Moncton Wildcats break lengthy drought to become QMJHL champions

19-05-2025

The Moncton Wildcats are Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League champions once again, breaking a 15-year drought.
The team won 3-2 over the Rimouski Oceanic on Monday afternoon, taking home the Gilles-Courteau Trophy after six games in the best-of-seven series.
Loke Johansson scored one goal, while Gabe Smith scored twice for the Cats, giving the team a 3-0 lead heading into the third period.
Jonathan Fauchon and Jacob Mathieu scored for Rimouski in a late attempt to come back, but it wasn't enough.
The Wildcats and Oceanic won't have long to rest. Both teams are playing in the Memorial Cup, which starts Friday night in Rimouski.
Because Rimouski is this year's host team and they made it to the Q-league finals, it meant the other team playing them automatically qualified for the national tournament anyway.
Moncton has won the Q-league title twice before — in 2006 and 2010 — back when the trophy was named the President's Cup and the league name was the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The Wildcats' head coach is Gardiner MacDougall of Bedeque, P.E.I. He joined the team this season after coaching the University of New Brunswick's men's hockey team for 24 seasons, which won nine national university championships during his tenure and had a perfect season in 2023-24.

Hashtags

Sports

#MonctonWildcats

#QMJHL

#GillesCourteauTrophy

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Onus on Olympians to keep drug testers up to date under 'whereabouts' rules

National Post

2 hours ago

National Post

Onus on Olympians to keep drug testers up to date under 'whereabouts' rules

A chunk of an Olympic or Paralympic athlete's life is spent telling drug testers where they will be every day and every night. Article content Failure to provide that information can damage an athlete's eligibility to compete, even if they've never taken a banned substance. Article content Article content Penny Oleksiak won't be on Canada's swimming team at the world championship starting Saturday in Singapore after running afoul of 'whereabouts' requirements. Article content From staying at a friend's house overnight in the off-season to training in remote mountains, athletes must be found for testing to avoid sanctions. Article content The onus is on athletes to submit that information through the web-based Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) on a computer or on a mobile-phone app. Article content Athletes must provide, on a quarterly basis, their addresses (home, hotel or otherwise) and every day must have an overnight accommodation entry. Article content Also required is contact info, training and competition schedules and locations, time and location of school, work or medical appointments, and a 60-minute window each day that they're available for testing. Article content If a grocery run or spontaneous decision to go to a movie conflicts with the 60-minute window an athlete offers as available for testing, ADAMS must be updated beforehand to provide an alternative hour. Article content But athletes can also be tested at any time and any place with no advance notice. Whereabouts information must be sufficiently detailed so they can be found for testing. Article content Article content Article content Whereabouts and ADAMS are constants in an elite athlete's life. Article content 'It is part of our job,' said Canadian race walker and Olympic medallist Evan Dunfee. 'It is something that we sign up for.' Article content He recalled a 2017 vacation in Iceland where he was travelling in a recreational vehicle. Article content 'We didn't know where we were going to be stopping each night,' Dunfee recalled. 'We were just going to drive until we found somewhere nice and set up shop.' Article content That required a consultation with the Canadian Centre For Ethics in Sport. Article content 'I actually had to chat with CCES beforehand and say, 'Hey, how do I follow the rules in this situation?' They said, 'to the best of your ability, update it as best you can.' I think I ended up putting in my latitude and longitude,' Dunfee said.