Les Olympiques de Gatineau

A Hull team that outlived its city

The club's paperwork is older than the municipality it now represents. English-language records date the franchise to 1969 and a team called the Hull Hawks, which became the Hull Festivals in 1970; French-language records place the Festivals' founding in 1973. Both agree on what followed. The Festivals name gave way to the Olympiques de Hull in 1976, and when Hull was folded into an amalgamated City of Gatineau in 2002 the team followed suit, playing as the Gatineau Olympiques from 2003 onwards.

The alumni list is the club's strongest argument for itself. Luc Robitaille, Jeremy Roenick, José Théodore and Claude Giroux all came through, as did David Krejci and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Pat Burns coached in Hull before the NHL. Robitaille's 15, Giroux's 28 and Théodore's 33 hang in the rafters, and Burns is honoured alongside them. Maxime Talbot, a former captain who won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh, is now back on the organisation chart as senior adviser to hockey operations.

Seven President's Cups, and one spring that mattered more

The Olympiques have won the QMJHL's President's Cup seven times: 1985-86, 1987-88, 1994-95, 1996-97, 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2007-08. That is a record of sustained relevance rather than a single golden era, spread across four decades of league play.

The high point remains 1997, when the club won the Memorial Cup by beating the Lethbridge Hurricanes. It reached the national final three other times, in 1986, 2003 and 2004, and lost each. Division titles came in 1985-86, 1987-88, 1996-97, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2008-09, 2021-22 and 2022-23. The 2022-23 team was the best of the recent crop, finishing 49-12 for a.772 winning percentage and second in the Western Division.

Set against that, the past two years read as a slump rather than a collapse. The club has qualified for the playoffs in 41 consecutive seasons, a streak that owes something to a generous post-season format but is still the longest active run of its kind in the league.

A new rink, and the old one knocked down

For five decades the team played at the Robert Guertin Centre, a cramped and loud building on the Hull side of the river. Gatineau city council approved a replacement in February 2017 at a cost of CA$79 million, and Centre Slush Puppie opened on 20 August 2021 at 500 boulevard de la Cité. The Olympiques have been its primary tenant since day one.

The main bowl holds 4,080 seated, rising to about 5,000 with standing room. Three community sheets sit under the same roof — Glace Desjardins, Glace Gérik Construction and Glace Dilawri Auto — each taking between 240 and 480 spectators. The City of Gatineau owns the complex; Vision Multisports Outaouais runs it. In April 2023 it took in Ottawa 67's playoff games when the World Men's Curling Championship occupied their own arena. The Guertin was demolished in 2024.

Two lean seasons and a sacking in January

Alexis Loiseau took over as head coach for 2024-25 and the team went 17-32, finished fourth in the Western Division and lost in the first round. The following year was worse: 21-38, eighth in the Western Conference, out in the first round again.

On 12 January 2026, with the club 15-25 through 40 games and last in the West, the Olympiques dismissed Loiseau. Serge Beausoleil, then general manager, said a change behind the bench had become necessary after a full review of the hockey side, and thanked Loiseau for working "with professionalism and commitment". Beausoleil took the bench himself for the rest of the season while the organisation worked out what it wanted next.

A hockey department rebuilt over one summer

The answer arrived on 7 July 2026. Sébastien Charpentier, previously assistant general manager of the Val-d'Or Foreurs, was handed his first GM job; Beausoleil moved permanently from the front office to the bench; Talbot came in as senior adviser. Charpentier's stated hiring criterion was blunt — the club needed passionate, straight people who were not afraid to make decisions. Beausoleil said being coached around Stanley Cup winners and serious hockey minds left him enthusiastic. The board's line was that the team should be back near the top of the standings and competing for championships.

The staff was completed on 4 August 2026 with three appointments: Éric Labrosse, 46, from Ontario, as assistant coach after more than a decade in the QMJHL, French professional hockey, Canadian universities and junior AAA; Olivier Desroches as video coach, handling game breakdown and opponent preparation; and Anthony Beauchamp, 27, from Thurso, as strength and conditioning coach, a former Olympiques player from 2017-18 with a master's in clinical physiology and ECHL and French league experience. Zacharie Beausoleil also works behind the bench. Charpentier said the three brought complementary expertise that strengthened the structure.

Season tickets went on sale on 4 May 2026 at the same prices as the previous year — a decision that reads as a deliberate signal after two losing campaigns.

Where they stand right now

The Olympiques played six pre-season games from 22 August 2026, four of them against Blainville-Boisbriand and Val-d'Or, before opening the regular season at home on Saturday 19 September against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Justin Blais was named captain for 2026-27, with Simon-Xavier Cyr, Maxim Dubé, Michel Myloserdnyy and Drew McLennan as alternates.

Through eight games the team is 5-1-2, with 12 points of a possible 16 — second in the Western Conference and level on points with first-placed Victoriaville. It has scored 30 goals and conceded 25, an average of 3.75 for per game. On Sunday 11 October it hosts Val-d'Or at 3pm, the third meeting between the two clubs in eight days, with Chicoutimi to follow on 12 October and road dates against Québec and Rimouski in mid-October.

Eight games is not a season, and the sample includes two overtime losses that flatter the record as much as the points total suggests. But it is a materially different start from either of the past two years, and it comes with a coach who chose the bench over the desk.

The building on a game night

Centre Slush Puppie is a single ring of seats finished in the team's black and silver, which one arena guide described as dark and intimidating in a way its sister buildings in the league are not. The concourse is wide and largely unobstructed, with a concession at each corner and drink rails running the full circuit for standing views — although staff discourage actually standing at them during play. Video boards and sound are professionally run, if loud.

Stadium Journey scored the venue 3.57 out of 5 overall, with its highest mark, a full 5, for the fans: a Friday-night crowd in Gatineau colours that followed the play, reacted at the right moments and stayed to the end. Food and beverage took 3, and extras only 2. The recurring complaints are logistical rather than atmospheric — concession and washroom queues at the intermissions, a parking garage that is free but jams solid after the final whistle, and a souvenir shop moved outside the ticketed area with no signage to point anyone towards it.