Gatineau Olympiques | |
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City | Gatineau, Quebec |
League | Quebec Major Junior Hockey League |
Conference | Telus |
Division | Telus West |
Founded | 1969 |
Home arena | Robert Guertin Centre |
Colours | Black, white and silver |
General manager | Marcel Patenaude |
Head coach | Éric Landry |
Championships | 1997 Memorial Cup Champions |
Website | http://www.olympiquesdegatineau.ca |
Franchise history | |
1969–1970 | Hull Hawks |
1970–1976 | Hull Festivals |
1976–2003 | Hull Olympiques |
2003–present | Gatineau Olympiques |
The Gatineau Olympiques are a major junior ice hockey team based in Gatineau, Quebec, that plays in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The Olympiques play home games at the Robert Guertin Centre. The club, then known as the Hull Festivals, was granted membership in the QMJHL in 1973. The Olympiques have appeared in the Memorial Cup seven times, winning once in 1997. Over eighty former players and coaches have gone on to play or coach in the National Hockey League (NHL), including Martin Biron, Aleš Hemský, Luc Robitaille, Jeremy Roenick, Michael Ryder, Maxime Talbot, José Théodore, Colin White, Claude Giroux, David Krejčí, Jack Adams-winning head coaches Alain Vigneault and Pat Burns and 2011 Stanley Cup-winning coach Claude Julien.
Before joining the "Q", the team was a member of the Central Junior A Hockey League, known originally as the Hull Castors but later as the Hull Hawks. Originally Hull and the CJHL were eligible to compete for the Memorial Cup, the Major Junior crown, but were relegated to Tier II Junior "A" in 1970. Three seasons before joining the QMJHL in 1973 they became the Hull Festivals, and in 1976, they became the Hull Olympiques; the team name was changed to the Gatineau Olympiques one year after the city of Hull was amalgamated into Gatineau in 2002.