Cats draw first blood, take opener versus Océanic in 2025 Gilles-Courteau Trophy Final
The Moncton Wildcats, winners of 65 games entering today’s action, added another triumph to their collection with a 4-1 decision over the Rimouski Oceanic in game one of the 2025 Gilles-Courteau Trophy Final.
Juraj Pekarcik, Markus Vidicek, Vincent Collard and Preston Lounsbury found the back of the net for Moncton, who improved its postseason record to 13-1. Calgary Flames draftee Etienne Morin chipped in with a pair of assists. For Rimouski, forward Maxime Coursol provided the lone goal. Mathis Rousseau posted the victory in nets with by stopping 13 shots, while Mathis Langevin took the loss in a 32-save effort.
The Wildcats came out of the gate roaring, outshooting the Oceanic 13-3 after 20 minutes of play. It would take almost 16 minutes for the visitors to record their first shot on goal. After an early disallowed goal by the home side, the Cats got on the board with authority on the power play at 5:46. Top 2025 NHL Entry Draft prospect Caleb Desnoyers was the catalyst, undressing a pair of Océanic defenders before sliding a perfect pass through traffic to Pekarcik who made no mistake, scoring his seventh of the postseason into a wide-open net.
It was more of the same in the middle frame, Moncton adding a pair of goals to the scoresheet while outshooting Rimouski 17-4 in the process. The Cats first doubled their lead on a 100-foot-long broken play at the 6:22 mark. After Vidicek chipped the puck out of his own zone, Maxime Côté followed the play up ice and deftly deflected the biscuit towards the crease where the Cats captain collected it, performed a spin-o-rama, and beat Langevin along the ice on the backhand for his fourth of the playoffs. The home side would extend its lead on the man advantage when Collard tipped a point shot from Morin past Langevin for his second of the postseason with 2:03 left in the period.
It was an evenly played third period that saw the Cats narrowly outshoot Rimouski 8-7. The Océanic found the back of the net at 8:36 when Jack Martin kept the play alive at the point before dishing the puck down low to Coursol. The veteran winger directed a shot towards the crease that deflected off a Wildcats stick and past Rousseau for his fifth of the playoffs. That’s as close as the 2025 Memorial Cup hosts would get, however, as the Cats would close out the scoring on Lounsbury’s empty netter with 67 seconds remaining.
Both teams will have little time to reflect as the puck drops on game two of this best-of-seven series tomorrow night at 6PM ET/7PM AT. All the action will be available live on TSN, RDS and CHL TV.
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(Photo: Daniel St-Louis)
