By winning last season’s Continental Cup, the French flagship hockey team of modern times, the Rouen Dragons, will participate in their first Champions Hockey League ever.  It's an achievement for this team which is quite used to European battles, and will strive to be more than just making up the numbers.

by Sebastien Bernard and Marketa Riu

Rouen, known as “the town of the hundred bell-towers”, is the capital of Normandy in the northwest of France. Crossed by the river Seine, it's a dynamic and sporty town where the ice hockey team enjoys great popularity (undoubtedly the number one sport in town) and valuable support from a discerning public of connoisseurs which have been going to games at the Ile Lacroix, since 1992 – the rink itself is named after the island on which the rink is located on. The Rouen Hockey Club took over from the Rouen Olympic Club and was founded in the late '70s but appeared in French hockey competitions in 1982 – and it wouldn't be long before entering into the top league after being promoted at the end of the 1984–85 season.

A successful history

The beginnings were quite tough for the club, and the team saved its skin at the 1986–87 season – ending up 9^th out of 10 and with a financial year marked by late payments to players. Luckily for the Normans, the stability would be back promptly as well as the first championship titles. Led by the club's historical key players like Guy Fournier and Franck Pajonkowski, the team won the French championship for the first time in 1990 by beating Grenoble in the final.

Faced with the same opponents, the team was not able to defend its title the following year, but would again hold the Magnus Cup trophy in 1992, then in 1993 and 1994 at the expense of the Huskies of Chamonix.

After a new victory in 1994–95, the Dragons also performed well in European competitions as winners of the Atlantic League, and making the final of the European Leagues Cup before being defeated by Bolzano. The scenario would be totally reversed the season after: Rouen lost its championship title to Brest, but won the European Leagues Cup against Austrian club VEU Feldkirch.

After a period without conclusive results, the yellow and black Dragons were successful again and awarded with their sixth Magnus Cup in 2001. The following season they would win their first French Cup title facing Besançon.

At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, the club entered into a new era with a luxurious recruitment allowing players such as Julien Desrosiers, Ramon Sopko, Marc-André Thinel or Carl Mallette to join the team. They would all mark the club’s history in their own way, while Rouen re-conquered the Magnus Cup at the end of a perfect season with rising star on the team – one Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

If the season 2006–07 didn’t include any titles, Rouen wasn’t far from achieving a hat-trick championship–League Cup–French Cup the following season, with only Grenbole stopping it with a Cup victory. But this didn’t undermine the hegemony of the Dragons, later sweeping all French champion trophies between 2010 and 2013, and a few national trophies.  The Normans would also lift their first Continental Cup at home in 2011–12.

Turning another corner

As competition has intensified in France, the Rouen team has regained the top of the ranking the past seasons. While the regular season was at most satisfactory, Fabrice Lhenry’s men, were however brilliant while playing the trophies games: beating Grenoble in the final of French Cup and then a week later knocking out Herning Blue Fox (Denmark), GKS Tichy (Poland) and Asiago Hockey (Italy) to win the Continental Cup.

Look out for

Once again champions of France, Rouen Dragons want to turn their outsider position in this tournament into an opportunity. To do this, the Dragons can count on its rather stable members, where leaders Marc-André Thinel, François-Pierre Guénette, Yorick and Sacha Treille, Patrick Coulombe, Loïc Lampérier et al continue the Normandy adventure. The same goes for former Graz goalie Dany Sabourin, who also played more than 50 NHL games, and who arrived to the shores of the Seine last season.

Keep an eye on

The club of Rouen has also added two players to this already solid backbone, who have experienced the Champions Hockey League last season: the offensive defenceman Chad Langlais (ex-Gap) and the young international Frenchie Jordann Perret (ex-Grenoble). The staff has also drafted the skilled American center line player Matt Hussey with an impressive CV but seeking to revive himself after a few blank seasons.

Team facts

CHL seasons:

The team is making its debut this season

Click here for current information about this club.