QUEBEC CITY. P.Q. — The Quebec Junior Major Hockey League (QMJHL) was founded in 1969 resulting from the merger of two leagues: The Quebec Junior Hockey League and the Metropolitan Montreal Junior Hockey League. The merger of both Leagues are now known as Major Juniors. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CHL) with the smallest numbers of teams 18. All of the leagues teams are geographically situated in Quebec (11), New Brunswick (3), Nova Scotia (2), Prince Edward Island (1) and State of Maine (1). 
The league had to realign their divisions with the relocation of the St. John’s Fog Devils that later became the Montreal Junior. The league now has four divisions, three with four teams each and one with six teams. In the Telus Western Division are the Gatineau Olympiques, Montreal Junior, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Val-d-Or Foreurs. In Telus Central Division are the Drummondville Voltigeurs, Lewiston MAINEiacs, Shawinigan Cataractes and Victoriaville Tigres. In Telus Eastern Division are the Baie-Comeau Drakars, Chicoutimi Sagueneens, Quebec Remparts, and Rimouski Oceanics. Finally, you have the Atlantic Division with teams like the Acadie-Bathurst Titans, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Halifax Mooseheads, Moncton Wildcats, Prince Edward Island Rockets, and Saint John Sea Dogs. The Quebec League rapidly earned the reputation of developing offensive players and very good goaltenders. The most famous defenseman that came out of the Q has certainly been Raymond Bourque who played most of his professional hockey career with the Boston Bruins, and ending is career with Colorado Avalanche where he earned his only Stanley Cup. Bourque played in Major Junior for Sorel and Verdun Black Hawks. Forwards like Guy Lafleur played with the Quebec Remparts, while Michael Bossy played for Laval National, Mario Lemieux for Laval Voisins, and Pat Lafontaine with Verdun Junior to name a few. Goaltenders like Patrick Roy played for with the former Gramby Bisons, Roberto Luongo (Val-d’Or Foreurs), and Corey Crawford (Moncton), were just some of the players mostly remembered by fans of junior hockey in Quebec. The league plays a total of 612 games, which is divided into 68 games played. Each team plays 34 at home, and 34 away. Each team faces each other at least twice during the regular season, and 16 out of 18 teams have to earn a playoff spot in what most people called the true season. Franchise History: Let’s take a look at each franchises history in the QMJHL. Acadie Bathurst Titans: The team has had three previous homes before establishing themselves in Bathurst and become the Acadie Bathurst Titans. Back in 1969, the franchise was known as Rosemont National joining the league at that time. After several seasons, the team moved briefly to Laval before the 1971-72 seasons. Laval operated under the name the Voisins in 1979 before becoming the Titans in 1985. The two most famous players ever to wear the Laval uniform were Michael Bossy (who scored 309 goals in 264 games), and Mario Lemieux were collected 282 points in 1983-84, establishing a record. Mr. Leo-Guy Morrissette, who owned the team in 1998, made the announcement that his team would leave after 27 years to relocate in Bathurst. Other players who played in Laval were Martin Lapointe, Francois Beauchemin, and Roberto Luongo. Team colors are White, Red, Blue and Gold. Baie-Comeau Drakkar: Founded in 1997, the first man hired to lead the team behind the bench was Richard Martel. Under his tutelage the team won two conference championships (2000-01 and 2002-03). They also won the regular season crown in 2002-03 winning 50 games. Team colors are Black, Red, Yellow and White. Players who had great career with the team were, Yannik Lehoux, Maxime Fortinus, Jean-Francois Jacques, Patrick Thoresen, and Francois Bouchard. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles: The Eagles moved to Nova Scotia in 1971. The teams ancestors were the Sorel Eperviers and the Gramby Bisons. Sorel was part of the league in 1969 before the Morrissette family transferred it before the 1981-82 season. After missing the playoffs seven times over eleven seasons, the team changed their name to the Predateurs, as well as their colors. The 2006-07 season marked Cape Breton tenth anniversary. Cape Breton colors are Gold, Black, Grey and White. Some notorious players who wore the Screaming Eagles uniform were, Pierre Larouche, Raymond Bourque, Pierre Turgeon, and Patrick Roy. Chicoutimi Sagueneens: The 1973-74 season brought the Chicoutimi franchise to the QMJHL through expansion. The 1990-91 edition led, by head coach Joe Canale, won the regular season title and the President Cup, the ultimate trophy in the Q. The team reached five league finals over a 33 year span. Over the years, the Sagueneens were recognized for developing some very good goaltenders such as Sam St. Laurent, Daniel Berthiaume, Jimmy Waite, Felix Potvin, Eric Fichaud, and Marc Denis took place between the pipes. The team also developed some very good forwards who wore the Chicoutimi uniform with notoriety. Some examples are Guy Carboneau, Sylvain Locas, Marc Fortier, Stephane Morin, Ramzi Abid and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Except for Carboneau, the others won the league scoring title. Team colors are Blue and White. Drummondville Voltigeurs: The team entered the QMJHL in 1982. After a pretty tough time in their inaugural season, the Voltigeurs were able to get six regular seasons over .500 or better. The team played in Memorial Cup Tournament in 1991, which was held in Quebec, lost at the hand of Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs. Some notable players to play for Drummondville were, Steve Duchesne, Ian Laperriere, Rene Corbet, Daniel Briere, Guillaume Latendresse, and Darick Brassard. Team colors are Red, White, Silver and Black. Gatineau Olympiques: After entering the Q in 1973, the Olympiques didn’t have instant success. You can say they began their QMJHL adventure slowly. Owned by the legendary Wayne Gretzky, in 1985-86 the team won their first regular season title, and also won their first ever President Cup. Since 1986, the team enjoyed winning four regular season’s championships and six President Cups in eight appearances. While hosting the Memorial Cup in 1997, the team was coached by rookie Head Coach Claude Julien, and led his team to the ultimate prize. It was the second time in as many years the league hosted the Memorial Cup. Gramby was the first one to host it in 1986. Some notable players to wear team colors were, Sylvain Turgeon, Guy Rouleau, Martin Gelinas, Jose Theodore, Colin White, Jiri Ficher, and Maxime Talbot. Team colors are Black, Purple, Orange and Yellow. Halifax Mooseheads: The QMJHL turned to the Atlantic Provinces by welcoming the Halifax team in 1994. They became instant success attracting 158,380 fans in their inaugural season. The franchise record was established in 2002-03 season with 385,662. Halifax had the pleasure of taking part in two President Cup finals losing both, the first one against the Hull Olympiques in seven games. They lost the second one in four consecutive games while facing the Rimouski Oceanics. Some notable alumni’s players to wear the Halifax uniform were, Jean Sebastien Giguere, Alex Tanguay, Ladislav Nagy, Bobby Smith, and Jakub Voracek. Team colors are White, Red, and Green. Lewiston MAINEiacs: The only team operating in United States, Lewiston was originally the Trois Rivieres Ducs, and was part of the original QMJHL season. After several years in Trois Rivieres, the team opted to change their first name for Draveurs. Under the tutelage of head coach Michel Bergeron, the team won two regular season titles and two President Cup titles before moving to Sherbrooke before becoming the Faucons. In their inaugural season, the Faucons, coached by Guy Chouinard, earned their first regular season title losing in final against the Laval Titans. Before the 1998-99 seasons began, the team decided to change the first name again naming the team to the Castors. Mark Just, who was the previous owner of the team, made a request to the league about a possibility of transferring his team south of the border. The request was allowed by the league in 2003 and the team moved to Lewiston Maine becoming the only QMJHL franchise ever to operating in the USA. The 2006-07 seas was a dream season for the MAINEiacs. Led by former Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Clement Jodoin, the team won two consecutive championships, once in the regular season, and once in the playoffs were they won 16 out of 17 games. The Memorial Cup, unfortunately, was a different story for the team where they won only once in four tries. Vancouver Giants won the Memorial Cup in 2007. Notable players who wore the uniform were, Richard Loduc, Normand Rochefort, Yanic Perrault, Jocelyn Thibeault, Mathieu Dandenault, Chad Dennis, and Jonathan Bernier. Team colors are Blue, Orange, Black and Grey. Moncton Wildcats: The QMJHL league can thank owner Robert Irving for transforming a franchise that could have been gone after their inaugural season in 1995-96. Originally called the Alpines, the team changed their name to the Wildcats in 1996-97. The Alpines became not only the Wildcats, but at the same time, the city was treated to a 44 win season in 1999-2000. The 2005-06 season was the first successful season in Wildcats history, which was led behind the bench by Ted Nolan. The team won their first regular season title as well as their first President Cup championship. The team hosted the Memorial Cup tournament where Moncton lost in final against the Quebec Remparts. Following the tournament in the summer 2006, Ted Nolan, Daniel Lacroix, and Danny Flynn left for an NHL job with the New York Islanders organization. Flynn came back to Moncton in the summer of 2007 as the head coach. Some notable players to wear the uniform were, Steve Bernier, Corey Crawford, Sebastien Roger. Team colors are Red, White, Blue, and Yellow. Montreal Junior: After multiple attempts, the QMJHL finally came back to Montreal in September 2008, hopefully this time for good thanks to the St. John’s Fog Devils. Montreal was first represented by the Montreal Junior Canadiens from 1933-1972. The team played in the QMJHL from 1933-1961. From 1961 to 1972 the team played in the Ontario Hockey League. From 1973 to 1975, the team was called the Montreal Blue Blanc Rouge, from 1976 to 1982 team operated under the name of the Montreal Junior Canadiens, from 1982 to 1984 the team became known as the Verdun Junior, from 1984 to 1998 they were the Verdun Junior Canadiens, and from 1998 to 2003 the team was called the Montreal Rockets, which eventually moved to Prince Edward Island. In 2008, the St. John’s Fogs Devils moved to Montreal to become the new Montreal Junior. Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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