Rimouski plans on being more than a good host

By JAMES TUBB on May 23, 2025.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

RIMOUSKI, QUE.

The Rimouski Océanic have two goals heading into the 2025 Memorial Cup, defend home ice and finish their season with a championship.

The Océanic are the lone team in the tournament who haven’t won a championship this season, falling in six games in the QMJHL finals to the Moncton Wildcats. As hosts, they had already earned their spot in the finals but wanted to go in already carrying some hardware.

Defenceman Luke Coughlin says they look to take advantage of the extra motivation.

“It was a tough loss in the finals, the boys dug in really deep, but we’re lucky,” Coughlin said. “We’re the only team in the CHL that gets a shot, a second chance. So we’re ready to make the most of it.”

The Océanic finished second in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League’s Eastern conference, 12 points and seven wins back of the Wildcats, who finished first in the 18-team league.

They went 14-9 in the playoffs, dropping three games in overtime. Overage forward and captain Jacob Mathieu led the way for them in the postseason with 17 goals and 31 points in 23 games. They leaned on 19-year-old Alexandre Blais in the regular season, the Anaheim Ducks prospect had 20 goals and 73 points in 60 games.

The Océanic are led by second-year head coach Joel Perrault. He says they’ve relied on their leadership group all season, not settling with just hosting the Memorial Cup but pushing to win every title they could. Despite the loss in the league finals, he says they’ll continue to lean on their leadership as they look to get the tournament started on a high note.

“We’ve known that we were going to be here anyway since they won, but we wanted to win our league and we never hid from it, like even with all the injuries we had, we kept pushing and that’s why our group is so special,” Perrault said. “So now we get a second chance at it, while playing against really good teams.”

The Océanic get their tournament started tonight, taking on the Medicine Hat Tigers in front of what is expected to be a sold-out building as the Rimouski faithful welcome the tournament with a passion. Perrault says both teams will want to start on a high note, and he hopes they can build off the atmosphere their crowd brings.

“From what we watch, we know we’re playing a very good team,” Perrault said. “Obviously lots of talent and for us playing in front of a crowd that we’ll try to use that to our advantage. But we’re expecting every game to be exciting and we’ll look to make the best of them.”

Coughlin says they’re excited to face a player like Gavin McKenna and the other top talent from the WHL and OHL that they haven’t faced before.

“He’s a really good player, talented, special, everyone knows that,” Coughlin said. “Everyone here, all the fans, all the media, all the teams know that.

“It’s a privilege to face talent like that, you don’t see it every day. And we get to start off the tournament playing against them and him, so it’ll be good challenge to start off.”

Rimouski will don commemorative jerseys for the opening game, a CHL Memorial Cup tradition as a tribute to servicemen and servicewomen. The jerseys will be auctioned off with all proceeds directed to the Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command Poppy Trust Fund.

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