The most successful run the Laval Rocket have ever had was in the 2022 Calder Cup playoffs. They made a surprising run to the Eastern Conference finals on the back of solid play from a young Cayden Primeau, among others.
The players and coaches from that team repeated often, ‘never too high, never too low’. It came up constantly throughout that run.
That might be beaten this year, where Laval sits atop the entire AHL in points percentage, which makes what came up during Pascal Vincent’s post-game press conference last weekend pretty fitting.
On Friday, when they leapfrogged the Rochester Americans (and before Saturday’s win to pull ahead slightly), it was like déja-vu all over again.
“What I appreciate a lot from this team is that we’re not too high, we’re not too low,” said the Rocket head coach. “We’re pretty consistent in our emotions. Their capacity in the good moments and the bad moments to stay relatively level without living the emotional extremes, it’s one of the reasons [we’re successful].
This isn’t just about a coach going back to his bag of tricks. In 2022, he was an associate coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets, far from the Rocket’s ecosystem. He credits his leaders in the room.
“Tyler Wotherspoon, Vincent Arseneau, [Laurent] Dauphin, [Lucas] Condotta, they keep the room level and in a good frame of mind,” Vincent said. “The fact that we are in the moment, knowing what we have to do today, we’re in a playoff hockey mindset. Winning a game is fun, but why did we win, learn, and get better every time.”
Condotta, now the Rocket captain, was a rookie fresh from the NCAA during that run, and actually played more playoff games than he did AHL regular season games during the 2021-22 season. He is one of only three current players who were on that team alongside Primeau, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, and the currently injured Brandon Gignac. Dauphin was a part of the team during the season, but was recalled the NHL and not on the playoff roster. Joshua Roy, now with the Canadiens, was with the team for the run, and played in one game.
It’s perhaps a nod to Condotta’s experience that Vincent says even the young players are stepping up in the room.
“We have a very inclusive room,” Vincent said. “Everyone has a voice, everyone talks, everyone supports each other, challenges each other.”
The Rocket will take on the last-place Bridgeport Islanders on Wednesday night at Place Bell as they look to solidify their march to the playoffs. They will be without David Reinbacher, as the team is being very cautious with the young prospect working his way back from a pre-season knee injury. The team expects him to travel with them to Utica this weekend.
