The Quebec Remparts will honour the late, great Guy Lafleur during the playoffs by wearing the No. 4 on their jerseys, the number Lafleur wore during his two seasons as the Remparts captain in the early 1970s. (Photo courtesy of the Quebec Remparts) Luc Lang
luclang@qctonline.com
The Quebec Remparts defeated the Rimouski Océanic 6-2, to close the regular season of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on May 1. Zachary Bolduc scored a hat trick, to finish the regular season with a team high of 55 goals, while captain Théo Rochette scored one goal along with three assists.
The team’s 51st victory of the season clinched first place overall which will give the Remparts home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
It was the second victory over the Océanic in three days. On April 29, during the last home game of the season, the Remparts scored four unanswered goals to open the game and never looked back as the Diables Rouges won, 4-3.
The road to the Memorial Cup starts on May 5, as the Remparts open the 2022 playoffs at home against the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. Game two of the first round is on May 7. Both games start at 7 p.m. Game three will be played at the Georges-Vézina Centre in Chicoutimi on May 9.
Games four and five, if necessary, will take place on May 10 in Chicoutimi and May 12 at the Videotron Centre.
All the playoff rounds are a best-of-five series, except for the President Cup final, which is a best-of-seven series.
The Remparts also announced the theme of the series. The team will play #lessériespourGuy (#theplay-offsforGuy) in homage to the greatest Rempart of all time, the late Guy Lafleur. Players will have No. 4 patches stitched on their jerseys for the remainder of the playoffs and the Memorial Cup final if the team qualifies for the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) championship in Saint John, N.B., at the end of June.
The other series will see the following matchups: Moncton vs. Charlottetown, Rimouski vs. Saint John, Halifax vs. Acadie-Bathurst, Val d’Or vs. Gatineau, Rouyn-Noranda vs. Shawinigan, Blainville-Boisbriand vs. Drummondville and Baie-Comeau vs. Sherbrooke.
The defending President Cup champions, the Victoriaville Tigres will miss the playoffs as will the Cape Breton Eagles.