Francis Paré
Francis Paré is a Canadian-Belarusian professional ice hockey forward and coach. He has played with the National de Québec in the semi-professional Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey since 2024.
Paré has served as development coach to the Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François of the Ligue de développement du hockey M18 AAA du Québec since 2023, and as an assistant coach to the Italian women's national ice hockey team since 2024.
Playing career
Undrafted, Paré previously played with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the American Hockey League. On July 27, 2011, Pare signed a two-year, two-way contract extension with the Griffins NHL affiliate, the Detroit Red Wings.On July 8, 2013, after helping the Griffins capture the Calder Cup, Paré was signed to a two-year contract abroad in Finland with TPS of the SM-liiga. In the following years, Paré played for different teams in the Kontinental Hockey League, including Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Traktor Chelyabinsk and HC Slovan Bratislava. In 2014, he won the Gagarin Cup with Magnitogorsk. After returning to TPS for a second stint during the 2015–16 season, he again signed a deal with a KHL side, agreeing terms with Medvescak Zagreb in June 2016.
On January 23, 2017, Paré left the KHL and signed a contract with Swiss club, Geneve-Servette HC of the National League A for the remainder of the season. He appeared in 8 regular season games, with 11 points.
As a free agent in the off-season, Paré opted to return to the KHL, agreeing to an initial one-year contract for the 2017–18 season with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg on March 24, 2017.
Paré had two seasons in Yekaterinburg before leaving as a free agent to sign a one-year contract with fellow KHL club, HC Dinamo Minsk, on June 22, 2019.
Paré left Minsk after two seasons, securing a one-year contract with reigning champions, Avangard Omsk, on May 10, 2021. in the 2021–22 season, he collected 2 goals and 4 points through 16 appearances with Avangard before he was released from his contract on November 5, 2021. He continued his career abroad by signing an initial try-out contract and later securing a one-year deal with Swiss club, Lausanne HC of the NL, on December 10, 2021.