Arrived from France to study at the University of Montreal, the current head coach of the FC Laval had joined the team of that same university. He also played in senior AAA, which was the highest level in the province at the time.

His strong performance on the field earned him the title of Canadian University Player of the Year. Later, he joined the Trois-Rivières Attak, the defunct Montreal Impact (CF Montreal) academy club, with which he was crowned Canadian Soccer League champion in the role of captain.

He then retired to start his career on the sidelines, becoming assistant coach with the University of Montreal Carabins.

Local Development

Shortly after his start in coaching, Coulibaly was approached by Marinos Papageorgopoulos, current manager of the CF Montreal Academy, who managed the former club of Chomedey. This was part of the merger leading FC Laval’s creation.

“He brought me to work with the 2002–03 group,” Coulibaly explained.”I had the chance to work as I wanted, and to have complete trust in what I was doing. We took our time.”

He admits the results weren’t always there at first.

“Results weren’t fantastic, but the youngsters have to learn how to lose games,” he said. “It’s necessary, and it pays off when you’re taking the time, and let young athletes develop.”

That age group’s also an integral part of the title won this summer by the FC Laval, in the men’s section of the Première ligue de soccer du Québec.

“They’re young people with whom I have had the chance to work since they were 11 or 12 years old,

“These are young people with whom I have had the chance to work since they were 11 or 12 years old,” Coulibaly said. “If we’re looking at the reserve team, they’re second in their league. They’re young athletes who are extremely solid mentally, and it turned out as we hoped.”

Collaboration

In addition to working with the younger players, Coulibaly continued to coach with the Carabins for a few seasons, winning two university championships.

It allowed him to rub shoulders with certain players, such as Wandrille Lefebvre, who is part of the champion edition of the FC Laval.

He is now 100 per cent focused on the performance of Laval’s team, while continuing his work with the Carabins. He believes the success of his project is linked to his collaboration with the players.

“I know I wasn’t always easy to manage as a player, because I had in mind what I wanted to do,” he admitted, laughing. “Today, it reflects on my way of coaching. The players want to be in charge of the project in the same way as the coaches. That’s the vision that I try to put in place by including everyone in the process.”

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The FC Laval had a 17-game unbeaten streak before losing for the first time against the CS Saint-Laurent. This result had the effect of closing the gap to one point between the two teams, which sit at the top of the circuit.

Laval currently leads the championship with 41 points, one more than the CS Saint-Laurent. The AS Blainville is also not far behind, with 38 points.

The FC Laval will have a difficult schedule to finish the year. They’ll face the U23 team of CF Montreal (5th), the CS Longueuil (4th) and the AS Blainville (3rd) for their next three games, and then complete the season with a Laval derby against the AS Laval.

“We want to have a full stadium,” said team’s general manager James Patsilivas. “It’s a big event for the club, the biggest post-pandemic. Many important members of Quebec soccer will be there. We want to showcase the team’s progress over the past two years.”

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That team, that will be named the Laval VC, thus becomes the main version of the hockey club of the same name. Laval’s organization already had several AAA-level training courses for the youngest, including at the U16 and U18 levels.

The awarding of this expansion team was confirmed in July, allowing the VC to become the 13th club in the LHJAAAQ. “We will provide an ideal new home market for the league in the future,” said President Mario Nobili via press release.

A few weeks later, Michel Barrette was hired as head coach and general manager of the team.

Building a Team

Since it’s a new team, VC leaders needed to build a roster in just a few months.

The first step was the expansion draft, in which they selected a player from each of the 12 other LHJAAAQ clubs. They then drafted about 20 young hockey players during the league’s annual draft, benefiting from two selections in each round.

“We’re going to have six 20-year-old players in our roster,”Barrette said. “We don’t want to be just an expansion club, and have a few tough seasons to build a project. We’re coming into the league wanting to be on top.”

Although he’s aiming for the first place, the head coach believes that making it to the top seven teams would be a positive result for this year.

Offensive philosophy

Barrette thinks Tristan Gagné, Yan Nadon and Justin Charette are players to watch. To no one’s surprise, they’re all forwards, which fits with the model preconized in the LHJAAAQ.

“It’s an offensive league,” Barrette said. “We’ll be honest, it won’t often be 1-0 games. We need to produce a lot of offence, and we have surrounded our offensive elements with physical players who are working hard on the ice. We’re also having a lot of speed.”

Laval’s VC first regular season game will take place on Friday, Sept. 9, against the Cégep Beauce-Appalaches Condors. The home opening game will be on Sunday, Sept. 11, against the Collège Français de Longueuil.

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L’article The Laval VC, New Junior AAA Expansion Club est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.