Grenoble missed the Magnus Cup in 2014–15 after a disappointingly early exit from the playoffs. But first place in the regular season meant that they were able to qualify for the Champions Hockey League – a great reward for one of the most famous clubs in France with a lot of past connections to European hockey.

by Christophe Lapara

Ice hockey was born in Grenoble in 1963. The once called Grenoble Hockey Club was developed by its first coach, Gaetan “Pete” Laliberté, who quickly became a legend in the biggest city of the French Alps. In the early days of hockey in Grenoble, the French championship was relatively weak and exhibition games against famous European teams from Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Austria, among others, were regularly organized in the new rink, one of the only indoor ones in France at that time with a 2,200 capacity. Grenoble even took part in the International Cup with powerful Dutch teams at the beginning of the 1970s.

And, of course, the 1968 Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble gave a big boost to ice hockey in the city and its club, quickly nicknamed les Brûleurs de Loups (literally “the Wolves burners”), following the name given to local farmers in the 18th century who had the habit of trapping wolves in forests and then lighting a fire to burn them.

It took 18 years for Grenoble to win their first championship title in French hockey – back-to-back titles, actually, as Grenoble (then coached by Gary Brown) won both in 1981 and 1982, which gave Grenoble the opportunity to play the European Champions Club Cup the following years. It took nearly another decade for Grenoble to claim a third Magnus Cup in 1991 with Bohuslav Ebermann behind the bench and famous French players Philippe Bozon, Christophe Ville, Stephane Barin and Christian Pouget in the line-up.

After this third championship title, Grenoble suffered from financial problems and had to rely on its hockey school, one of the best in France. Some young players emerged at that time like goaltender Cristobal Huet, who later played in the NHL (Los Angeles, Montreal, Washington and Chicago) and is still playing with Lausanne in the Swiss NLA. In the '90s was also an opportunity for Grenoble to play in the Alpenliga against Austrian and Italian teams.

In 1998, Grenoble was back at the top of French hockey, claiming their fourth title with Jaroslav Jagr as head coach, Huet in net and some key players like Tom Hartogs, Marc Savard, Bob Ouellet and again Barin, who all played in the German DEL the following season. In 1998, Grenoble also took part to the new Continental Cup (advancing to the semi-final group in Berlin) and one year later to the former EHL, claiming two wins against Fribourg-Gotteron with Czech sniper Josef Podlaha and Finnish goalie Mika Rautio on the roster.

After facing again some financial difficulties at the end of the '90s, the wolf burners had to rebuild at the beginning of the new century in “Pôle Sud”, a brand new arena with a 3,500 capacity, one of the most modern in France and which hosted the IIHF World Championship Division 1 in 2001.

It didn’t take long for Grenoble to come back to a competitive level in the newly created Ligue Magnus and les Brûleurs de Loups finally claimed a fifth championship in 2007 (with Gerald Guennelon as head coach) and sixth one in 2009. That year was very special for Grenoble, who won all four competitions organized in France that season – the Ligue Magnus regular season and playoffs, as well as the French Cup and the League Cup – with Swedish head coach Mats Lusth behind the bench and Eddy Ferhi, Baptiste Amar, Damien Fleury, Alexandre Rouleau, Viktor Wallin and Ludek Broz among the top players on the roster.

Meanwhile, Grenoble was still present on the European scene, taking part in the 2001–02, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2007–08 and 2009–10 editions of the Continental Cup, even hosting the 2010 Super Final which was won by Red Bull Salzburg.

Ups and downs in recent years

After this incredible 2008–09 season, Grenoble started to decline. Les Brûleurs de Loups had to let Lusth and a few of the top players go because of financial constraints, shifting to a much younger roster. Former Canadian player Jean-François Dufour had to retire to take on the head coach duties for four seasons from 2010 to 2014. Results didn’t follow, however, with only one League Cup and a surprising run to the finals in 2011 with a very young team. Still, the wolf burners made history again during that time frame by organizing in December 2013 the first French “Winter Game” against Briançon in Grenoble's Stade des Alpes, which attracted a league-record crowd of 19,767.

AnchorIn 2014, management hired Canadian head coach Richard Martel and the season started well, with new captain and former NHLer Eric Chouinard along with Danick Bouchard, top scorer of the previous season. Grenoble won again the League Cup, its first trophy in four years, while finishing first in the standings at the end of the regular season (including a 11-game winning streak in October and November). Hopes were high for the playoffs but Grenoble were quickly eliminated by 12th-ranked Dijon, blowing a 2 games to 0 lead to lose 3–2 in the best-of-five quarter-final series.

The CHL: the right opportunity to bounce back?

After this disappointing end, les Brûleurs de Loups are now rebuilding one more time for this upcoming season. Edo Terglav, who was head coach of the Briancon Diables Rouges last season, will bring his CHL experience behind the bench.

The roster has also been largely rebuilt – Team France forward Yorick Treille, Swedish goalie Michal Zajkowski, Canadian defencemen Pierre-Luc Lessard, Dominic Jalbert, Sam Roberts, forwards Mitja Sivic, Felix Petit and Toby Lafrance have all left. They have been replaced by Latvian goalie Ervins Mustukovs, defencemen Sebastien Bisaillon, Jonathan Harty and Ryan Barlock, Canadian forwards Dave Labrecque, Sebastien Thinel, Sebastien Gauthier and former Czech NHL prospect Petr Kalus.

With a renewed and more physical line-up still led by Chouinard, Grenoble are ready to return to the European scene, now facing the tough challenge of the CHL. They also hope to be competitive enough domestically to have this time a successful playoff run and challenge for a seventh Magnus Cup!

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