The announcement was made during a press conference at the Colisée Videotron, the home of the Lions in the ECHL.

The Lions’ new owner, Jeff Dickerson, was present for the occasion, as were the Laval Rocket’s general manager, John Sedgwick, and their head coach, Jean-François Houle.

Last April, the ECHL Board of Governors approved the sale of the Trois-Rivières Lions to the Spire Hockey Group.

Spire Hockey, which is notably owned by Dickerson, bought the franchise from the Deacon Sports and Entertainment (DSE) group, which also owned the defunct Newfoundland Growlers in the ECHL. The new owners had already indicated that they intend to keep the Lions, now the only Canadian franchise in the ECHL, in Trois-Rivières.

The league had set April 2 as the deadline for DSE to divest its shares in the two concessions.

DSE stated in a press release after the deadline that only one potential buyer for the Lions had been found. At the same time, the ECHL had suspended the Growlers’ operations “due to failure to fulfill its obligations under ECHL regulations.”

The Lions are now part of a trio of ECHL teams – along with the Swamp Rabbits of Greenville, South Carolina, and the Rush of Rapid City, South Dakota – owned by Spire Hockey.

Spire Hockey is a division of Spire Holdings, which also owns three NASCAR Cup Series cars and several other NASCAR Series cars reserved for trucks.

The Lions joined the ECHL for the 2021–22 season. The Trois-Rivières team is affiliated with the Laval Rocket (AHL) and the Montreal Canadiens (NHL).