Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation

Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation

Contributor

Pierre Boivin sent one of the first “Congratulations” that Mr. Roustan received after the announcement of the acquisition of Bauer on February 21, 2008. The CEO of the Montreal Canadiens and also as a former CEO of Bauer, Mr. Boivin invited Mr. Roustan to meet him and his accomplished wife Lucie for an early March breakfast in Los Angeles.

The two men had much in common, especially their love of everything Bauer and obviously the Montreal Canadiens. When Mr. Boivin learned of Mr. Roustan’s ownership of an ice rink design, engineering and systems manufacturing company, both he and Lucie told Mr. Roustan about their vision for outdoor ice rinks developed by the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation. Mr. Roustan committed on the spot and agreed to become a partner.

The Boivin’s had come up with a plan to build five outdoor fully refrigerated NHL quality size ice rinks in less advantaged parts of Montreal. Since Mr. Roustan could supply the entire systems package including the refrigerated floor system, dasher boards and refrigeration chiller, this was a fortunate breakfast meeting indeed.

Within months, plans were underway to design and build the first outdoor ice rink in St. Michel in the East end of Montreal, which opened in January 2009. The second one opened in January 2010 in Montreal North. The Foundation would select the Borough parks that they would be built in, and the third ice rink was coincidently built in the same park that Mr. Roustan skated in when he was five years old while visiting his grandparents in Verdun.

The fourth outdoor ice rink was opened in January 2011 in the Borough of LaSalle, and the fifth of Mr. Roustan’s commitment to partner was a pleasant surprise to him. It was in the Borough of Notre Dame de Grace in Confederation Park across the street from Mr. Roustan’s high school and next to the arena he played hockey in while attending.

Mr. Roustan is honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to work in partnership over a 5-year period with the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation, its staff, and especially with Lucie Boivin and its Executive Director Genevieve Paquette. The team at one of Roustan Capital’s companies did a terrific job of designing and engineering fully refrigerated outdoor multipurpose, year-round ice rink/basketball courts, serving hundreds of thousands of kids each year in the hometown, and in the home parks of Mr. Roustan.