4 QMJHL Teams To Win 58 In A Season

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has been in existence since 1969-70. In that time, four different teams have finished the regular season with 58 wins, the QMJHL record. The latest team to do so was in 2012-13 when the Halifax Mooseheads recorded 58 wins over the 68 game regular season schedule. 2013-14 showed a little more parity with Halifax and the Baie-Comeau Drakkar tying for the league lead with just 47 wins each.

1973-74 Sorel Eperviers

The first team to win 58 was the Sorel Eperviers, or Sorel Black Hawks. Sorel won 58 of their 70 games in 1973-74. The team scored a ridiculous 620 goals over those 70 games, nearly nine goals per game. The Black Hawks had seven players with more than 100 points, three had over 200. Pierre Larouche led the way with 94 goals and 157 assists for 251 points. Larouche was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins eighth overall in 1974 and went on to play over 800 regular season games in the National Hockey League.

During the regular season, Sorel finished eleven points ahead of the number two team, the Quebec Remparts. After sweeping the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs in the quarter-finals and the Montreal Bleu Blanc Rouge in the semis, Sorel came up against the Remparts in the finals. Quebec upset the Eperviers in six games.

1978-79 Trois Rivieres Draveurs

The next 58 win season came in 1978-79. The QMJHL regular season was two games longer for each team than in 1973-74. The Trois Rivieres Draveurs won 58 of their 72 games while losing just eight for 122 points. The Draveurs finished 26 points ahead of second place Sherbrooke Castors.

Unlike the Sorel Black Hawks in 1973-74, Trois Rivieres did not fail in the post season. The Draveurs swept the Shawinigan Cataractes in the quarter-finals and lost just one game in the semi-finals to the Montreal Juniors before earning a showdown with Sherbrooke in the finals. Sherbrooke did not win a game as Trois Rivieres won the President’s Cup.

The Draveurs earned a berth in the Memorial Cup tournament, which they co-hosted with Sherbrooke. The team won two and lost two in the round-robin and did not reach the final.

Trois Rivieres was led offensively by J.F. Sauve who led the QMJHL with 176 points. He would improve on that number the following season with 187 points, again leading the league. Sauve went on to play 290 regular season games in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres and Quebec Nordiques.

2010-11 Saint John Sea Dogs

Over three decades passed before another QMJHL team would equal the mark. In 2010-11, the Saint John Sea Dogs lost just seven of their 68 games in regulation time with another two shoot out losses and one loss in overtime.

Saint John lost just three of 19 games in the post season, one to Victoriaville in the quarter-finals and two to Gatineau in the finals. It was just their sixth year in the QMJHL and it was their second of three consecutive visits to the final series, winning it all in 2011-12, as well.

The Sea Dogs travelled to Mississauga, Ontario to compete in the Memorial Cup tournament. With a 3-1 victory over the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors in the final game, Saint John became just the second QMJHL team in eleven years to capture the Memorial Cup as the top major junior hockey team in Canada.

2012-13 Halifax Mooseheads

In 2012-13, the Halifax Mooseheads simply dominated the QMJHL with 58 wins and 120 points over 68 games. The team was led by Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon. Drouin is likely to be a star in the National Hockey League while MacKinnon has already reached that status with the Colorado Avalanche.

In the playoffs, Halifax didn’t lose a single game over the first three rounds, sweeping the Saint John Sea Dogs, Gatineau Olympiques and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies to earn a berth in the President’s Cup finals. The Mooseheads finally lost a game in the finals but won the series in five over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

Halifax moved on the Memorial Cup tournament held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Mooseheads were beaten just once in the tournament, by the host Saskatoon Blades during the round robin. Ironically, it was the only game that the Blades won. Halifax then met the Portland Winterhawks in the final game and won 6-4.

 

1982-83 QMJHL Scoring Leaders

1982-83 was the only year Pat Lafontaine played in the QMJHL and the second of three years in the Q for Mario Lemieux. That combination was a catalyst for an extreme season of offense in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Pat Lafontaine – Verdun Juniors

Pat Lafontaine led the league with 234 points, playing 70 games for the Verdun Juniors. Lafontaine scored 104 goals and assisted on 130 more. The New York Islanders quickly picked him up third overall at the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. Pat was drafted behind just Brian Lawton (Minnesota North Stars) and Sylvain Turgeon (Hartford Whalers).

Lafontaine spent much of the 1983-84 season with the United States Olympic team but did make his NHL debut, scoring 13 goals in just 15 regular season games for the Islanders. He also played in 16 playoff games as the Islanders reached the Stanley Cup finals before falling to the Edmonton Oilers. Lafontaine went on to play 865 regular season games in the NHL, scoring 468 goals while playing for the Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers.

Claude Verret – Trois Rivieres Draveurs

Claude Verret of the Trois Rivieres Draveurs finished second with 188 points over 68 regular season games. It was his third and final season in the QMJHL. Verret topped 100 points in each of those three years. Claude was an eighth round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 1982. He played a total of 14 games in the NHL, all with the Sabres. In 1983-84, Verret was rookie of the year in the American Hockey League, amassing 90 points in 65 games for the Rochester Americans.

Mario Lemieux – Laval Voisins

Mario Lemieux of the Laval Voisins finished third with 184 points in 66 games, a mere warm-up for his record setting season the following year. Super Mario was in his second of three years with Laval. In 1983-84, he would set an unreachable Canadian Hockey League record of 282 points on 133 goals and 149 assists. With playoffs added in, he totalled 334 points.

The Pittsburgh Penguins grabbed Lemieux first overall at the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. Mario simply became the franchise, leading the team to their first two Stanley Cup championships and leading the league in scoring on six occasions.

Sylvain Turgeon – Hull Olympiques

Sylvain Turgeon finished fourth with 163 points in 67 games for the Hull Olympiques. It was his second of two seasons with Hull. As mentioned earlier, Turgeon was taken second overall by the Hartford Whalers at the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. Turgeon was an immediate star for the Whalers, scoring 40 goals in his rookie season. Sylvain played 669 regular season games in the NHL from 1983-84 to 1994-95 with the Whalers, New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators.

Paul Adey – Hull Olympiques

Paul Adey of the Hull Olympiques rounded out the top five with 162 points in 70 games. Adey is perhaps the most interesting of these five players. After playing three years in the QMJHL, Paul went undrafted and played three years of minor pro in North America. In 1988-89, he cross the Atlantic to play for the Nottingham Panthers of the BHL and he became a legend.

Scoring 1,600 points for Nottingham, Adey has his number 22 retired by the club and is a member of the British Hockey Hall of Fame. Paul is currently the Head Coach of Val Pusteria in Italy’s elite Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio.