Owners of the Pontiac Senior Comets have made a number of significant developments in preparation for the team’s return to play this year, including hiring a head coach and signing the majority of its roster.
The Fort Coulonge-based team last hit the ice in 2020 and is returning to play this year in the Eastern Ontario Senior Hockey League (EOSHL) where it will play in a division with teams from Manotick, Arnprior and Low, Que..
With the regular season less than a month away, the owners have been working frantically to prepare for opening night, including hiring a head coach.
After some consideration, co-owner Sébastien Bonnerot settled on Luc Danis, a Bryson resident with a strong hockey background, to lead the team this season.
Danis played junior hockey until suffering a career-ending femur injury, and since then has transitioned to coaching. He has been behind the bench for various youth teams, including Fort Coulonge’s midget team, and is now taking on senior hockey for the first time.
Bonnerot said the owners are thrilled to have a local coach with such a deep knowledge of the game.
“We wanted a coach that comes from the Pontiac, that knows the local players, and that can assist in not only coaching but recruiting as well,” he said.
Bonnerot added that Danis has the ability to control the dressing room, which, with players mostly between 25 and 40 years old, can contain some strong personalities.
“It takes a lot of personality and knowledge to keep control of your dressing room and install systems,” he said, adding that because senior hockey teams don’t often have the chance to practice, they need a coach who can efficiently communicate the game plan.
Danis said he has high expectations for himself and the players.
“I expect them to play at the top of their ability. Not everyone is going to give you the same thing, but if you can get the most you can from all of the guys, that’s all you can ask,” he said in an interview with THE EQUITY last week.
He said his team will play with physicality and will use its home rink to its advantage.
“Our playstyle is going to be physical [ . . . ] Fort Coulonge is a smaller rink, and we’re having big bodies and we’re going to be physical, so I think it’s going to be no fun for other teams to come play us.”
Filling out the roster
The Comets hosted an open skate last weekend to try out some potential players, and Danis said he was impressed by the talent of the roughly 25 players who showed up.
“It was a great turnout, and we were surprised by a few guys and I think we’re going to have a great roster for the year.”
The team has already signed around 25 of its 40 total contracts for the season, and Bonnerot said it will try to sign a few more players before the season begins, including a few local players.
They will send a roster of between 30-35 players to the league next week, and Bonnerot said they are keeping a few roster spots open as they expect some players to reach out after the season begins.
So far the team has announced a handful of Pontiac players, including Quinn O’Brien, a Campbell’s Bay native who played four years in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, and most recently had a stint in the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL).
O’Brien said over the past few years he had been approached by a couple of teams, but never said yes because it was too far to drive for games.
But the Fort Coulonge resident, now with a young family, couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play at home.
“When they approached me this time, I hemmed and hawed, and finally said yes,” he said. “It’s exciting, [ . . . ] and hopefully I can contribute to the team.”
Bonnerot is excited to have O’Brien on the roster and expects the addition of him and other local players will boost ticket sales.
“We’re super thrilled. He brings leadership, he’s experienced, and he’s a local player, so it couldn’t get any better for us. [ . . . ] He’s going to be one of our main leaders in the room, on and off the ice.”
Season tune-up
The Comets played their first exhibition game on Sunday in Renfrew against the EOSHL’s Madawaska Valley Wolves, losing 4-0.
Bonnerot said it was an opportunity to try out some of the players who aren’t necessarily sure bets to make the roster.
O’Brien, who is not part of that group, said he has not been playing full-contact hockey over the summer, and was using the exhibition game as a way to get back into the swing of things.
“It was fun. It was good to get a feel for it, and I’m glad it was an exhibition game,” he said of the loss.
The team also recently announced its board of governors, which will include Bonnerot, Danick Boisvert, as well as Claude Boisvert, Paul Boisvert and Stéphane Béland.
“Criteria number one was to involve people who can help the organization locally,” Bonnerot said of their rationale in naming the board.
He said he and co-owner Danick Boisvert have carried the team on their shoulders alone since 2017, the year of the team’s inauguration, and that it’s helpful to have additional people to manage the team’s day-to-day operations.
“Now, having the luxury of having three other partners who are involved here locally really, really helps,” he said, using the example of Béland, who is on the rink committee and will be in charge of game-day operations.
Bonnerot said there is still work to be done before the season begins.
“We don’t have ice now,” he said of the Centre de Loisir des Draveurs arena in Fort Coulonge, noting the rink’s operators are working hard to bring ice to the arena by mid-October.
The team’s first home game is scheduled for Oct. 12, but if the ice isn’t ready they will play that game on the road and push their home opener until a date when they will have ice.
Bonnerot said the team is still looking for sponsors, and interested parties can contact him through the team’s Facebook page.
