Roger Lajoie has served as a face and voice for the Senators, handling press releases and running news conferences. Photo by Brett Bullen, QNet News
By Brett Bullen [1]
BELLEVILLE – Roger Lajoie says it’s “mission accomplished” as he prepares to leave the Belleville Senators, a team he played a big part in founding.
Lajoie, the Senators’ vice-president and head of communications, announced on Facebook Monday that he’s leaving at the end of the regular season to pursue new business ventures. He’s best-known for his role as a host on Sportsnet The Fan 590 radio.
In an interview with QNet News on Wednesday, Lajoie said he joined the management team in Belleville at the invitation of friend and Ottawa Senators franchise owner Eugene Melnyk.
“Mr. Melnyk asked me to ‘Help us come get this started,’ was how he phrased it. And I think that (is) mission accomplished. We’ve done a lot of great things here, and I’ve got nothing but positive and wonderful things moving forward.”
He started “before the franchise ever got here,” he recalled. “My first day was Nov. 1, 2016” – exactly a year before the Senators, the affiliate team for the Ottawa Senators, played their first home opener in Belleville.
It was a full year after he was hired before he got to watch a Senators game. He spent 12 months helping to organize and manage renovations to Belleville’s outdated Yardmen Arena, the Senators’ home base. It’s now called the CAA Arena.
His job was to transform the old rink that had housed the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls into something more fit to play host to a professional American Hockey League franchise.
“We only got occupancy a day before our first home game, and as a result it was the first time we were coming into the arena without hard hats,” Lajoie said about opening night. “It was … as if you just bought a house and the next day you hosted a wedding.”
That opening night was not only one of the fondest memories of his time with the Belleville Senators, but of his entire career, he said.
“I think to finally see the puck drop, Mr. Melnyk being here, and a sellout crowd with everybody excited: I think that has got to be the highlight.”
While Lajoie acknowledged that he’s been far more of a front-office person than a hands-on manager, coaches and staff in the locker room whom QNet News spoke to this week said they recognize and appreciate his contributions to the team.
“When I first came to Belleville in the summer (of 2018), he was the first one to congratulate me and come to me to offer anything he could do to help make my stay with my family better,” head coach Troy Mann told QNet after Wednesday’s victory over the Clevelend Monsters. “I know he was instrumental in getting the team back and hockey back to Belleville. I am sure he’s going to be missed.”
While you might not see Lajoie in the dressing room, it’s not hard to find him on game days. He’s usually out in the front lobby during intermissions, carrying around a cardboard 50/50 sign, his familiar radio voice sounding over the crowd noise about the current prize pool and reminding everyone of the local charities the money helps.
I doubt that there are many AHL team’s vice-presidents out in the lobby of every intermission selling 50/50 tickets. The #BellevilleSens [2] are going to miss @TheRog590 [3] next season. pic.twitter.com/5JMgra1N6I [4]
— Brett Bullen (@bmbullen) January 10, 2019 [5]
“I remember when we all met to get ready for the first season, he walked in and just said ‘Welcome, everyone,’ Senators volunteer Tracy Hunter said. “Since that moment, this has always just felt like a family to me, and we are going to miss him more than we know.”
In addition to his duties with The Fan 590, Lajoie is the official scorer for 27 Blue Jays home games this year. He is on sabbatical from a teaching position at the College of Sports Media at Ryerson University. All these positions require a significant amount of his time in Toronto.
Lajoie hasn’t disclosed the new opportunity he will be pursuing following his last day with the Senators on April 30, but told QNet that it will mean even more time in the city.
Asked to describe how he feels about leaving, Lajoie said he has “nothing but good feelings,” adding, “I have 100-per-cent confidence that the Belleville Senators are going to be in this community for a good long time. That I was a very small part of helping it get started – I am very proud of that.”
Fans who want to say their goodbyes to Lajoie still have plenty of home games to find him in his familiar location in the lobby, but they will have to wait a bit for their next opportunity. The Senators start a five-game road trip Friday night in Grand Rapids. Mich., against the Griffins, and won’t be back at the CAA Arena until Jan. 25, when they take on their division rivals, the Toronto Marlies.