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| Round robin action at the 2025 Memorial Cup between the Moncton Wildcats and Rimouski Oeanic. Photo courtesy Vincent Ethier/CHL |
The Moncton Wildcats are off the semifinal play at the 2025 Memorial Cup.
After struggling out of the gate, the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League champs rebounded to grab a 6-2 win over the Rimouski Oceanic in the final game of the round robin to stay alive in the event.
The loss ends the season for the tournament host.
Moncton coach Gardiner MacDougall called his team “atrocious” in the opening period before getting better in the second period.
MacDougall credited Wildcats goaltender Mathis Rousseau in the game, especially in the opening period.
Rimouski coach Joel Perreault said he had one message for his club following the season-ending loss.
“I want them to take that, when you stick with one another and you believe in what you can do as a group, you can do anything,” Perreault said.
Moncton opened the scoring as Julius Sumpf got into open ice and took a pass from Juraj Pekarcik and beat Rimouski goaltender Mathis Langevin stick side at 7:39 of the opening period.
The Oceanic tied the game at one as Mael St. Denis beat Mathis Rousseau with a backhand from the slot glove side off a rebound after the Moncton goaltender stopped Maxime Coursol initially at 13:27.
Rimouski took the lead as Mathieu Cataford redirected a backdoor pass from Olivier Theberge past Rousseau with 2:49 to go in the opening period.
Early in the second period, Pekarcik tied the game for the Wildcats as he deflected a Dylan MacKinnon point shot past Langevin 1:27 into the frame.
Moncton took the lead at 4:05 as Gabe Smith beat Langevin from the slot after Preston Lounsbury’s initial shot missed the net before deflecting off the end boards and back into the slot.
Moncton took a 4-2 lead as Etienne Morin beat Langevin with a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle glove side 4:02 into the third period.
Empty net goals by Smith with 1:48 to go and Alex Mercier with 59 seconds left, sealed the win for the Wildcats.
Smith finished the night with two goals and two assists for Moncton while Mercier, Stumpf, and Pekarcik had one of each.
Lounsbury assisted on a pair of goals.
Rousseau stopped 32 shots in the victory for Moncton while Langevin stopped 27 shots for the Oceanic.
With the win Moncton will face the London Knights (Ontario Hockey League) in semifinal play on Friday night with the winner of that game moving on to the tournament final on Sunday against Medicine Hat.
Prior to Wednesday’s game between the Wildcats and Oceanic, the Canadian Hockey League announced that London Knights forward Ryder Boulton has been suspended for one game and will miss the semifinal.
Boulton was suspended for a warmup violation against the Medicine Hat Tigers on Tuesday night.
The suspension comes after the Knights were fined for a warmup violation in their opening game of the tournament.
The Tigers have also been fined for a warmup violation on Tuesday night.
Lineups
Moncton
Juraj
Pekarcik-Caleb Desnoyers-Julius Sumpf
Maxime
Cote-Markus Vidicek-Alex Mercier
Preston
Lounsbury-Gabe Smith-Vincent Collard
Pier-Etienne
Cloutier-Simon Binkley-Logan Crosby
Etienne
Morin-Dylan MacKinnon
Loke
Johansson-Dyllan Gill
Adam
Fortier-Gendron-Natan Grenier
Mathis
Rousseau
Rudy
Guimond
Scratches – Simon Mullen, Riley Sampson, Cooper Cormier
Rimouski
Eriks
Mateiko-Mathieu Cataford-Mael Lavigne
onathan
Fauchon-Jacob Mathieu- Alexandre Blais
Mathys
Dube-Mael St. Denis-Maxime Coursol
Lou
Levesque-Thomas Belzile-Dominic Pilote
Jack
Martin-Pier-Olivier Roy
Anthony
Pare-Basile Sansonnens
Olivier
Theberge-Luke Coughlin
Mathis
Langevin
William
Lacelle
Scratches – Spencer Gill, Connor Sturgeon, Loic Francour, Anthony Gaudet, Logan Roop
Tournament Results
Round Robin
May 23 – Medicine Hat 5, Rimouski 4
May 24 – London 3, Moncton 2 (OT)
May 25 – London
3, Rimouski 1
May 26 – Medicine
Hat 3, Moncton 1
May 27 – Medicine Hat 3, London 1
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