s visible almost everywhere in the Laval skyline. 

The new arena in downtown Laval will be named the “Place Bell” not to be confused with the “Centre Bell” which was announced yesterday. 

The suburb of Laval has just completed the construction of three new metro stations which are connected to the Montreal Metro and will make it easy for fans across the region to go see their future Habs stars. 

One of the next orders of business will be the hiring of a new coach for the Rocket.

-The Montreal Gazette