2024 QMJHL Cup | Schedule and Team Names announced
The 2024 QMJHL Cup presented by FPS Payment, a tournament that brings together the top 15-year-old players from Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, will be held in Boisbriand, QC from April 25 to 28. Today, the QMJHL unveiled the tournament’s schedule as well as the names of the six participating teams.
Raymond Bourque, Daniel Brière, Noah Dobson, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Marchand and Denis Savard certainly left their mark on the QMJHL and will each have their names associated with one team.
These six teams will compete in a round-robin tournament (three games per team) from April 25 to 27.
Then, on Sunday April 28, the duel for fifth place, the showdown for third place and the tournament final will all take place.
The QMJHL Cup presented by FPS Payment is a golden opportunity for these 15-year-old players to demonstrate their potential to QMJHL scouts, in preparation for the next QMJHL Entry Draft presented by Fenplast that will be held June 7 and 8, in Moncton.
Here are the six players honoured with a team name this year (in alphabetical order):
Raymond Bourque (Team GOLD)
Dominant in the QMJHL from 1976 to 1979, with 220 points in 204 games, Bourque was drafted eighth overall by the Boston Bruins in 1979, and immediately made the NHL.
Six years later, defenseman #77 became captain, a position he held until he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in the last stretch of the 1999-2000 season.
Bourque played another season in Colorado, fulfilling his most cherished dream: Winning the Stanley Cup in his 22nd and final NHL season. He was 40 years-old at the time.
His 1,579 points and 410 goals (in 1,612 games) are records for a defenseman in NHL history. He also won the Norris Trophy, awarded to the league’s best defenseman, five times.
Not surprisingly, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, in 2004. Two years earlier, he was inducted into the QMJHL Hall of Fame.
Daniel Brière (Team WHITE)
From 1994 to 1997, Brière enjoyed three spectacular seasons with the Drummondville Voltigeurs, scoring 123, 163 and 130 points. His 416 points rank him 36th in QMJHL history.
This gold-medal winner with Canada at the 1997 World Junior Championship struggled to establish himself in the NHL after being drafted 24th overall by the Coyotes in 1996.
It wasn’t until 2001-2002 that he finally came out of his shell, with 60 points. The following season, he was traded to Buffalo, where he really made his niche for three and a half years.
Brière then played six seasons in Philadelphia, before brief stints in Montreal and Colorado.
After a career of 696 points in 973 NHL games, he is now General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, at the age of 46.
He has been a member of the QMJHL Hall of Fame since 2016.
Noah Dobson (Team GREEN)
Dobson, 24, is already in his fifth season with the New York Islanders, who drafted him 12th overall in 2018. This season, he could be one of the finalists for the Norris Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top defenseman.
Dobson played three seasons in the QMJHL, winning the President Cup and Memorial Cup with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in 2018 and repeating the feat with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies the following year. In his final season, he earned the Guy-Lafleur Trophy as playoff MVP.
Dobson completed his QMJHL career with 147 points in 186 games.
Vincent Lecavalier (Team BLUE)
First overall pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Lecavalier climbed straight to the NHL at the age of 18.
He had previously enjoyed 102- and 115-point seasons with the Rimouski Océanic, winning the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Rookie of the Year award in 1996-1997.
Lecavalier went on to enjoy a stellar NHL career with 949 points, including 421 goals, in 1212 games, with the Lightning, Flyers and Kings.
With Tampa Bay, he won the Stanley Cup in 2004 and the Maurice-Richard Trophy as scoring champion in 2007.
Lecavalier has been a member of the QMJHL Hall of Fame since 2018.
Brad Marchand (Team BLACK)
Marchand played in the QMJHL from 2004 to 2008 with the Wildcats (President Cup win in 2006), Foreurs and Mooseheads, totaling 248 points in 245 games. In the process, he helped Canada win the gold medal at the World Junior Championship twice.
A third-round pick of the Boston Bruins in 2006, number 63 made the NHL his full-time home in 2010-2011 and helped the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in June 2011.
Since then, he has become one of the league’s most complete forwards, combining talent and intensity to disrupt opponents like few other players can.
Captain of the Bruins since the summer of 2023, he recently passed the milestone of 1,000 games played in the NHL.
Denis Savard (Team RED)
From 1977 to 1980, Savard captivated QMJHL crowds in a Montréal Juniors jersey, with 455 points (in 214 games), the 22nd-highest total in League history.
He was then drafted third overall in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. Savard spent the entire 1980s in Chicago, before joining the Montréal Canadiens. In 1993, he helped the Habs win the Stanley Cup.
He completed his career with 1,338 points in 1,196 games with stints in Tampa Bay and a return to Chicago, until 1997.
Three years later, he was inducted into the QMJHL Hall of Fame, and in 2001, into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
