February 29, in the QMJHL

A once every four years occurrence, has February 29 been a significant date in the history of the QMJHL? Here are a few highlights, helped by Denis Demers’ statistics.

 

Simon Gagné, the most famous

Of all the QMJHL players born on February 29, Simon Gagné is unquestionably the most well-known.

Born in 1980, the current general manager of the Quebec Remparts enjoyed a fine NHL career of 601 points (291 goals and 310 assists) in 822 regular season games, mainly with the Philadelphia Flyers, who drafted him 22^nd overall in 1998.

Gagné played three seasons in the QMJHL, from 1996 to 1999, first with the Beauport Harfangs, who became the Remparts in 1997. He also represented Canada at the 1999 World Junior Championship.

The left winger, who retired from the NHL in 2015, joined the Remparts as assistant coach in 2021, before replacing Patrick Roy as GM last summer.

 

Mathieu Bolduc, a tale of longevity

The dominant Simon Gagné played 190 games in the QMJHL (season and playoffs included), a far cry from the 339 played by Mathieu Bolduc, who leads all players born on February 29.

Bolduc, a defenseman, played in the Q from 2004 to 2009; the first four seasons with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens and the last one with the Shawinigan Cataractes. He then played and studied for four years at Moncton University.

Yoan Loshing, of the Moncton Wildcats, is the only active player born on February 29. The captain is celebrating his 20th birthday with 62 points, including 36 goals, in 51 games.

 

Games, players and coaches…

In the history of the QMJHL, there have been 41 games played on February 29, and three more to come today, for a grand total of 44.

The Acadie-Bathurst Titan, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar and the Shawinigan Cataractes are all in action tonight. They will be joining the Chicoutimi Saguenéens at the top of the list with a total of five games played on February 29.

Fun fact: Acadie-Bathurst is the only team to have played them all on the road.

Eight players played twice in a game held on February 29, but Marc-André Lévesque (Drummondville and St-Jérôme) and Julien Machabée (Gatineau) are the only players born on February 29 to have played on their birthday.

Four coaches were behind the bench on February 29, for three games each: Pascal Vincent, Benoit Groulx, Ghislain Delage and Ron Racette.

 

Players born on February 29 and their total games played in the QMJHL:

Player	Birth	Place	Games
Mathieu Bolduc	1988-02-29	Arthabaska	339
Daniel Daoust	1960-02-29	Montréal	237
Simon Gagné	1980-02-29	Ancienne-Lorette	190
Yoan Loshing*	2004-02-29	Ste-Catherine	171*
Martin Lauzon	1968-02-29	Laval	155
Marc-André Lévesque	1952-02-29	Quebec City	97
Steve Lupien	1972-02-29	Drummondville	87
Yanick Plante	1976-02-29	Sorel	73
Julien Machabée	1988-02-29	Charlottetown, PE	73
Trent Ballentyne	2004-02-29	London, ON	55
Joe Crowley	1972-02-29	Concord, MA, USA	41
Christophe Tremblay	1992-02-29	Jonquière	41
Graeme Power	1980-02-29	Dartmouth, NS	8
Michel Lafleur	1976-02-29	St-Hyacinthe	5
Maxime Thibodeau	1984-02-29	Nicolet	2

Still active*