2024-2025 Cape Breton Eagles Roster Announced
Introducing your 2024-2025 Cape Breton Eagles.
This year’s Eagles squad is destined to be one of the most exciting in franchise history. The opening night roster of 24 players consists of 15 returnees and nine new names who will wear the club logo for the first time.
Up front there are four new forwards, highlighted by the Eagles 2024 first round draft pick Romain Litalien. The 6 foot 1, 180lbs Litalien was drafted fourth overall in June after scoring 30 points in 32 games last season with his hometown Séminaire St-François Blizzard of the Quebec U18 league.
Glace Bay’s Rory Pilling will be the only Cape Breton born player on the roster this season and will look to have a bounce back season after being sidelined with a lower body injury last season. Pilling, 17, had 13 points in nine games with the Sydney Rush last season, and was drafted by the Eagles in the second round, 34th overall in the 2023 QMJHL Entry Draft.
Centreman Alexis Toussaint was drafted 99th overall by the Eagles in the 2023 draft and scored 53 points in 56 games with the TELUS Cup winning Magog Cantonniers.
Standing at 6 foot 4, 174lbs, Carson Griffin will add some size to the Eagles forward core. A native of Summerside, PEI, Griffin will make his QMJHL regular season debut this season after being drafted in the 5th round, 73rd overall in 2022. Last season, Griffin scored 35 points in 30 games with the Charlottetown Knights U18.
There will be four new names on the Eagles blue line this season.
Logan Quinn travelled with the Eagles during last year’s post season after being drafted by the club in the 5th round, 89th overall in 2023. Last season Quinn, 17, played with his hometown Truro Bearcats of the Maritime Junior Hockey League.
Will Murphy made his QMJHL debut in January with the Eagles when he played two games at Centre 200. Standing at 6 foot 4, 205lbs, Murphy will add to the already sizeable d-core the Eagles will carry this season.
Ales Zielinski will fill the second European slot alongside goaltender Jakub Milota on this year’s team after being acquired by the Eagles in June from Moncton. Zielinski, 18, played alongside Milota with team Czechia at the 2024 U18 World Hockey Championships.
17-year-old Aiden McCullough will join the Eagles squad this season after being drafted by the team in the 5th round, 75th overall this summer. Last season, the 6 foot 2, 192lbs Saint John product played with the Fredericton Caps U18 where he scored 36 points in 40 games.
In between the pipes this season will be 18-year-old Brandon Lavoie of Lower Sackville. Last season, Lavoie suited up for the Eagles during game four of the their semi-final battle with the Baie Comeau Drakkar at Centre 200 in relief of goaltender Nicolas Ruccia. Last season, Lavoie played with the Dartmouth Steele Subaru and was named top goaltender at the 2024 U18 Major Atlantic tournament.
The Eagles will play their next preseason game on September 6th in Port Hawkesbury and on September 8th at Centre 200.
Tickets for both games are still available online by visiting the box office website for both arenas.
