The Rouen Leopards, third place finishers in France’s Conference A, head south to face the Conference B second place finishers, the Grizzlys Catalans as the French D1 Elite league enters the Wild Card Round.
The Grizzlys finished with a record of 5-4-1 while Rouen were 4-1-3. Despite opening the season by winning five of their first seven games and tying one, the Grizzlys struggled the rest of the way losing their last three games of the 2024 regular season. Rouen, on the other hand, won three of their last four including beating La Courneuve in the final game.
Watch live. Rouen Leopards @ Grizzlys Catalans, June 8, 19:00 CET (7 pm, 1 pm EDT).
This is the third straight year that the Grizzlys have reached the Wild Card stage. In 2022 and 2023 they were knocked out, first by the Saint-Ouen Cougars in 2022 and then by La Courneuve Flash last year. The Black Panthers played in the Wild Card round in 2022 when they eliminated the Toulouse Ours. Thonon went on to the final that year where they lost to the Flash.
For the Rouen Leopards, this is their first trip to the playoffs since 2017 when they were knocked out of the semifinal round by the Flash. Rouen returned to the top league this season for the first time since 2019.