Latest news with #GardinerMacDougall
CTV News
a day ago
- General
- CTV News
Moncton plans parade, community celebration to honour Wildcat's success
Moncton Wildcats coach Gardiner MacDougall chats about the Memorial Cup tournament, winning the Q-League title and more.
Ottawa Citizen
3 days ago
- Sport
- Ottawa Citizen
Wildcats eliminated from Memorial Cup after 5-2 loss to Knights
The dream season for the Moncton Wildcats, one of promise and outstanding achievement, came to an emotional end after a 5-2 semifinal loss to the London Knights Friday at the Memorial Cup in Rimouski. Article content Article content London's Blake Montgomery and Jessi Nurmi scored 10 minutes apart in the final period to snap a 2-2 tie and the Knights' star forward Easton Cowan clinched the win with an empty net goal late as London advances to the championship Sunday against the Medicine Hat Tigers. Article content Article content For the Wildcats, it was oh so close. Article content Article content 'I am super proud of everyone on our team, the coaches down to the Black Aces who didn't play,' said Wildcats captain Markus Vidicek. 'We knew it was going to be a battle all night long. We threw punches, they threw punches but, in the end, they won a third period, and we didn't.' Article content The Cats set franchise records in many areas, including best winning percentage with a 53-11-2-0 mark in the regular season and captured their third QMJHL title with a victory over Rimouski to claim the Gilles Courteau Trophy on May 19. Article content The 16-3 playoff record was also a franchise best, exceeding the 16-5 slates the team recorded in winning the 2006 and 2010 QMJHL titles. Article content This season proved to be a mammoth improvement from the previous campaign in which lofty expectations were met with a devastating turn in a four-game opening-round playoff sweep to Chicoutimi. Article content Article content But this year was different, with new head coach Gardiner MacDougall behind the bench and new general manager Taylor MacDougall, his son, pulling the strings on numerous high quality player acquisitions to form a lineup that gelled almost from the get-go. Article content They were ranked No. 1 in the Canadian Hockey League many times during the year and after clinching the regular season title in March, they were even better in the post-season to earn a berth to their third Memorial Cup tournament. Article content 'It is gut wrenching because of the faith Mr. (Robert) Irving put in us,' said Wildcats head coach Gardiner MacDougall after Friday's loss. Article content 'When you don't win your last game, you are very disappointed as a coach, but the group came so far. You are representing a city, you are representing a province, you are representing our league. There is certainly disappointed feelings but the other part of it is you see the growth of the group and what a difference they made. They set new standards, and we just came a little short.'
Ottawa Citizen
5 days ago
- Sport
- Ottawa Citizen
Wildcats advance to Memorial Cup semifinal
The Moncton Wildcats have extended their stay in Rimouski, Que. Article content Article content The Wildcats, coached by Gardiner MacDougall of Bedeque, P.E.I., won a must-win game against the host Oceanic by a 6-2 score on May 28 to advance to the semifinal game of the 2025 Memorial Cup. Article content MacDougall and his son, Taylor MacDougall, who is Moncton's general manager, guided the Wildcats to their first Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) championship in 15 years recently. Article content Article content Article content The Wildcats and Oceanic, who finished runner-up to Moncton in the QMJHL final, went into the game with identical 0-2 (won-lost) records in the Canadian major junior hockey championship tournament. The scenario was simple – the winning team advances to face the Ontario Hockey League-champion London Knights in the semifinal game on May 30 while the losing squad's season is over. Article content Article content Defenceman Luke Coughlin of East Royalty, P.E.I., is a member of the Oceanic. Article content The winner of the semifinal game will face the Medicine Hat Tigers, champions of the Western Hockey League (WHL), in the championship game on June 1. The Tigers earned a bye to the final with a 3-0 round-robin record. Article content
CTV News
6 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Wildcats coach Gardiner MacDougall reflects on family tragedy at Memorial Cup
Moncton Wildcats head coach Gardiner MacDougall speaks to media following a Memorial Cup hockey game in Rimouski, Que., on Monday, May 26, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov RIMOUSKI — Taylor MacDougall was expecting to see his team hit the ice at the Memorial Cup on Monday when he received a devastating phone call. Instead of watching his Moncton Wildcats take on the Medicine Hat Tigers, the hockey club's general manager met with the RCMP to identify his father-in-law, who had died suddenly of a heart attack. Gardiner MacDougall, Taylor's father and Moncton's head coach, reflected on the tragedy on Wednesday. 'You never want that phone call,' he said. 'My son, as a general manager, this is the highlight of his career. This should be the most joy he's ever had. He gets a call that will change his life 20 minutes before (that game). 'You don't have a manual or manuscript for that type of thing. He's handled it amazingly.' Patrick Buckley had arrived in Rimouski from Fredericton that afternoon and checked into his hotel with Taylor MacDougall's help. His son-in-law was the last family member to see him. Buckley drove to a nearby golf course for a round ahead of Moncton's game and was later found in his car. 'That day (Buckley) was in Fredericton. So Taylor's daughter, Lily, is four years old. He drove her to daycare that day. He kissed her goodbye, and she loved her granddad,' Gardiner MacDougall said. 'That's the last time she'll ever kiss her granddad, so it puts things in perspective. 'And then he drove, and he probably wasn't feeling 100 per cent, but he was so excited to come watch us. He came to all our playoff games.' The veteran coach held back tears when he announced the news of Buckley's death during a news conference after Monday's 3-1 loss to Medicine Hat, calling it the most difficult game he'd ever coached. Taylor flew home to Fredericton after the game to be with his wife's family. Gardiner, meanwhile, began preparing for Wednesday's must-win matchup against the Rimouski Océanic. It was Moncton's most important game of the season. But hockey, in many ways, took a back seat. 'Whatever happens tonight, we're going to live tomorrow,' Gardiner MacDougall told a group of reporters at Colisée Financière Sun Life. He also recalled a life-changing moment of his own from 1997. At the time, Gardiner MacDougall was coaching the OCN Blizzard of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. He was behind the bench for a game in Portage la Prairie, Man., when he learned his sister's husband — a military member stationed in Petawawa, Ont. — had been in a serious accident. MacDougall flew to Ottawa the following day to support his sister. After her husband spent six days in intensive care, the family made the difficult decision to pull the plug on his life support. 'That changed my life,' he said. 'Hey, I'm as competitive as any guy, but I had a sister. She had a five-year-old, a three-year-old and a one-year-old, and she lost her husband in 1997 just like that.' 'We'd like to hang around Rimouski. That's our goal,' MacDougall added. 'But I think that's given me an amazing perspective. It certainly changed me as a human, it really changed me as a hockey coach in 1997, that seven days in intensive care in Ottawa with my family around me and that type of thing. 'It was another bitter call that Taylor got to have changed his life.' Moncton and Rimouski — both winless through two games at the junior hockey showcase — played the final round-robin game Wednesday with a spot in the semifinal on the line. Moncton captain Markus Vidicek didn't know Buckley, but said the Wildcats felt the loss deeply. 'When it happens to one person in our team, it happens to everyone,' he said. 'So for us, it was a lot.' FOE, as in 'family over everything,' is a phrase you'll hear a lot around the MacDougalls. Taylor's message to Wildcats players back in August, when both he and his father joined the franchise, was that 'great teams are tight teams.' 'He said, 'We have to be the tightest team ever,'' Gardiner MacDougall recalled. 'When we took the job over, when you talk to other coaches, maybe the Wildcats weren't as tight as you want to be, and certainly this year they've proven (they are).' 'Patrick was just the greatest family guy,' he later added. 'We can't control some parts of life, so we just got to make the best of it today, and there's a hockey game to be played tonight.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025. By Daniel Rainbird
CTV News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Wildcats advance to Memorial Cup semifinal with 6-2 win over Oceanic
Simon Binkley (centre) celebrates with his Moncton Wildcats teammates after they defeated the Rimouski Oceanic in Memorial Cup hockey action in Rimouski, Que., on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov RIMOUSKI — Gardiner MacDougall had a blunt assessment of his team's first period on Wednesday night. 'We were atrocious,' the Moncton Wildcats head coach said. 'That may be, I don't know, the worst period in Memorial Cup hockey. It would be right up there for sure.' In a do-or-die game against the Rimouski Oceanic, the Wildcats came out flat, trailing 2-1 on the scoreboard and 17-6 in the shot count after 20 minutes. Then they bounced back and booked their ticket to the Memorial Cup semifinal. Gabe Smith scored two goals and had two assists in a 6-2 win. The Wildcats shifted the momentum with two goals early in the second period to take a 3-2 lead. The key to that turnaround? A serious pep talk from their master communicator. '(MacDougall) gave us a special talk in the room,' said Smith, who didn't want to reveal more details. 'We got a little jump in our step after that and started playing our game. 'Coach is a very special motivator, and I think he did a great job of it there. We started playing our hockey after that.' The Wildcats will take on the London Knights in Friday's semifinal. The winner of that matchup meets the Medicine Hat Tigers in Sunday's final. Juraj Pekarcik and Julius Sumpf added a goal and an assist each while Etienne Morin also scored for Moncton (1-2), which lost games to London and Medicine Hat earlier in the round robin. Alex Mercier added an empty-net goal and had an assist. Preston Lounsbury pitched in with two assists. Mathis Rousseau made 32 saves – including a crucial 15 stops in the first period. 'He's been our star,' MacDougall said. 'Kept us in it in the first, and despite the atrocious period, we're only down one.' The Wildcats acquired Rousseau via trade from the Halifax Mooseheads in January. The 20-year-old netminder – who featured on Canada's world junior team last year – split duties with Rudy Guimont most of the season before taking over as the full-time starter during the playoffs. Through three Memorial Cup outings, Rousseau has a .943 save percentage. 'That's why the trade was made,' MacDougall said. 'Our goaltender was playing outstanding, and lots of the sports writers, lots of our fans wondered what the heck is this trade all about? 'But you have to have faith when you make these deals.' The Wildcats captured the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League title in Rimouski last week, winning the championship series in six games over the Oceanic. Mathieu Cataford and Maël St-Denis replied for Rimouski (0-3), which exits the tournament after qualifying as the host team. Mathis Langevin stopped 26 shots at Colisée Financière Sun Life. Pekarcik deflected Dylan MacKinnon's shot from the high slot to beat Langevin at 1:27 of the second period to tie the game. Smith then put Moncton ahead at 4:05, capitalizing on a failed clearance from Luke Coughlin. 'It's the opportunism from the Wildcats that made the difference tonight,' Rimouski captain Jacob Mathieu said. 'It was a game that could have gone either way, like we saw in the finals.' Loke Johansson kept the lead intact with a goal-line clearance in the dying moments of the second period while Moncton was killing a penalty. Jacob Mathieu's shot deflected over Rousseau and into the blue paint with seven seconds left in the frame, but the Wildcats defenceman swept the puck away. Early in the third period, Moncton poured it on. Sumpf first missed a breakaway before Marcus Vidicek ripped a shot off the post. Morin then made no mistake, converting a point shot at 4:02 to double the lead. Moncton later scored two empty-net goals. 'I had trouble to find words in the room, I just told them, 'Thank you,'' Rimouski head coach Joël Perrault said of his message to his players. 'It's a group that tied together quickly, and I'll remember them for a long time, I'm disappointed for them tonight, our fans. 'Our fans saw their effort, their resilience, the injuries they fought through.' St-Denis energized the home crowd with a big open-ice hit on Maxime Côté in the opening minutes. Rousseau turned aside two shots from Thomas Belzil and also denied Maxime Coursol's scoring chance to keep the game scoreless early. The Wildcats opened the scoring when Sumpf finished a cross-ice feed from Pekarcik at 7:39 in the first period for Moncton's first goal by a forward in the tournament. Rimouski continued to pepper Rousseau with pucks until St-Denis broke through with a backhand on the blocker side to even the score at 13:27. Cataford put the Oceanic up 2-1 with just under three minutes remaining in the period, deflecting a feed from Olivier Théberge to complete a pretty passing play and lift the fans out of their seats. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025. By Daniel Rainbird
