After more than a month crisscrossing the roads of France, our review of the twelve Synerglace Ligue Magnus clubs ends with the Dragons of Rouen. Undisputed and uncontested leader throughout the season, Rouen did not miss the boat in the final phase to retain its title, the second in a row!
Photo credit: Loïc Cousin Photography
For the second consecutive season, Rouen won the Coupe Magnus. And this, without any possible dispute. The Rouen Dragons started very strongly with nine consecutive victories to take first place without ever letting go. They finished with a nine-point lead over second-placed Angers for 37 victories and only 7 defeats. The attack was fruitful, scoring 194 goals, first in this area, and second in defense (104 goals conceded) just one unit behind the Dukes. The playoffs were also controlled by the Normans. Winners of the Nice Eagles four games to one then the Cergy-Pontoise Jokers with a score of 4-0, the Dragons faced Bordeaux in the final. If the Bordeaux team started very strongly with two victories at Île Lacroix, Matija Pintaric’s teammates then recovered well to win 4-2. Unavailable for a large part of the season due to cancer, Christophe Boivin scored the decisive goal in overtime.
The Nathalie Péchalat ice rink was packed throughout the season. Of the 3,279 seats that the stadium can accommodate, the average attendance is around 3,251 people, which is a fill rate of… over 99%! 17 sellouts out of the 22 home games are to be noted in the regular phase. Even for the game with “the fewest people”, 3,001 spectators were present to watch the match. On the ice, offensive performances predominated. This is the team with the most efficiency in front of goal. With 192 goals in 1,581 shots, Rouen dominates the debates with a conversion rate of 12.14%. In powerplay too, the team was at ease with the second highest success rate. Better in the playoffs, the Seine-Maritimes are leaders by scoring 13 goals out of 34 superiorities, i.e. 38.24% conversion, far ahead of Grenoble and Bordeaux around 23%.
At the French Hockey Trophies Ceremony, the Synerglace Ligue Magnus leader struck hard. French international Anthony Rech scored a double with the title of best forward and best French player. Two other tricolors and Dragons players won a title. Florian Chakiachvili won the title of best defender. As for Quentin Tomasino, he was elected best hopeful. These trophies are felt in the individual statistics. Anthony Rech is the fourth best scorer ex-aequo in the championship. He notably accompanies his teammate Rolands Vigners with the same number of points (46) but first in the scorers ranking with 27 goals. Florian Chakiachvili is the third defender with the most points: 10 goals and 28 assists. At 22 years old, Quentin Tomasino will have had his best season with 50 points, all round including the regular season and the playoffs. In the final phase, another player stood out: Francis Hardy-Perron. He ranks first with 20 points in 15 games played (7 goals, 13 assists).
Double-titled, Anthony Rech gives us an update on this season for his team.
Anthony Rech : The season’s results are rather positive. The CHL was a great experience, we tried to represent our championship as best we could. The two victories have a great flavor, they were great moments. Next year, we want to do better, even if it will be difficult.
The Coupe de France is our black spot of the season. We failed. It is the only regret of the season. We will have to learn from this defeat.
Finishing first in the regular season, with very few full players, strengthened the fighting spirit and team spirit. It gave us confidence for the future. We managed to be quite consistent.
We had a great playoffs. What’s more, winning the final when we started with two rounds behind shows the strength of our group. We are very satisfied to have won the Synerglace Ligue Magnus. It’s the major trophy of the season!
The Rouen season in figures:
- Ranking position: 1st
- Top scorers: Rolands Vigners and Anthony Rech (46 points)
- Top scorer: Rolands Vigners (27 goals)
- Best assistant: Florian Chakiachvili (28 assists)
- Number of goals scored: 194
- Number of goals conceded: 105
- Numerical superiority (ratio): 31.01%
- Outnumbering (ratio): 80.98%
- Longest winning streak: 9
- Longest losing streak: 2
The results of the 12 Synerglace Ligue Magnus clubs
