There are surprises everywhere in life, and there are certainly also some in the Trois-Rivières Lions camp.

The ECHL club thought it had found a coach in the person of Pascal Rhéaume in June, but like a Jeff Petry during a summer transaction, he was only passing through.

Thus, Rheaume, a former NHL forward and former Lions assistant, chose to leave immediately to say yes to a “promotion” to an American Hockey League team, whose identity remains unknown at the time. we write this. The exact nature of the position is also not known.

Rhéaume had taken the place of the previous leader, Marc-André Bergeron, who was both coach and general manager, and who had been fired in June. Bergeron has since been the new coach of the Estacades de Trois-Rivières, in the midget AAA.

Going forward, the coaching and GM positions at the Lions will be filled by a new man, Ron Choules, who won’t have much time to prepare before the opening of camp, which is scheduled for October 10.

“As they say sometimes, when the train passes, you have to jump on it, and that’s what Pascal did!” summarized Ron Choules in a nutshell, Tuesday, in a telephone interview. I wish I could have worked with him, but I understand his situation. »

Choules, who had just been hired in an assistant role with the Lions last month, admits he’s having a hard time realizing what’s happening to him.

“Is this an April Fool’s joke and no one told me?” he added with a laugh. I’ve been wondering if that’s the reality for a few days now… I didn’t expect that, at least not this year, even though Pascal had told me about it when I was hired while talking on the phone. »

The new Lions boss is aware that he will not have the luxury of time when preparing for the next season.

“It doesn’t give a lot of time to prepare, but we want to be able to develop our players. I think we’re going to have a good team,” he added.