QUEBEC — Alex Beaucage scored in double overtime, Nikolas Hurtubise made 48 saves and the Victoriaville Tigres won the Quebec Major Junior League championship with a 3-2 win over the Val-d’Or Foreurs on Saturday.
The Tigres won the best-of-seven series 4-2 to earn their second President’s Cup. Victoriaville hadn’t advanced to the QMJHL final since winning its first title in 2001-02.
Val-d’Or was making its first final appearance since winning its third title in 2013-14.
Olivier Coulombe and Mikhail Abramov, on a penalty shot, also scored for Victoriaville.
Jacob Gaucher and Jeremy Michel scored for Val-d’Or, while Justin Ducharme had two assists. Jonathan Lemieux turned aside 20 shots.
The QMJHL was the only one of the three major junior leagues under the Canadian Hockey League umbrella to hold a post-season. The Western Hockey League ended after an abbreviated regular season, while the Ontario Hockey League didn’t start at all due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The QMJHL started its season around its usual date in October with Quebec teams staying in the province and Maritime teams strictly playing against each other. The campaign, however, was interrupted several times by COVID-19 outbreaks.
The Memorial Cup tournament, which pits the three CHL champions and a host team against each other, was cancelled in April due to border restrictions around the pandemic.
Teams played a maximum of 40 regular-season games, down from the usual 64, but the league managed to crown a champion.
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