Finals Preview | Quebec and Halifax going all in for a title
The Gilles-Courteau Trophy Final series are right around the corner and the regular season’s top two teams are looking for QMJHL supremacy. The Quebec Remparts and Halifax Mooseheads will begin their best-of-seven series this Friday, May 12, at 7pm ET in Quebec City’s Videotron Centre.
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The Remparts, the league’s top regular season squad, has had quite the dominant run in this year’s postseason, going undefeated with a perfect 12-0 record so far. Quebec’s high-flying offense has been spearheaded by five different point-per-game players, with Carolina Hurricanes prospect Justin Robidas (7G-12A) and Anaheim Ducks first-rounder Nathan Gaucher (7G-9A) leading the way. Veteran defenseman Charle Truchon has been solid on the backend, picking up at least one point in his last five games while holding a +15 ratio. In the crease, netminder William Rousseau has been nothing short of excellent, notching a win in all 12 of his starts while posting a stellar 1.84 GAA and a .929% save percentage.
Photo : Jonathan Roy
This season marks the 11th time that the Remparts will be appearing in the QMJHL finals, and first time since their 2015 Game 7 loss to the Rimouski Oceanic. The Remparts, who have not been crowned league champions in 47 long years, are still looking for their sixth championship, and a chance at a third Memorial Cup. Given its undefeated record in this year’s run, Quebec has a chance to match, or break, the 1986 Hull Olympiques’ record of 15 straight postseason wins. As for Quebec’s long-serving head coach, Patrick Roy, he is currently sitting at 597 regular season and playoff wins combined, meaning he has a chance to become just the sixth head coach in QMJHL history to reach the 600-win mark.
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While the Remparts have been tearing it up, the Mooseheads have had their share of success as well. Halifax’s elite scorers from the regular season have not slowed down thus far; Josh Lawrence leads the team with 25 points, while NHL prospects Alexandre Doucet and Zachary L’Heureux follow with 21 and 20 points respectively. Jordan Dumais, who was just announced as league MVP, has been out since game two against Sherbrooke, although his return for game one of the finals is a possibility. Brady Schultz remains a solid part of the Moosehead’s blueline, and rookie Owen Phillips is just three helpers away from matching a franchise record for most assists by a rookie defenseman in a single playoff run. Between the pipes, Mathis Rousseau has started all of Halifax’s games, holding a strong 1.95 GAA and a .935% save percentage, which would currently place him atop the Mooseheads playoff record books in both categories.
Photo : Trevor MacMillan
Halifax has not appeared in the QMJHL Final since 2019, when it fell to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in six games. The organization last claimed the President Trophy in 2013, the same year it notched its only Memorial Cup win as well. This year will mark the Mooseheads’ fifth finals appearance, with head coach Sylvain Favreau seeking to claim his first-ever championship. This Halifax squad has been particularly impressive as a defensive powerhouse during the postseason, leading the league with both a 92.2% penalty kill and an impressive total of five shorthanded goals so far.
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Including this year’s matchup, only six times in the history of the QMJHL have two 100-point regular season teams faced off in the final round of the playoffs. During the regular season, Halifax won both games between the two powerhouses, but Quebec has had Halifax’s number with a record of 6-1-0-1 over the last five years.
