LHSAAAQ: Welcome Back Jean-Guy Talbot Coliseum!

The LHSAAAQ’s off season is well underway, and franchise movement has been a part of it. While the recent news of the sale and relocation of the LaTuque Wolves was quite a splash, the league taking another shot at Trois-Rivieres has been the big story. The Coliseum has been attracting teams in various leagues since the departure of the QMJHL’s Draveurs in 1992, mostly without any lasting success. The list of leagues includes the LHSAAAQ as recently as 2023. What and where is this facility, why didn’t the league work there previously, and what will be different this time are questions that may be on the minds of fans across the league.  Let’s explore these questions. 

First, let’s clarify the name. We’ll be hearing about the Trois-Rivieres Coliseum and Jean-Guy Talbot Coliseum interchangeably. They used to be different facilities but now they’re the same. The Coliseum was built in 1938 as part of the Exposition Grounds and is the facility still in use. The Jean-Guy Talbot Arena was a smaller facility built in 1969 and located in Cap-de-la-Madeleine. The Arena was named in honor of the city’s most famous hockey star. When the town made plans to demolish the arena, the decision was made to transfer its namesake to the larger remaining facility- the Coliseum- as a way to continue honoring it’s native son. Since 2021, the Trois-Rivieres Coliseum has been called the Jean-Guy Talbot Coliseum.

The Jean-Guy Talbot Coliseum is one of several vintage arenas currently in use throughout the province. A rectangular shaped concrete structure with an arched roof, it seats around 2,700 fans and has little of the extras or added room of more modern arenas. Entering from the parking lot, there’s a small entrance foyer with the ticket window. Visitors can pick one of two staircases to enter the single bowl seating that continuously envelopes the playing surface. A single concourse with limited vendors circles the top of the seating providing additional standing room attendance and the ability to see the action while in line for concessions. 

The Coliseum wasn’t built for hockey. Part of a Depression-era work assistance project, the facility didn’t receive its permanent ice making equipment until 1951. The QMJHL and the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres became tenants in 1969. The QMJHL’s Draveurs, who began as the Ducs, would leave the Coliseum in the Spring of 1992. The UQTR Patriots remain the primary tenants to this day. 

The LNAH would arrive in 2004. With the Coliseum’s size and layout, it was a natural fit for the league which occupied similar facilities in Laval, Saint-Hyacinthe and Sorel-Tracy. Several LNAH ownership groups would come and go until 2018. 

In 2023, the LHSAAAQ Louiseville franchise was relocated to the Coliseum where it played one season as Cloutier Climatisation before departing for Beaupre. During its sale and departure, the team’s owner listed several grievances in the local newspaper; Playing 3rd fiddle behind UQTR and youth hockey, and a lack of a dedicated space were given as issues related to the facility. League expansion, combined with LNAH expansion in the same year, was seen as a threat to available talent and fans, and financial disagreements with the city had left things too tense for any future negotiations. 

On May 27, 2025, it was announced that the league would make another attempt at the Colisee with the sale and relocation of the REEQ Nicolet. While the team's name has yet to be released, information about the operations of the team has been outlined in an interview with Le Nouvelliste. 

Operationally, the new owner has established the team as a non-profit with a board of directors which he is not a part of. He describes his relationship with the other tenants as a partnership and has outlined a marketing strategy for fans and sponsors based on a demographic target and associated advertising methods. 

While it’s easy to point to the number of failed teams, there’s optimism based on the current approach. Still, the size of the arena could be an issue. The Coliseum is considered by many to be too large for senior hockey. Only Granby has a similarly sized facility. Paired with its history and the current attendance issues across town with the ECHL’s Lions, it’s easy to say that filling enough seats could be a problem. However, Cloutier Climatization was able to reach 2,000+ crowds during their lone playoff run, which is similar to what we saw this past Spring in Granby. 

An old arena, a new team, and a modern approach. This Fall will start the latest chapter in the story of a famous facility. Hopefully it's a long one, one that is written over years and is experienced by generations of fans in the Mauricie Region. For now, let’s just work on getting the name for the team!