Sherbrooke Phoenix

Sherbrooke Phoenix
City	Sherbrooke, Quebec
League	Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
Conference	Telus
Division	Telus West
Founded	2012 (2012)–13
Home arena	Palais des Sports Léopold-Drolet
Colours	Navy blue, baby blue, and beige
General manager	Jocelyn Thibault
Head coach	Stéphane Julien
Website	http://www.hockeyphoenix.ca/

The Sherbrooke Phoenix is a major junior ice hockey team based in Sherbrooke, Quebec, that plays in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The team plays its home games at the Palais des Sports Léopold-Drolet.

Franchise history

The franchise was granted as a replacement for the Lewiston Maineiacs, which folded at the end of the 2010–11 QMJHL season.^[1] On May 31, 2011, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League held a conference call to prepare an offer to purchase the team from Mark Just for 3.5 million dollars. Ironically enough, the dissolved Maineiacs franchise were the Sherbrooke Castors prior to relocating to Lewiston, Maine prior to the start of the 2003–04 QMJHL season. The Phoenix marks the city's third attempt at a QMJHL franchise. On May 22, 2012, the Phoenix named former Champlain College Cougars head coach Judes Vallée the franchise's first head coach.^[2]

The inaugural season

The Phoenix made their inaugural draft selection in the QMJHL Bantam Draft, selecting Daniel Audette with the franchise's first ever draft pick. Audette is the son of former Buffalo Sabres forward Donald Audette. The Phoenix filled out their roster in an expansion draft. The Phoenix played the franchise's inaugural game against the Victoriaville Tigres on September 7, 2012, defeating the Tigres 4-2 in Victoriaville. Jeremie Beaudry scored the franchise's first regular season goal, while Daniel Audette recorded the first regular season assist. Beaudry's stay in Sherbrooke was however short lived as he was traded to the Quebec Remparts three months later. On January 13, 2013, the Phoenix recorded the franchise's first ever shutout against the two time league champion Saint John Sea Dogs. The Phoenix finished their inaugural season with a 21-38-3-6 record, which was good enough for 15th place in the QMJHL, which allowed them to make the playoffs for the first time. The excitement, however was short-lived as the team was swept out in the first round by the second seeded Baie-Comeau Drakkar, being outscored 27-7 in the series. Michael McNamee scored the Phoenix franchise's first ever playoff goal, while Brandon Lesway and Denis Kamaev recorded the first playoff assists in franchise history. One of the most notable moments of the teams first playoff appearance is when Russian right winger Sergay Cocksov got ejected 5 seconds into the first playoff game. Cocksov received a ten-minute major penalty for hit to the head, a two-minute minor for interference, and ended up receiving a 30-game suspension for his hit off the opening face-off.

Team results

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime losses, SL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes, Finish = Finish in Division, Playoffs = Results in playoffs

Current roster

Number	Player	Position	Birth year	Hometown
1	Evan Fitzpatrick	G	1998	Halifax, Nova Scotia
2	Thomas Grégoire	D	1998	Sherbrooke, Quebec
9	Raphaël Lafontaine	C	1994	Gatineau, Quebec
11	Aaron Hoyles	D	1994	Gander, Newfoundland
16	Charles-Éric Légaré	RW	1994	St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Quebec
18	Julien Bahl	D	1996	Sorel-Tracy, Quebec
24	Simon Desbiens	LW	1995	Clermont, Quebec
26	Nicolas Poulin	LW	1997	Blainville, Quebec
27	Kevin Domingue	RW	1995	Laval, Quebec
28	Daniel Audette	C	1996	Buffalo, New York
31	Alex Bureau	G	1996	Trois-Rivières, Quebec
32	Carl Neill	D	1996	Lachute, Quebec
43	David Storto	RW	1995	Blainville, Quebec
44	Liam O'Brien	LW	1994	Halifax, Nova Scotia
71	Anthony Chapados	C	1995	Rimouski, Quebec
73	Chase Harwell	C	1997	Southbury, Connecticut
88	Trevor Stacey	LW	1997	Kahnawake, Quebec
89	Kay Schweri	RW	1996	Switzerland
97	Jérémy Roy	D	1997	Richelieu, Quebec

References