The Halifax Mooseheads’ season came to an end on Wednesday night after the Chicoutimi Saguenéens swept the first-round series with an 8-1 win at the Scotiabank Centre.
The Saguenéens ended the first period with a 2-0 lead. Émile Ricard opened the scoring for Chicoutimi at 5:36, tipping a shot from Tomas Lavoie past Owen Bresson before Lavoie blasted a shot of his own into the Halifax goal at 16:36 on the power play.
In the second period the Saguenéens ran away with the score as Emmanuel Vermette added his fourth of the playoffs, Liam Lefebvre beat Bresson, Nathan Lecompte fired a goal home on the power play, and Maxim Massé netted his second of the series.
Émile Guité continued the onslaught in the third period, beating Bresson at 4:44 before Gryphon Watson-Bucci extended the Chicoutimi lead to eight. Halifax got on the board at 14:02 to break the Saguenéens’ shutout hopes as Quinn Kennedy drove to the net on a breakaway and buried a backhand shot past Lucas Beckman.
With the Halifax loss, Chicoutimi advances to the second round.
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The Saguenéens captured the first two stars of the game as Lavoie earned first star with a goal and three assists while second star was awarded to Massé, recording a goal and two assists. Third star went to Kennedy who scored the lone goal for the Herd.
The Mooseheads’ eyes now move to the 2026 QMJHL draft that will be hosted in Halifax on June 5-6 at the Scotiabank Centre with the Herd holding the Rimouski Oceanic’s first round pick as well as their own first round pick.