Rivals again
Cape Breton Eagles history of success and heartbreak against Chicoutimi Saguenéens
SYDNEY — The Cape Breton Eagles and Chicoutimi Saguenéens are familiar foes when it comes to playing in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League playoffs.
Cape Breton and Chicoutimi will meet for the fourth time in the league playoffs when their best-ofseven series begins on tonight at Centre 200 in Sydney.
Before this year, the Eagles and Saguenéens played each other in three playoff series with the last coming in 2016. The teams also battled in the 2004 and 2001 postseason.
Over the years, Cape Breton has had success against Chicoutimi in the playoffs, but also tasted heartbreak.
2016 – ROUND 1 – CAPE BRETON (7) VS. CHICOUTIMI (10)
Cape Breton (38-24-5-1) had home ice advantage in the first round of playoffs after finishing seventh overall in the league standings. Chicoutimi came in 10th place with a 32-25-5-6 record.
The Eagles had Pierre-Luc Dubois, Clark Bishop, Maxim Lazarev, Evgeny Svechnikov, Michael Joly, Drake Batherson and Olivier LeBlanc.
Meanwhile, the Saguenéens featured Nicolas Guay, Dmitry Zhukenov, Antoine Marcoux, Frédéric Allard and Nicolas Roy, as well as a strong goaltender in Julio Billia.
Roy was selected first overall in 2013 by Cape Breton but refused to report to Sydney and was traded to Chicoutimi. The compensation pick for Roy not reporting turned out to be Dubois.
Eagles' fans, still bitter by Roy’s refusal to report to the Eagles, booed the then Carolina Hurricanes prospect
every time he touched the puck, but it didn’t stop him from recording three goals and seven points in six games against Cape Breton.
LeBlanc recalls the Eagles begin confident going into the series.
“I remember that we lost the first game at home and we quickly realized that it was not going to be an easy series with the format twothree-two, which meant we would need to win games in a hostile environment that is Chicoutimi with their passionate fan base,” said LeBlanc in an interview with the Cape Breton Post from France.
Cape Breton lost the first game 3-1 and responded with a 5-2 win in Game 2. The Eagles would steal games 3 and 5 in Chicoutimi with a 4-3 win in overtime and a 4-0 shutout, but lost Game 4, 5-4.
The series shifted back to Sydney for Game 6 where Cape Breton won the game 7-4 to win the series in six games and advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
“It was great to get through the second round because fans in Cape Breton are passionate about the team and
that meant that we would get to play and battle in front of them again.”
LeBlanc said the difference in the series for Cape Breton was not getting down on themselves.
“We believed in ourselves no matter what happened and the bounce-back win after losing the first game really portrays that,” he said. “I believe that we had a great offence with big names and had great contribution from every line.”
Cape Breton would lose to Saint John in seven games in the second round of the 2016 playoffs.
2004 – ROUND 2 – CAPE BRETON (2) VS. CHICOUTIMI (7)
With the Eagles (49-16-3-0) finishing second overall in the league, the team earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs and advanced directly to the second round.
Meanwhile, Chicoutimi (32-27-4-0) faced a tough Val-d’Or Foreurs team that took the Saguenéens to seven
games, but ultimately saw Chicoutimi win the series.
Cape Breton was considered to be the favourites in the series, and for the first time in the franchise’s history in Sydney, were top contenders for a league title.
The Eagles took advantage of the Saguenéens in the opening game of the series, winning 3-2. Chicoutimi responded with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 2, sending the series back to Quebec tied 1-1.
In Chicoutimi, the Saguenéens used the hometown fans to their advantage, beating Cape Breton 3-2 and 5-2 as the series shifted back to Sydney for a must-win Game 5 for the Eagles.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards and Cape Breton would lose Game 5-2, ending their season.
In an interview with the Cape Breton Post after the series, forward Marc-Andre Bernier admitted there was too much individual play, which led to the loss.
"We had the team chemistry. We had the good players. We had the good goaltenders," said Bernier. “I can't really tell what happened. I guess it was from a lack of effort compared to the other team. I guess we had a lot of individual players."
At the time, some wondered why head coach Pascal Vincent started Marc-Andre Fleury, who was reassigned to Cape Breton in the second half of the year after playing in the NHL to begin the 200304 campaign, despite Martin Houle’s strong play all year.
Vincent, who was later given a contract extension by late team president Greg Lynch shortly after the series, addressed the decision in an Interview with the Post in September 2019.
“We couldn’t score goals that we needed to score at the right time and I don’t think Marc-Andre Fleury was the problem – I don’t regret it,” said Vincent.
“Marc-Andre was an amazing player and so was Martin Houle, he could have done the job for sure, but I felt that Marc-Andre was our guy and if we were going to win, it was going to be with Marc-Andre.”
Cape Breton outshot Chicoutimi in all five games but ran into a hot Saguenéens goaltender in future NHLer Jeff Deslauriers.
Chicoutimi would lose in six games to Gatineau in the semifinal series.
2001 – CAPE BRETON (3) VS. CHICOUTIMI (6)
Like 2016 and 2004, Cape Breton (30-37-1-0) started the best-of-seven series on home ice, but Centre 200 wasn’t kind to the Eagles to begin the playoffs.
The Eagles dropped the first two games by 3-2 and 5-4 scores with the series heading to Chicoutimi for Games 3 and 4.
Chicoutimi (22-39-1-0) dominated in Game 3, beating Cape Breton 7-1 to take a commanding 3-0 series lead with a chance to sweep the series on home ice, but that wouldn’t happen.
Cape Breton took Game 4 with a 3-2 win and answered with a 4-1 win on home ice in Game 5. The Eagles would come all the way back to tie the series with a 4-2 win in Game 6 in Chicoutimi to force a Game 7.
While the Eagles had hoped for a white out earlier in the series, but not the kind that hit Cape Breton Island in the early morning hours of April 3.
A harsh spring storm blanketed the island and forced the QMJHL to postpone Game 7 until the following day on April 4.
When the game was finally played, Cape Breton would complete the comeback with a 6-1 win in front of 4,861 fans at Centre 200.
It was the first time the Eagles had advanced past the first round of the league playoffs in the franchise’s history.
"This is a proud moment for the team and also for the entire organization," said Eagles forward Hunter LaHache in an interview with the Post after the game.
“It's the first time we're going to the second round.
It's a good moment for everyone."
Cape Breton would lose in five games to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the second round of the 2001 playoffs.
TODAY
With the history in the past, Cape Breton and Chicoutimi will create the next chapter of their playoff history against each other with this year’s second round series.
The question left to be answered is who advances to the semifinal series? Will Cape Breton head to the third round for only the third time in franchise history or will Chicoutimi play in the semifinal series for the first time since 2021?
Time will tell.