Each of the AHL's four divisions will be represented in a round-robin 3-on-3 tournament for the All-Star Challenge on Monday.
The events have been a long time coming for Laval and the AHL. Laval was chosen to host the 2021 All-Star Classic, but it was postponed in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canada has been one of the AHL's strongest growth markets in the past two decades.
A major restructuring of the AHL in that span has helped to bring hockey's top developmental league to six Canadian markets, four of them NHL cities. The Toronto Maple Leafs brought their AHL affiliation home for the 2005-06 season; the Winnipeg Jets brought their affiliation home with Manitoba in 2015; Laval followed in 2017 and this season, the Calgary Flames joined that group.
In addition, the Vancouver Canucks have their AHL affiliate an hour away (Abbotsford) and Belleville is two hours away from its parent team, the Ottawa Senators.
The Canadiens had attempted to bring their AHL affiliate close to home in the past. From 1969-71, their AHL team played at the Montreal Forum, where Montreal Voyageurs alumni included Ken Dryden, Guy Lapointe, and Peter Mahovlich. The team relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the 1971-72 season. Earlier, Quebec had debuted in 1959 as the AHL's first team in the province and later became the Philadelphia Flyers' first affiliate.
Similar attempts to bring the AHL back to Quebec followed in the 1980s and 1990s. Fresh out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in the spring of 1985, Patrick Roy led Sherbrooke to a Calder Cup championship. A year later, he had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens. In 1999, Montreal stationed its AHL affiliate in Quebec City, where prospects played for three seasons.
It had been an organizational goal for the Canadiens to establish an affiliate close to home. Such a move would facilitate easy player movement between the NHL and AHL and allow the organization's front office and player development staff convenient access to Canadiens prospects. To that end, their affiliate relocated from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Laval for the 2017-18 season to play in 10,000-seat Place Bell, 20 minutes from Bell Centre.
The move also provided another outlet for pro hockey for Montreal-area fans.
Two months later following a name-the-team contest, the Rocket won with 51 percent of the fan vote. The name honored Canadiens legend Maurice "Rocket" Richard, and the teams' blue-white-and-red jerseys have his No. 9 stitched on each sleeve. Any players unfamiliar with Canadiens history when they arrive quickly are brought up do speed; Canadiens imagery from their decades of success and past Stanley Cup glory decorate the Laval dressing room as well as the hallway leading to the ice.
Last season, Laval qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs for the first time and reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final before falling to Springfield (St. Louis Blues). Five of the team's 15 playoff games went to overtime. By that point, the Canadiens' season had concluded, and Laval had much of the attention of Montreal sports fans to itself.
Laval hosted five sellout crowds in that playoff run and led the AHL in postseason attendance, establishing one of the best home-ice advantages in the league. Through 22 home games this season, Laval (17-9-6-2, fifth in the North Division) ranks seventh in AHL attendance, averaging 6,988.
Sunday will add another chapter to the AHL's legacy in Quebec when the league's top talent congregates.
