Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League | |
Current Season: | 2023–24 QMJHL season |
Pixels: | 200px |
Sport: | Ice hockey |
Founded: | 1969 |
Founder: | Robert Lebel |
President: | Mario Cecchini[1] |
Teams: | 18 |
Country: | Canada |
Champion: | Drummondville Voltigeurs (2) |
Most Champs: | Gatineau Olympiques (7) |
Tv: | Sportsnet Sportsnet One Eastlink TV TVA Sports |
The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; French: Ligue de hockey junior Maritimes Québec, LHJMQ) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. Officially the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League until 2023, the league includes teams in Quebec and the Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.
The Gilles-Courteau Trophy is the championship trophy of the league. The QMJHL champion then goes on to compete in the Memorial Cup against the OHL and WHL champions, and the CHL host team. The QMJHL had traditionally adopted a rapid and offensive style of hockey. Former QMJHL players hold many of the Canadian Hockey League's career and single season offensive records.
Hockey Hall of Fame alumni of the QMJHL include Mario Lemieux, Guy Lafleur, Ray Bourque, Pat LaFontaine, Mike Bossy, Denis Savard, Michel Goulet, Luc Robitaille, and goaltenders Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League was founded in 1969, through the merger of the best teams from the existing Quebec Junior Hockey League and the Metropolitan Montreal Junior Hockey League, declaring themselves a "major junior" league. Of the original eleven QMJHL teams, eight came from the QJHL, two from the MMJHL, and the Cornwall Royals, from Cornwall, Ontario, near the Quebec border, who transferred from the Central Junior A Hockey League. The Rosemont National and Laval Saints transferred from the MMJHL. The eight teams from the QJHL were the Drummondville Rangers, Quebec Remparts, Saint-Jérôme Alouettes, Shawinigan Bruins, Sherbrooke Castors, Sorel Éperviers, Trois-Rivières Ducs and the Verdun Maple Leafs.
Most of the teams were within a few hours' drive of Montreal. From the first season in 1969–70, only Shawinigan remains in the same city with an uninterrupted history, although the team's name has changed to the Cataractes.
In 1972 the QMJHL had been in operation for three years, and wanted a team in the province's largest city. It threatened a lawsuit to force the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the Ontario Hockey Association into the Quebec-based league. Over the summer of 1972, the OHA granted the Junior Habs a "one-year suspension" of operations, while team ownership transferred the team and players into the QMJHL, renaming themselves the Montreal Bleu Blanc Rouge in the process. The OHA then reactivated the suspended franchise for the 1973–74 season in Kingston, Ontario, under new ownership and with new players, calling the team the Kingston Canadians. QMJHL teams have won the Memorial Cup twelve times since 1969, with the Shawinigan Cataractes, Saint John Sea Dogs, the Granby Prédateurs, the Hull Olympiques, Halifax Mooseheads, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, Rimouski Océanic, and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan each winning once, the Quebec Remparts winning three times(once in their first edition 1969–1985, and twice in their second edition 1997–present) and the Cornwall Royals winning three times.
Starting in 1994, the QMJHL began to expand further east, outside of Quebec. The "Q" filled the void in Atlantic Canada after the exodus of American Hockey League franchises, when the AHL had a strong presence in the 1980s and 1990s; all of the Maritime Division cities save for Bathurst, New Brunswick are former homes of AHL franchises. To date, Fredericton, New Brunswick is the lone former AHL market that has not established a QMJHL franchise.
In recent seasons, the QMJHL has been scouting players from the Atlantic Canada region along with a surge in players coming out of the New England area: the QMJHL has territorial rights to draft and recruit players from New England as part of an agreement where players from the United States can be drafted by the CHL league that is in a similar geographic area.
In December 2023, the QMJHL changed its name to the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and released a new logo. The change recognized the league's expansion into the Maritime provinces, whose teams had been a part of the QMJHL for almost 30 years.[2] [3]
No. | Player | Position | QMJHL Career | No. retirement | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | RW | 1966–1971 | September 2021[4] | ||
87 | C | 2003–2005 | 27 September 2019[5] |
This is a list of Canadian Hockey League career and single season records accomplished by QMJHL players.[8]
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1981 text:Cornwall Royals
bar:2 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1974 text:Drummondville Rangers
bar:3 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1970 text:Laval Saints
bar:4 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1985 text:Quebec Remparts bar:4 color:Former from:09/01/1988 till:06/01/1991 text:Longueuil bar:4 color:Former from:09/01/1991 till:06/01/1994 text:Verdun Collège-Français
bar:5 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1971 text:Rosemont bar:5 color:Former from:09/01/1971 till:06/01/1998 text:Laval National / Voisins / Titan / Titan Collège-Français bar:5 color:Current from:09/01/1998 till:end text:Acadie-Bathurst Titan
bar:6 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1972 text:Saint-Jérôme Alouettes
bar:7 color:Current from:09/01/1969 till:end text:Shawinigan Bruins / Dynamos / Cataractes
bar:8 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1982 text:Sherbrooke Castors bar:8 color:Former from:09/01/1982 till:06/01/1995 text:Saint-Jean Castors / Lynx bar:8 color:Current from:09/01/1995 till:end text:Rimouski Oceanic
bar:9 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1977 text:Sorel Éperviers bar:9 color:Former from:09/01/1977 till:06/01/1979 text:Verdun bar:9 color:Former from:09/01/1979 till:06/01/1981 text:Sorel bar:9 color:Former from:09/01/1981 till:06/01/1997 text:Granby Bisons / Prédateurs bar:9 color:Current from:09/01/1997 till:end text:Cape Breton Screaming Eagles / Eagles
bar:10 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1992 text:Trois-Rivières Ducs / Draveurs bar:10 color:Former from:09/01/1992 till:06/01/2003 text:Sherbrooke Faucons / Castors bar:10 color:Former from:09/01/2003 till:06/01/2011 text:Lewiston Maineiacs bar:10 color:Current from:09/01/2012 till:end text:Sherbrooke Phoenix
bar:11 color:Former from:09/01/1969 till:06/01/1972 text:Verdun Maple Leafs
bar:12 color:Former from:09/01/1972 till:06/01/1982 text:Montreal Bleu Blanc Rouge / Juniors bar:12 color:Former from:09/01/1982 till:06/01/1989 shift:(-3) text:Verdun Juniors / Jr Canadiens bar:12 color:Former from:09/01/1989 till:06/01/1996 text:St-Hyacinthe Laser bar:12 color:Current from:09/01/1996 till:end text:Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
bar:13 color:Current from:09/01/1973 till:end text:Chicoutimi Saguenéens
bar:14 color:Current from:09/01/1973 till:09/01/2003 text:Hull Festivals / Olympiques bar:14 color:Current from:09/01/2003 till:end text:Gatineau Olympiques
bar:15 color:Current from:09/01/1982 till:end text:Drummondville Voltigeurs bar:16 color:Former from:09/01/1982 till:06/01/1987 text:Longueuil Chevaliers bar:16 color:Current from:09/01/1987 till:end text:Victoriaville Tigres
bar:17 color:Former from:09/01/1984 till:01/01/1985 text:Plattsburgh Pioneers
bar:18 color:Former from:09/01/1990 till:06/01/1997 text:Beauport Harfangs bar:18 color:Current from:09/01/1997 till:end text:Quebec Remparts
bar:19 color:Current from:09/01/1993 till:end text:Val d'Or Foreurs
bar:20 color:Current from:09/01/1994 till:end text:Halifax Mooseheads
bar:21 color:Current from:09/01/1995 till:end text:Moncton Alpines / Wildcats
bar:22 color:Current from:09/01/1997 till:end text:Baie-Comeau Drakkar
bar:23 color:Former from:09/01/1999 till:06/01/2003 text:Montreal Rocket bar:23 color:Current from:09/01/2003 till:09/01/2013 text:PEI Rocket bar:23 color:Current from:09/01/2013 till:end text:Charlottetown Islanders
bar:24 color:Current from:09/01/2005 till:end text:Saint John Sea Dogs
bar:25 color:Former from:09/01/2005 till:06/01/2008 text:St. John's bar:25 color:Former from:09/01/2008 till:06/01/2011 text:Montreal Jrs bar:25 color:Current from:09/01/2011 till:end text:Blainville-Boisbriand Armada
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1971TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:
This is a complete list of team histories since 1969.[9]
Team | Hometown | Province/State | Years Active | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cornwall Royals | Cornwall | Ontario | 1969–1981 | |
Plattsburgh Pioneers | Plattsburgh | New York | 1984–1985 | |
Laval Titan | Laval | Quebec | 1969–1970; 1971–1998 | |
Quebec Remparts | Quebec City | Quebec | 1969–1985; 1997–present | |
Drummondville Voltigeurs | Drummondville | Quebec | 1969–1974; 1982–present | |
Saint-Jerome Alouettes | Saint-Jerome | Quebec | 1969–1971 | |
Trois-Rivieres Draveurs | Trois-Rivieres | Quebec | 1969–1992 | |
Sorel Eperviers | Sorel | Quebec | 1969–1977; 1980–1981 | |
Verdun Juniors | Verdun | Quebec | 1969–1971; 1977–1980; 1982–1989;1991–1994; 2008–2011 | |
Montreal Bleu Blanc Rouge Montreal Juniors Montreal Rocket Montreal Junior Hockey Club | Montreal | Quebec | 1969–1971 1972–1982 1999–2003 2008–2011 | |
Shawinigan Cataractes | Shawinigan | Quebec | 1969–present | |
Sherbrooke Phoenix | Sherbrooke | Quebec | 1969–1982; 1999–2003; 2012–present | |
Chicoutimi Saguenéens | Chicoutimi | Quebec | 1973–present | |
Gatineau Olympiques | Hull/Gatineau | Quebec | 1973–present | |
Granby Prédateurs | Granby | Quebec | 1981–1997 | |
Saint-Jean Lynx | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu | Quebec | 1982–1995 | |
Longueuil Chevaliers | Longueuil | Quebec | 1982–1991 | |
Victoriaville Tigres | Victoriaville | Quebec | 1987–present | |
Saint-Hyacinthe Laser | Saint-Hyacinthe | Quebec | 1989–1996 | |
Beauport Harfangs | Beauport | Quebec | 1990–1997 | |
Val-d'Or Foreurs | Val-d'Or | Quebec | 1993–present | |
Rimouski Océanic | Rimouski | Quebec | 1995–present | |
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies | Rouyn-Noranda | Quebec | 1996–present | |
Baie-Comeau Drakkar | Baie-Comeau | Quebec | 1997–present | |
Blainville-Boisbriand Armada | Boisbriand | Quebec | 2011–present | |
Moncton Wildcats | Moncton | New Brunswick | 1995–present | |
Acadie-Bathurst Titan | Bathurst | New Brunswick | 1998–present | |
Saint John Sea Dogs | Saint John | New Brunswick | 2005–present | |
Lewiston Maineiacs | Lewiston | Maine | 2003–2011 | |
Charlottetown Islanders | Charlottetown | Prince Edward Island | 2003–present | |
Halifax Mooseheads | Halifax | Nova Scotia | 1994–present | |
Cape Breton Eagles | Sydney | Nova Scotia | 1997–present | |
St. John's Fog Devils | St. John's | Newfoundland and Labrador | 2005–2008 |
The Memorial Cup has been captured fifteen times by ten different QMJHL teams since the league's founding in 1969:
This is a list of QMJHL trophies.[10] The trophy's first season being awarded is shown in brackets.