Growing pains are a part of hockey at every level, and more often than not young players and rookies are given time to work their way through them at their own pace. They grow and they learn with time. For the Laval Rocket this year, time waited for no one, and those rookies — the head coach included — had a proverbial baptism by fire.
Despite losing key players to injuries, trades, and everything in between, the Rocket have crafted a reasonably solid year on the back of a serious defensive overhaul under Joël Bouchard.
Things have gotten a little bit rougher as the season wears on.