Eagles and Océanic Primed For Big Early Season Showdown
Two highly ranked teams will look to get on track as the Rimouski Océanic make their lone visit of the season to Centre 200 this evening. It’s a rematch of last year’s playoffs, when the Eagles dispatched of Rimouski in five games. As the hosts of the 2025 Memorial Cup, the Océanic have high hopes & expectations but know it will be a battle in a strong Eastern Conference with strong opposition like Cape Breton.
The Eagles picked up their first point of the season on Sunday in a 2-1 loss to Saint John. The Eagles were buoyed by the return of Utah draft pick Tomas Lavoie, who was the game’s first star- scoring a goal, putting up five shots and five hits. And tonight, the Eagles lineup should get even stronger as Cam Squires is expected to return from New Jersey Devils training camp. Squires, who has already signed a contact with the Devils, has reeled off back to back 30 goal seasons for the Eagles.
Like the Eagles, Rimouski was ranked in the CHL pre-season top 10 but has been a bit slow coming to form with a 1-3 record as a number of NHL drafted players missed early season games. In total, Rimouski has five NHL draftees, including NHL signees defenseman Spencer Gill (Philadelphia) and reigning QMHJL MVP & former Moosehead Mathieu Cataford (Vegas). Other NHL drafted players are forward Alexandre Blais (Anaheim) and defensemen Luke Coughlin (Florida) & Basile Sansonnens (Vancouver). The Océanic will likely be without star forward Maël St-Denis, who has yet to play this season due to injury.
Here’s what else you need to know ahead of tonight’s game!
BUY TICKETS: https://shorturl.at/fg3aB
50/50: https://rafflebox.ca/raffle/cbeagles
Venue: Centre 200, Sydney, NS
Puck drop: 7 PM AST
Web coverage: https://watch.chl.ca
Radio Coverage: 1270 AM CJCB or online at www.cjcbradio.com
Twitter: @cbehockey
Live stats https://chl.ca/lhjmq-eagles/gamecentre/31205/
| RIMOUSKI | CAPE BRETON | |
| 1-3-0-0 | RECORD | 0-3-0-1 |
| 13GF/18GA | GOALS FOR/GOALS AGAINST | 6GF/15GA |
| 2-0-0 (lost 4-1 in the playoffs) | LAST YEAR’S SEASON SERIES | 0-2-0 (won 4-1 in the playoffs) |
| Rimouski 3 @ Blainville-Boisbriand 6 | LAST GAME RESULT | Sunday, Saint John 2 @ Cape Breton 1 (SO) |
| 2023-24 LEADING SCORER | ||
| 1/11 | POWER PLAY | 0/15 |
| PENALTY KILL | ||
| Maël St-Denis, Anthony Gaudet | INJURY REPORT (PRIOR GAME) | Angelo Fullerton, Brayden Schmitt, Carson Griffin, Noah Larochelle |
