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Blainville-Boisbriand Armada
Arena Name: Centre d'Excellence Sports Rousseau |
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| Centre d'Excellence Sports Rousseau |
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| What's the Arena Like? |
I have never been to the Centre d' Excellence Sports Rousseau. If you have anything to contribute, send it on to  .Nik Coulter says: I finally made the trek out to the Centre d'Excellence Sports Rousseau last night, and given that it's only about two hours away (assuming better weather than we had on the way back), it's about time. I also took the time to pay l'Aréna Melançon in St-Jérôme a visit, and even enlightened our St-Jérômeois friend, who had no idea that the Alouettes had once existed. I looked around for a while, and wasn't able to find any reference to them at the arena. I bet that souvenir shop in the front entranceway would make a mint selling vintage Alouettes stuff - Maybe doing that (and building a new arena) would help St-Jérôme catch the eye of the Q again. Then again, with Boisbriand barely half an hour away, I don't see that happening. We went out for dinner in St-Jérôme, and then hopped on the 15 to make the short drive down to Boisbriand. Once we finally got to the arena (long story...), we were guided into the ample but poorly laid out parking lot. We ended up parking fairly close though. I didn't take the time to get a good picture of the building, both because the optimal angle was from the far end of the building and because the traffic in the parking lot was interesting to say the least. Besides, it was cold, and I prefer to leave my coat in the car if I can help it. Once we went in, there was a full Sports Rousseau (Québécois Pro Hockey Life) to our right, and as far as I could tell, it was the closest thing to a souvenir stand that they had. From there, we went to find our tickets at the will-call, which was a table set up near the ticket booth. After I visited the Sports Rousseau to pick up my customary puck and mini stick, I went to meet back up with our friends and to find our seats. The seats were in a U shape, and the Armada did exactly the same odd thing that the Huskies did - They shot twice at the end with fewer seats. We bought our tickets for this game the day before, so we were lucky to get four together, but we ended up down at the end where Boisbriand shot twice. I went for a walk around the top concourse before the warmup and took a couple of pictures. While I didn't spend too much time exploring the arena (I was enjoying the company of the random Armada fans sitting nearby), they seemed to have a fairly decent bar and adequately sized bathrooms. The arena bowl itself was completely devoid of character, however it quickly came to life once the game started. The arena had another couple of oddities too. Firstly, it had the highest glass that I've ever seen. As opposed to the Bob, where your head is above the glass if you're sitting in the second row, this glass had to have been pushing 12' high. Secondly, the radio announcer didn't sit up with the TV cameras, but rather in a little cutout in the wall at the seatless end of the rink. The Armada fans were all quite nice, and while we were booed quite aggressively at times (my one friend and I, not the Olympiques themselves), they seemed to like that we had the courage to go into their barn and act like we were still at the Bob. When the Armada started their comeback, they were imitating our lifting the cup, hat throwing, and whatever else we were doing. While I think that we were the two loudest fans in the rink, the Armada fans were anything but reserved. The atmosphere more than made up for the hanger-esque arena. Like I said, I spent the intermissions talking to random Armada fans and they were all very pleasant, even to an Anglo wearing a bright orange Olympiques jersey. |
| Inside the Centre d'Excellence Sports Rousseau |
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| Future Developments |
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There are no plans to renovate or replace the Centre d' Excellence Sports Rousseau. |
How To Get There |
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From A-640: Exit at #20, boul. Grande-Allée, and proceed north. The arena will be on your right. |
| Franchise History |
| The Montreal Juniors were apparently relatively happy in Verdun, but the city of Boisbriand made the team an offer they couldn't refuse, so to speak, to move into their new arena. The Juniors thus decamped from the Island of Montreal to the far northern suburbs, in the foothills of the Laurentians. The franchise began in 2005 as my beloved St. John's Fog Devils. |
| Retired Numbers |
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None |
| Local Rivals |
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Presumably it will be the same teams as before in Montreal - divisional rivals Gatineau, Drummondville and Victoriaville. |
| Another Look Inside the Centre d'Excellence Sports Rousseau |
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Feedback |
| If anything is incorrect or you have something to add, please e-mail me at and I'll update the guide. |
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Copyright © Kevin Jordan
2002-12. |