The Citadelles' Rival

It's hard to pick a rival for the Quebec City Citadelles, given their short tenure in the league. One obvious pick would be their opposite expansion team, the Nevada Battleborn. But the Battleborn might be a rival to the Citadelles for another reason too: that is, that the two teams have adopted such a radically different approach to building their teams. The Battleborn have adopted the strategy of trying to collect in their team whatever high end talent they can get their hands on, while the Citadelles have taken a more focused approach of acquiring players who fit a specific team identity: one grounded, largely, in fostering an environment that is both friendly, yet conducive to forward advancement and thereby success. Both approaches have their merits, but as a member of the Citadelles, it's obvious which one I'm partial to. Even despite that, there's always a little extra riding on games with the Battleborn just due to that aforementioned expansion connection. The Citadelles are forced by circumstances alone to always compare their relative progress in the league against Nevada. It just so happens that this year, that comparison has become rather favourable.

To date, there hasn't been much bad blood between the teams. Both franchises are still young, and while we can select rivalries, it will be quite some time before we can ever really ascertain the kind of heated, lengthy contests that other SMJHL and SHL teams can boast. But unless the two teams go the way of, for example, the Buffalo Stampede and the San Francisco Pride (once-Admirals), it's doubtful that expansion team connection will ever truly fade.