Laval's Historical Mash-Up

There's no denying that there's a rich hockey history in the province of Quebec, and the city of Laval has seen its share of amazing players and great moments. Vincent Damphousse, Mike Bossy, JJ Daigneault, Patrice Brisebois, and Mario Lemieux are among the storied names who played in the city at one time, and the history that Mario Lemieux made with the Laval Voisins still stands in the Canadian Hockey League. The city's history in the game has seen them host QMJHL, NAHL, and Quebec Semi-Pro Hockey League teams, but the current tenants at the Place Bell are the AHL's Laval Rocket.

There aren't many ties in Laval to the Texas city of Houston, but the Laval Rocket dipped into a little hockey history tonight thanks to their relationship with the Montreal Canadiens as they restyled their look to replicate a former affiliate of the Canadiens. For those not aware, the Canadiens had an affiliation with the Central Hockey League's Houston Apollos who existed from 1965 to 1969. The distance and the lack of hockey fans in Houston prompted the Canadiens to move the team to Montreal who became the AHL's Montreal Voyageurs for the 1969-70 season. Nevertheless, the Canadiens had a farm team in Houston, Texas at one point.

Tonight, the Laval Rocket donned jerseys that looked somwehat like original jerseys worn by the Houston Apollos, but they kept their name intact as opposed to wearing a throwback to the Houston CHL squad. I don't have a problem with Laval redesigning the logo for a historic purpose, and it does fit the name of the team as we know the Laval Rocket were named in honour of Maurice "The Rocket" Richard. Having that space-themed logo works for the historic aspect of the Apollos and as imagery for the current team name.

If you clicked on the image above, you'll notice a few differences between the two uniforms, so let's break down why it's not an exact replica. This is a bit of a montage of a number of historic teams with whom the Canadiens were affiliated, and we'll start with the stripe pattern because it's not from the Apollos as shown. Rather, this striping is from the 1956-59 Ottawa-Hull Canadiens who played in the Ontario Hockey Association Senior A League. As you can see, the thick red stripe at the bottom hem gets the bleu-blanc-et-rouge treatment directly above it and the tricolore striping on the sleeve is a match as well.

The only major differences you'll find that aren't historic in any way are the three-colour numbers which come from the Montreal Canadiens, and the rather peculiar font that the Rocket used for names. Honestly, that font is kind of funky, but it really doesn't fit a historical jersey in any way. From what I can see, the font appears to be Kensmark Three Bold or Four Bold which comes from the extensive Kensmark font family, but it might be unique in that I don't recall any other hockey team wearing any of the Kensmark fonts.

The Rocket were supposed to wear these jerseys for the first time on January 7, 2022, but the shutdown in Quebec due to the pandemic pushed the debut of these jerseys until tonight as the Rochester Americans visited the Quebec team's arena. Let's just say that this game had some fireworks late. We'll start late in the third period with Rochester leading 3-2 before Sami Niku took over this game.
Niku's goal with 1:53 remaining made it a 3-3 game and sent this contest to overtime. Honestly, Niku's always had a keen eye for when to jump into the play, and he showed that here tonight on this goal as he beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen inside the far post!

And then this happened in the extra frame. The video effects were done by the Laval Rocket social media team, but Sami Niku, in what looked like a nearly carbon-copy play from his third-period goal, makes the pass to Rafaël Harvey-Pinard in front who redirects it into the yawning cage, and the Laval Rocket claimed the 4-3 overtime victory over the Rochester Americans on this night!

The team is auctioning off these throwback mash-ups if they appeal to you, so check out the offerings from the Rocket if you want to add one to your collection. Personally, I'd love to add one, but the price tags are already over the $200 CDN mark and none of the jersey descriptions tell you what size the jerseys are. If I'm getting one, I'd like to wear it at least once!

All in all, I think these jerseys work nicely for the Rocket despite them being a bit of a mish-mash of historical jerseys from the Montreal Canadiens' history. I'm not certain I'd want to this jersey more than once or twice in a season simply due to the fact that the elements used belong to other teams, but the Rocket looked sharp in this jersey tonight for their one game this season.

Do you agree? What say you on the Laval-Houston-Ottawa-Hull historical mashup jersey? Toss a comment below and we can chat about Laval's wardrobe choice, Sami Niku making an impact, or anything else from this game!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!