For a third straight season the 3L of Rivière-du-Loup will play a playoff match at the Colisée Financière Sun Life in Rimouski on Saturday, March 21 at 7: 00 pm ET. How does staging that elimination game in Rimouski compare with remaining at the Centre Premier Tech as the 3L’s home site for the series, and what does that reveal about lnah teams coping with venue displacement?
3L at Colisée Financière Sun Life, Rimouski: confirmed playoff date and past draws
The 3L will play the fourth game of their first-round series against the Pétroliers de Laval at the Colisée Financière Sun Life on March 21 at 7: 00 pm ET, marking the third consecutive year the club has used Rimouski for a playoff fixture. Over the last two springs, the 3L attracted between 1, 700 and 1, 900 spectators to playoff games hosted away from Rivière-du-Loup, a concrete attendance record tied to those Rimouski and nearby postseason dates.
3L at Centre Premier Tech: regular-season calendar conflicts and roster notes
Centre Premier Tech remains the 3L’s normal arena but will be unavailable because it hosts the annual Salon de l’habitation et du plein air de Rivière-du-Loup at this time. The team will complete the regular season with away and home games — visiting the Éperviers in Sorel-Tracy on Friday and hosting the Bataillon de Saint-Hyacinthe on Saturday at Centre Premier Tech — before moving the fourth matchup of the series to Rimouski. Rivière-du-Loup’s roster includes Rimouskois Jordan Lepage and Samuel L’Italien, names that may matter when local fans decide whether to travel to Rimouski.
How Lnah handles temporary homes: attendance, ticketing and series impact
Both the Rimouski shift and the Centre Premier Tech option must be judged on three consistent criteria: crowd size, ticket distribution, and competitive continuity. For crowd size, past playoff games held away from Rivière-du-Loup drew between 1, 700 and 1, 900 fans. For ticket distribution, the club launched ticket sales through the Océanic web box office for the Rimouski date. For competitive continuity, the 3L enter the series assured of the eighth and final place in the league standings, a standing that fixes their playoff opponent and schedule regardless of venue.
Comparing the two venues on those criteria shows trade-offs. The Centre Premier Tech provides familiar surroundings for players and local season-ticket holders, but it is unavailable because of the scheduled Salon event. The Colisée Financière Sun Life preserves the series’ playback and has previously produced comparable attendance figures, while requiring travel and a temporary relocation of home routines.
Ticketing and reach also diverge: selling through the Océanic web box office centralizes access for fans attending in Rimouski, while a Centre Premier Tech game would use the home club’s usual sales channels. That single change alters where and how many local fans can attend on short notice, and it changes the logistical demands on staff and players ahead of the March 21 game.
Finally, the presence of Jordan Lepage and Samuel L’Italien on the 3L roster ties the Rimouski option to local interest in Rimouski-area players; past draws of 1, 700–1, 900 suggest those connections matter for attendance and atmosphere.
Finding: The comparison establishes that moving a 3L playoff game to Rimouski preserves turnout and a working ticketing solution but sacrifices the Club’s familiar home routines at Centre Premier Tech. The next confirmed event that will test this finding is the playoff game at the Colisée Financière Sun Life on March 21 at 7: 00 pm ET. If the 3L maintain crowds between 1, 700 and 1, 900 for that game, the comparison suggests the Rimouski venue is an effective, if imperfect, contingency for lnah teams facing arena conflicts.
