Louis Robitaille could hardly have chosen a market further from Gatineau, where he has worked for the past three seasons, to continue his career in the QMJHL. And as long as he moves to Sydney, Nova Scotia, where he was confirmed Friday as the new head coach of the Cape Breton Eagles, Robitaille will be bringing his entire family with him…even his parents!
The news had been leaked for some time and was confirmed on Friday. The hockey player signed a four-year contract with the Nova Scotia side, which has not had a head coach since Jon Goyens was fired last June.
options
Robitaille was also thinking about making the leap to the pros when a squad from the American Hockey League caught his eye. A proposal that, however, did not meet the criteria he was looking for.
“The most important thing for me to leave Gatineau was stability, and that’s what the Eagles gave me. I had a year left on my contract with the Olympiques, so I wouldn’t take a job just to take a job,” he admitted.
This stability is four contract years. But to get that, he also had to agree to leave Gatineau at 4 p.m.
“It’s definitely a big step. For me, the two o’clock or four o’clock move is a similar move. I am extremely fortunate in that my wife and children are very much looking forward to traveling to Nova Scotia. For my children it will be the experience of a lifetime. “My two daughters will have the opportunity to go to the French school,” he explained.
And his retired parents will also follow the family. They had rented a condo in Gatineau to follow their son through the winter season and will now be traveling to Nova Scotia.
“It’s a real family adventure! My parents have decided to follow us and can spend time with their grandchildren.”
A motivating mission
With the Eagles, Robitaille has a young team that is not yet in the first year of its rebuilding process. They count on first overall pick of the 2022 QMJHL Draft defenseman Thomas Lavoie, as well as Cam Squires, a native of Prince Edward Islander who was just fourth-round draft pick by the New Jersey Devils for the final NHL entry draft in Nashville.
“It was important for me to work with Sylvain Couturier, an established general manager who has a concrete plan. I’m looking at what we’ve been doing at Gatineau over the past three years. We’ve helped our young people grow up, and at Cape Breton we’re moving in the same direction. It’s a big challenge.”
The former tough guy made his QMJHL debut as an assistant coach with the Drummondville Voltigeurs in 2011 before taking on the position of head coach of the Victoriaville Tigres for the 2016-2017 season. He has overseen the Olympiques for the past three seasons as coach and general manager, and last season led the team to the semifinals of the Gilles-Courteau Trophy, where they lost in four games to eventual Memorial Cup winners the Quebec Remparts.
He has also been part of the Hockey Canada program a number of times, including as an assistant coach with Junior Team Canada during the August 2022 tournament where ECJ won gold in Edmonton. He had also been given the position of head coach of the under-18 team to take part in the summer 2020 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup before the competition was canceled due to the pandemic.