QUEBEC CITY. P.Q. — Today we continue our two part series on the Quebec Junior Major Hockey League (QMJHL). 
Prince Edward Island Rockets: 1999 marked the inaugural season of the PEI franchise. An owner group, led by former Montreal Canadiens General Manager Serge Savard, acquired the team. The first name of the team were the Rockets in honor of the legendary Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, who died couple years ago, saw the first PEI game on September 9th 1999 in the same arena named after him before the team left for Prince Edward Island after four years in Montreal. Players who worn the Rockets uniform were Gaston Therrien, Pascal Leclair, Alain Vigneault, Pierre-Andre Bureau, and Maxime Lapierre. Team colors are Blue, White, and Red. Quebec Remparts: After losing the first franchise that was part of the inaugural QMJHL back in 1969 that operated under the Quebec Remparts due to the arrival of the Quebec Nordiques in the World Hockey Association, the new franchise was named the Beauport Harfang, and almost left the city in 1996-97 when the team was owned by a Swiss owner named Jurb Staubli. Thanks to a group of investors lead by Patrick Roy, Jacques Tanguay, and Michel Cadrin, they bought the team from Mr. Staubli and prevented the chance of seeing the team leaving for Lewiston, the most probable destination. After buying the team, the new owner renamed the team the Quebec Remparts. Under the guidance of Head Coach Guy Chouinard, the team went 27 games without losing a game from September 2 to December 6 in 1998. The sequence tied a record previously held by the Sorel Eperviers. In 2003, Quebec hosted the Memorial Cup tournament. The Remparts unfortunately lost all their three games. In 2005-06, Patrick Roy decided to take the head coaching job after firing the current coach at that time, Eric Lavigne, when he was unsatisfied of his teams performance. Headed by the winner of the player-of-the-year Alexander Radulov, Quebec won the Memorial Cup in Moncton against the Wildcats. History was been made that year when two teams from the Quebec League faced each other in Memorial Cup final. Quebec established an attendance record which saw more than 3000,000 fans go through the turnstiles to attend a Quebec Remparts game. Eric Daze, Martin Biron, Simon Gagne, Alexandre Radulov, and Marc Edward Vlasic all wore Quebec uniform. Team colors are Red, Black, and Beige. Rimouski Oceanics: The fans in Rimouski have been able to cheer a QMJHL team since 1994-95 seasons following the transfer of the Sherbrooke Castors (renamed the Lynks) after moving to St. Jean-sur- Richelieu. The team was named the St. Jean Lynks from 1982-83 to 1994-95 when they left for Rimouski. Even if the franchise is relatively young, the Oceanics already reached 1,250 victories during the 2006-07 season. The team also participated in nine QMJHL finals winning five of them. They also won one Memorial Cup. In 2008-09, Rimouski will host the Memorial Cup tournament, and the team will automatically be involved as host team. The Oceanics didn’t waste anytime achieving success. The team reached the President Cup final in 1997-98 for the first time ever before losing against Val d’Or Foreurs in four games. In following summer one of the most dominant players in a Rimouski uniform was Vincent Lecavalier who became the first pick overall in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 2004-05 season was a remarkable one for the franchise. The team went 35 games without losing a game (28 games in the regular season, 7 in the playoffs). Some of the most notable players to wear the Rimouski jersey were Lecavalier, Sidney Crosby, and Brad Richards. Team colors are Royal Blue, Navy Blue, and White. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies: The 1986 season marked the arrival of the Rouyn-Noranda franchise in the QMJHL following another team transfer, this time from Montreal Blue Blanc Rouge. The Montreal team became the Montreal Junior playing their games in Paul Sauve Center and in the Montreal Forum. Led by a young player named Pat Lafontaine, the re-named Montreal team le Junior de Verdun won their first President Cup playing in front of a record crowd of 17,0000 fans, tasting their victory over the Longueuil Chevaliers in old Montreal Forum. The franchise were forced to move again prior to 1989-90 season, going to St. Hyacynthe becoming the Lasers for eight more years before moving again to Rouyn-Noranda where the hockey fans welcomed their Huskies. The franchise’s best season was in 1997-98 where they won 43 games and finished second in the overall standings. Some of the best players to wear the Huskies uniform were Mario Tremblay, Robert Picard, Pat Lafontaine, Martin Brodeur, and Mike Ribeiro. Team colors are White, Red and Black. Saint John Sea Dogs: Expansion brought the Sea Dogs to the QMJHL in 2005. Defenseman Alex Grant was the first overall pick in the 2005 QMJHL draft overall. Saint John had their best regular season in 2007-08 winning 41 times (89 points). Some of the best players wearing Sea Dogs uniform were: Alex Grant, Yan Sauve, Chris DiDomenico, and Simon Despres. Team colors are Blue, Black and Grey. Shawinigan Cataractes: The oldest franchise in the QMJHL, was the only franchise that is still playing at it’s original home in Shawinigan since 1969. Sure, they have changed their first name (originally known as the Bruins) where they reached the Memorial Cup final losing in five games against eventual champion Quebec Remparts, to the Dynamos. Under the Dynamos name, the team went through tough times missing the playoff four years in a row. In the 1978-79 season, the franchise changed their first name from the Dynamos to the Cataractes. After ten long years without having the chance to win a series, the team won his first playoff series in 1983 defeating the St. Jean Castors in the quarterfinals four games to none. Two players still marked Cataractes history in the best player categorie. Patrice Lefebvre and Stephane Lebeau were the most offensively gifted players. Levebvre still has the record for the most points in the QMJHL with 595 points, while Lebeau for his part ended his junior career with 282 goals, second best in league history behind Mike Bossy (309). Beside the two previously mentioned players, here are some of the others players who performed gratefully for Shawinigan team. Claude Dolbec, Ron Lapointe, Stephane Robidas, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Jason Pominville. Team colors are Nay Blue, Green, White, and burgundy. Val-d’Or Foreurs: The franchise entered the QMJHL in 1993, and had their first winning season in 1995-96. The team won their first ever President Cup for the first time in 1998 over the Rimouski Oceanics. Jean-Pierre Dumont came out of those playoffs establishing a record for the most goals in the playoffs with 31. Another player, Simon Gamache, became notorious in Val-d’Or by crushing a record for the most points in playoff held by Mario Lemieux with 52. Gamache had 57 points in 2001-02, delivering the second President Cup title to the organization. Gamache ended the season with 184 points, winning the scoring championship, but the team was unable to grab the Memorial Cup losing against the Red Deer Rebels (WHL) in the final. Besides Dumont and Gamache, other notable players who wore a Val-d’Or jersey were Steve Begin, Gaston Therrien, Roberto Luongo, and Kristopher Letang. Team colors are Green, Gold, White, and Black. Victoriaville Tigres: Formerly called the Longueuil Chevaliers before the franchise moved to Victoriaville for the 1987-88 regular season, reaching the league final in consecutive years in 1989 and 1990. After several deceptive campaigns, the arrival of Alexandre Daigle, who was selected first overall in 1993 by the Ottawa Senators, revived the Tigres franchise. The 2001-02 season marked the best year ever for Victoriaville cumulated with 45 victories and ending that year with a league championship. After losing their first two games at the Memorial Cup tournament, the team came back, winning the tie breaking game, earning their place in semi-final. Winning against Erie was great, but the team fell losing the Memorial Cup final 6-3 against the Kootenay Ice (WHL). Some players who had great careers in Victoriaville uniform were Guy Rouleau, Stephane Fiset, Yves Racine, Alexandre Daigle, Mathieu Garon, Danny Groux, and Mathieu Lombardi. Team colors are White, Yellow, and Black. Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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