Team Canada wins U18 gold

TSN

Team Canada has won gold at the IIHF Under-18 World Championship.

Top 2026 NHL Draft prospect Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Hat Tigers netted a hat trick while Owen Sound Attack goaltender Carter George was phenomenal, leading Canada to a thrilling 6-4 win over the United States in Sunday's gold medal game.

The Americans were the better team through two periods (shots were 31-9) and led Canada 3-2 in the third. Midway through the final frame, a five-minute major was given to Trevor Connelly – an already controversial prospect – for a check to the head. The penalty changed everything, allowing Canada to score three times and take control of the game. Shots in the third ended 14-4 in favour of Canada.

UNB's Gardiner MacDougall, who led the Saint John Sea Dogs to the 2022 Memorial Cup championship, was Canada's head coach. Current Sea Dogs head coach Travis Crickard, who was an assistant under MacDougall at the Memorial Cup, was one of Canada's assistants for this tournament.

Gardiner MacDougall with 56 straight wins in all competitions with Team Canada and UNB now.

Since May 2021:
3 AUS titles
1 FISU Gold
2 U Cups
2022 Memorial Cup
2024 U18 World Champs gold

Canada wins a crazy gold medal game v USA today for an undefeated U18 Worlds.

— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) May 5, 2024

QMJHL players on Team Canada included Maxime Masse (Chicoutimi), Caleb Desnoyers (Moncton) and Spencer Gill (Rimouski).

The tournament will be remembered for the showdown between American forward James Hagens, the top prospect for the 2025 NHL Draft, and McKenna. Hagens, the tournament MVP and a Boston College commit, finished with nine goals and 13 assists. McKenna, who won't turn 17 until late December, finished with 10 goals and 10 assists.

Despite his age, McKenna has a strong shot at making Canada's world junior team. And you have to wonder... could MacDougall also be part of the world junior team? We'll see.

Volts, Drakkar to meet in QMJHL final

QMJHL X

The two best teams from the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League regular season will meet in the Gilles Courteau Trophy final.

The Drummondville Voltigeurs secured their spot in the final with a 3-2 overtime win over the Victoriaville Tigres on Friday, taking the semifinal series in five games. Alexis Gendron scored the winner just 11 seconds into overtime.

Game over! Alexis Gendron nets his second of the game after only 11 seconds of OT to send the @VoltigeursDRU to the #QPlayoffs Final!

Hats off to the @TigresVicto on their great 2023-24 campaign. 👏 pic.twitter.com/QlUheHnOY1

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) May 4, 2024

The Voltigeurs will face the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the championship series. The Drakkar secured their spot on Thursday with a Game 5 overtime win over the Cape Breton Eagles.

Drummondville advancing means one former Saint John Sea Dog still has a shot at the Gilles Courteau Trophy. Forward Noah Reinhart has five goals and six assists in 15 playoff games with the Volts.

The Drakkar will have home ice advantage in the series after finishing first in the regular season standings with a 53-12-2-1 record for 109 points. The Voltigeurs were second with a 48-14-5-1 record for 102 points.

Baie-Comeau has lost just one game this post-season and are 7-0 at home. Drummondville, meanwhile, is 12-3.

This is the Drakkar's first trip to the league final since 2014 and will be looking for their first championship. For the Voltigeurs, this is their first time in the league final since winning in 2009.

The winner of this series will represent the QMJHL at the 2024 Memorial Cup in Saginaw.

No other league final has been locked in yet in the CHL. In the OHL, the London Knights lead the Saginaw Spirit 3-2 while the Oshawa Generals lead the North Bay Battalion 3-2. In the WHL, the Portland Winterhawks lead the Prince George Cougars 3-2 while the Saskatoon Blades lead the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-2.

Drakkar advance to QMJHL final

The Baie-Comeau Drakkar are heading to the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League final.

The Drakkar secured their spot with a 2-1 overtime win over the Cape Breton Eagles on Thursday in Baie-Comeau, winning the series 4-1. The Drakkar have yet to lose a home game this post-season and have just one loss overall.

pic.twitter.com/kYodaCUImC

— 🦀Drakkar de Baie-Comeau🦀 (@DrakkarBAC) May 3, 2024

The Drakkar fell in the league final in 2013 to the Halifax Mooseheads and in 2014 to the Val-d'Or Foreurs.

The Eagles loss means no Maritimes Division team will appear in the league final for the first time since 2021. It also ends the junior career of overage forward Cam MacDonald, who was part of the Saint John Sea Dogs' 2022 Memorial Cup championship team. Former Sea Dogs forward Cole Burbidge is also a member of the Eagles.

Cape Breton was one of the QMJHL's best teams in the second half and this playoff run has rejuvenated its fan base. Hopefully that can carry over into next season.

Who will the Drakkar play in the league final? It will be either the Drummondville Voltigeurs or Victoriaville Tigres. The Volts lead that series 3-1 heading into Game 5 on Friday in Drummondville.

Notebook: Tigres stay alive

Alexandre Garneau/Victoriaville Tigres

The Victoriaville Tigres staved off elimination on Wednesday night.

Benjamin Vigneault scored just 1:35 into overtime to give the Tigres are a 3-2 win over the Drummondville Voltigeurs and avoiding a sweep. The Volts will try once again to earn a spot in the QMJHL final in Friday's Game 5, which will take place in Drummondville.

95 seconds into overtime! ⏲️

Benjamin Vigneault's point shot keeps @TigresVicto in their series with Drummondville! #RoadtoMemorialCup

— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) May 2, 2024

The Drakkar/Eagles series resumes Thursday in Baie-Comeau following a nasty Game 4 that ended in an 8-2 Drakkar win. Eagles forward Cam MacDonald and Drakkar goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel recieved match penalties on separate plays – but no players will be suspended for Game 5, according to reports.

Il n’y aura pas de suspension liée au match Drakkar vs Eagles d’hier. #lesoleil

— Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) May 1, 2024

The Drakkar can clinch a spot in the league final with a win while an Eagles victory would send the series back to Sydney for Game 6 on Saturday.

JOB OPENINGS

There are some high profile job openings in the Maritimes Division right now.

The Halifax Mooseheads are looking for a new head coach after firing Jim Midgley after just one season. Midgley is a former Sea Dogs assistant coach and Rothesay Netherwood head coach.

The Moncton Wildcats, meanwhile, are looking for a new head coach after parting ways with Dan Lacroix. That move was long expected – but what wasn't expected was Moncton also starting the search for a new general manager. The team announced on April 18 that general manager Ritchie Thibeau "has accepted a senior position with J.D Irving effective May 6 and will be leaving the team."

Both the Mooseheads and Wildcats were swept in the first round of the playoffs and underperformed in the second half. The two teams are heading in different directions though with Halifax likely starting a rebuild and Moncton entering its contention window.

Drakkar take 3-1 series lead

Embed from Getty Images

In a game that took nearly three hours to complete, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar took a commanding 3-1 series lead with an 8-2 win over the Cape Breton Eagles in QMJHL semifinal playoff action on Tuesday at Centre 200.

Justin Poirier, coming off his first pointless performance of the playoffs, recorded four goals and an assist in the win.

The Drakkar jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and led 4-1 after one. Following an emotional end to Game 3 on Monday night, those emotions certainly ran over in this game.

• Cam Squires and Alexis Bernier both received game misconducts for fighting in the first period.
• Cam MacDonald was given a major and match penalty for boarding in the second period.
• Drakkar goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel received a match penalty in the second period. It was originally announced as a major penalty for a trip, but the QMJHL website lists it as a match penalty for "miscellaneous." 
• Jacob Newcombe was given a game misconduct for slashing in the second period.

So Cape Breton's entire first line and Baie-Comeau's starting goaltender were all tossed from this game before the third period even started. That is a rarity at any point in the season but particularly in the post-season.

"We don't want anybody injured, you don't want suspensions. It's an emotional game. I think back in the day that would have been a longer game. There's a fine line between emotion and discipline,"

- @CBEHockey head coach Louis Robitaille on the emotions of Game 4.

— Jeremy Fraser (@CBPost_Jeremy) May 1, 2024

Match penalties typically come with an automatic one-game suspension, so both teams could be without key players in Game 5, which takes place Thursday in Baie-Comeau.

Magog wins Telus Cup

Hockey Canada

The Magog Cantonniers are Telus Cup champions.

Saint John Sea Dogs prospect Kyan Labbé made 19 saves to help the Cantonniers defeat the Brandon Wheat Kings (the other Brandon Wheat Kings) 4-1 in Sunday's championship game in Cape Breton.

THE MAGOG CANTONNIERS ARE 2024 TELUS CUP CHAMPIONS 🏆@CantonniersAAA pic.twitter.com/EtbmN7Z1SJ

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 28, 2024

It's the second straight year a Quebec based team won the national under-18 championship following Séminaire St-François Blizzard's win last year. 

Magog previously won the Telus Cup in 2000. They finished second in 2018, 2019 and 2022.

Labbé, who recently committed to play NCAA hockey at Union College, appeared in five games at this year's tournament, posting a 5-0 record to go along with a 1.60 goals against average and a .944 save percentage. Unsurprisingly, he was named the tournament's best goaltender.

The 16-year-old was previously named the Quebec under-18 league's playoff MVP and top defensive player after posting an 11-3-0 record to go along with a 2.26 GAA and .920 SV%. He was also recently named Canadian Elite Hockey League's goaltender of the year.

The biggest concern about Labbé is his size. The Hockey Canada website lists him at 5'8" and 157 lbs.

A few other news and notes...

• In the QMJHL playoffs, the Drummondville Voltigeurs lead the Victorville Tigres 2-0. The Volts won Game 2 by a final score of 5-1 on Saturday. Former Sea Dogs forward Noah Reinhart had a goal in the win.
• Game 3 of the Baie-Comeau/Cape Breton series takes place Monday night in Sydney while the Drummondville/Victoriaville series resumes on Tuesday.
• At the IIHF World Under-18 Championship, Gardiner MacDougall, Travis Crickard and Team Canada secured top spot in Group B with a solid 8-1 win over Switzerland. Caleb Desnoyers of the Moncton Wildcats was inserted onto the top line for this game, replacing the injured Roger McQueen. Canada wraps up preliminary round play on Monday against Kazakstan. 
• The Miramichi Timberwolves have taken a 3-1 series lead in the Maritime Hockey League final following a 4-3 win over the Summerside Western Capitals on Sunday night. The Timberwolves can clinch the MHL title with a victory in Game 5 on Tuesday in Summerside.
• Charlie Coyle and the Boston Bruins are up 3-1 on the Toronto Maple Leafs in their first round playoff series. Game 5 takes place Tuesday night in Boston.
• Dawson Theede and the Halifax Thunderbirds had their season end with a thud on Sunday, falling 9-3 to the Albany FireWolves in a National Lacrosse League single elimination, first round playoff matchup.