Despite the jetlag and the long trip he had made the day before with his wife and their two children, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was on the ice this Friday for his first training with HC Ajoie. Once the medical tests were completed, the 39-year-old French striker put on his skates for the first time in Porrentruy under the gaze of a few curious people who came to observe this experienced player who has played 700 NHL matches, something unheard of at HCA.
After ten seasons spent in the NHL, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare will therefore return to Europe and a championship that he admits he does not know at all. If he chose Switzerland and Porrentruy while Sweden also extended its arms to him, it was for several reasons: “The challenge to take on and my family situation,” he emphasizes, specifying that his children will be able to learn French in the Jura. And then, his “career situation” also encouraged him to take charge of the Raiffeisen Arena, while the current captain of the France team has the 2026 Olympic Games in the back of his mind. Finally, the newcomer in the Ajoulot locker room meets several people he already knows thanks to the French team, notably his friend Thomas Thiry.
A new role for a new challenge
From the outset, we notice that Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is a competitor, even if he concedes in a joking tone that it would have been “more logical to retire” than to embark on a new project. He is delighted to discover a new environment and above all to put on a new costume: “In the NHL, I mainly had a defensive role. There, I will be asked to be offensive and it’s a challenge that excites me,” he admits. After having completed preparations across the Atlantic, the new number 41 in the Jura locker room says he is “ready” and “100%”. He even hopes to make his debut with the Vouivres jersey next Friday in Kloten.
The desire to help the team
Before joining HC Ajoie, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare checked with his friend Thomas Thiry about the relevance of his coming: “If I am here, it is to help the team and I wanted to ensure that this could be the case,” he insists. The 39-year-old striker is grateful for the credit and trust given to him: “If I had been told at the time that 18 years later I could return to Europe after a career in the NHL, I would have signed right away,” he laughs. And it is not the current situation of the HCA in the National League standings which is cooling the Habs. On the contrary. He knows from experience that everything can happen very quickly in ice hockey and he wants to advise his new teammates to focus on the upcoming events without looking too far ahead to the next few months.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is delighted with the “warm” welcome he received in Porrentruy. “It’s strange to find a locker room in which people speak French. It hasn’t happened to me for 18 years,” he smiles. If he intends to shine on the ice, the Habs also want to leave their mark on the “yellow and black” locker room: “My way of doing things will perhaps help the young people in the organization to become more professional so that They may take my place one day in the NHL,” concludes this enthusiast who says he is still “hungry” for learning… and certainly has the rage to win. /male
Swiss
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