The Sorel Éperviers (Black Hawks) were a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 1969 to 1981. The team was one of the founding members of the QMJHL. They mostly played at the Colisée Cardin in Sorel-Tracy , Quebec , but also spent a few seasons at the Verdun Auditorium in the Montreal suburb of Verdun, Quebec . Rodrigue Lemoyne served as the team's general manager. Ray Bourque is the only former Épervier in the Hockey Hall of Fame .
31-734: The Éperviers originated in the Quebec Junior Hockey League, and were the league's champion in 1969. Sorel were finalists in the eastern Canadian championship for the George Richardson Memorial Trophy , losing 3 games to 1 to the Montreal Junior Canadiens . The 1973–74 QMJHL season sparked an offensive explosion, unmatched in Canadian Hockey League history. Sorel set a CHL record of 620 goals scored as
62-694: A series of league, provincial and regional playoffs culminating in an east–west championship. The three-league tournament format began in 1972 , a season after the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association divided the Junior A rank into two tiers, naming the Memorial Cup as the championship of the Major Junior level. The Memorial Cup is sometimes referred to as one of the hardest championships to win in hockey, factoring in
93-404: A single round-robin (two games each), with the top two teams advancing to a single-game final. A semi-final game was added in 1974 . In 1977 the tournament was expanded to a double round-robin (four games each), with no semi-final. The tournament was held at a pre-determined site which was rotated among the three leagues. The 1983 Memorial Cup tournament saw the inclusion of a fourth team,
124-455: A single round-robin (three games each). If two teams are tied for third place, then a tie-breaker game is played on Thursday, followed by a semi-final game between the second and third-place teams and a final between the first-place team and the semi-final winner. This format continues to be used to this day, with the honour of hosting the tournament rotated amongst the CHL's three member leagues. If
155-550: A team. Three Sorel players, Pierre Larouche , Michel Deziel and Jacques Cossette , had more than 90 goals and 200 points each. Sorel goaltender Claude Legris also posted the highest goals against average of 4.50 goals per game for a Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy winner. In 1981 the franchise moved to Granby, Quebec where they became the Granby Bisons . They won the Memorial Cup there in 1996 . The franchise
186-643: Is today the Cape Breton Eagles . Note : Pct = Winning percentage George Richardson Memorial Trophy The George Richardson Memorial Trophy was presented annually from 1932 until 1971, by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association . It represented the Eastern Canada junior hockey championship, and a berth in the Memorial Cup final versus the Abbott Cup champion from Western Canada . The George Richardson Memorial Trophy
217-797: The 1909 Allan Cup . He was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950. Richardson was part of a prominent Kingston, Ontario family that owned and operated James Richardson & Sons . He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in World War I , and died in action in Belgium , and was created a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour of the French Third Republic . The George Richardson Memorial Trophy
248-679: The Abbott Cup champion from Western Canada . The George Richardson Memorial Trophy was retired in 1971, when the Memorial Cup became a round-robin series between the winners of the three major junior hockey leagues in Canada; the Western Hockey League , the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League . The Eastern Canada junior playoffs were open to the champions from five respective regions. However, league champions did not always participate, and
279-576: The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto , Ontario, Canada. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , both the 2020 (scheduled for Kelowna) and the 2021 (to be hosted by the OHL) editions of the tournament were cancelled as a result of provincial restrictions. The QMJHL was the only league of the CHL to declare a champion during the 2020–21 season. The Memorial Cup tournament resumed in 2022 . Starting in 1972,
310-679: The George Richardson Memorial Trophy, to represent Eastern Canada in the 1951 Memorial Cup playoffs. When the Citadels refused to play game five in Barrie , George gave them an ultimatum to play or forfeit the series. Quebec decided to play too late to arrive by train, but arrived half an hour late after flying. George scheduled game seven on neutral ice at Maple Leaf Gardens , despite protests from Flyers' coach Hap Emms who claimed that his team only agreed to resume
341-723: The Major Junior championship trophy, and the Manitoba Centennial Trophy , and later the Royal Bank Cup , serving as the second tier championship trophy. In 1972 , the Memorial Cup was contested between three teams: the champions of the three leagues of the Canadian Hockey League : the Ed Chynoweth Cup Champs (WHL) , J. Ross Robertson Cup Champs (OHL) , and the President's Cup Champs (QMJHL) . From 1972 to 1973 these three teams played
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#1732794563777372-484: The Memorial Cup Final was a two-game total goals affair between a champion from Eastern Canada and a champion from Western Canada, both of which were determined through a series of playdowns under the auspices of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association . In 1929, the Memorial Cup Final became a best-of-three series. In 1934, when the junior hockey teams were further divided between Junior 'A' and Junior 'B',
403-521: The Memorial Cup served as the Junior 'A' championship trophy, and the Sutherland Cup became the Junior 'B' trophy. From 1937 the Memorial Cup was a best-of-five series, and in 1943 reverted to a best-of-seven series. For the 1970–1971 season , the Junior 'A' rank was further split into the Major Junior rank and a second-tier rank (referred nowadays as Junior 'A'), with the Memorial Cup serving as
434-468: The Memorial Cup that season, the first time that a team has won the tournament without qualifying as the tournament host or as the champions of their respective league. In the history of the cup, there have been two major mishaps with the cup itself. At the 2008 tournament , a replica trophy, which is the one teams are presented with on the ice after the game, broke apart as captain Chris Bruton of
465-691: The Richardson Trophy would go ahead. That made the 1971 Richardson Cup a potential national championship. The final Richardson Trophy in 1971 was played between the Quebec Remparts and the St. Catharines Black Hawks , and was controversial due to violence and off-ice disputes causing its abandonment before completion. The series was played when tensions were high between Anglophone Canadians and Francophone nationalists, and featured future NHL stars Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne . The series
496-545: The United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played among the champions of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and Western Hockey League (WHL), and a host team, which alternates on an annual basis between the three member leagues. The Memorial Cup trophy was established by Captain James T. Sutherland to honour those who died in service during World War I . It
527-616: The best junior hockey team in Canada. The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA)'s annual meeting was unanimous that a fitting memorial be established to members of the OHA who had fallen on the field of war. "Past President Capt. J. T. Sutherland, now in France, spoke of the splendid work done by Canadian boys in France and suggested the erection of a suitable memorial to hockey players who have fallen."— The Globe, Toronto, Ontario, Dec. 9, 1918 . "The (Memorial) cup, coveted prize of Canadian junior hockey,
558-471: The challenge by the Western Canada champion Edmonton Oil Kings to play for the Memorial Cup. List of champions and finalists of the George Richardson Memorial Trophy. Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup ( French : Coupe Memorial ) is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of
589-605: The format varied depending on the number of teams. In the late 1950s, the Junior Canadiens participated as an independent team. Ontario-based teams won the most championships. No team from the Maritimes ever won the George Richardson Memorial Trophy, and the last time a Northern Ontario team won it occurred in 1937. CAHA vice-president W. B. George oversaw the Barrie Flyers versus Quebec Citadels series for
620-607: The host team also wins its respective league championship, the Memorial Cup berth reserved for the league champion is instead awarded to that league's runner-up. This was the case in 2006 , when the Quebec Remparts lost to the Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL Finals. However, since Moncton was hosting the Memorial Cup that year, Quebec was awarded the QMJHL berth to the Memorial Cup tournament. The Remparts went on to win
651-531: The number of teams across the CHL's member leagues nationwide, the Memorial Cup tournament being played between their top teams, and the limited eligibility period for players to compete at the major junior level. Capt. Sutherland, who was serving overseas, was President of the Ontario Hockey Association and he brought forward the idea to present a trophy to honour all the young Canadian hockey players who died in battle and have it awarded to
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#1732794563777682-716: The series if game seven was played in Barrie. Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) president Tubby Schmalz announced that teams from the OHA and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League would not play against any team from the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) for the 1971 Memorial Cup , due to disagreements over travel allowances given to team at the Memorial Cup and the higher number of over-age players allowed on WCHL rosters. He said that plans for an Eastern Canada series for
713-508: The team hosting the event, which was done to boost tournament attendance. The first tournament under this format was held in Portland, Oregon , and marked the first time that an American city hosted the Memorial Cup. The host Winter Hawks also won the Cup that year, becoming the first American team to win the Memorial Cup, as well as becoming the first host team to win it. The four teams played
744-540: The victorious Spokane Chiefs tried to hand it off to a teammate after being presented the cup on the ice. The crowd started heckling after the replica cup broke apart, while the Chiefs took apart the trophy and shared it around with teammates. In 2012 , defenceman Dillon Donnelly of the Shawinigan Cataractes accidentally dropped the trophy, significantly damaging it. The official cup is typically kept at
775-583: The world conflict (including Capt. George T. Richardson*, who died in France, Feb. 9, 1916. (*Both are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.) --William J. Walshe, Comments on Sport, The Kingston Whig-Standard , January 6, 1939. It started as an East-versus-West format, where the George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions from the East would play the Abbott Cup champions from the West. From 1919 to 1928,
806-602: Was a Canadian ice hockey player, businessman, philanthropist, and later a soldier. Richardson was considered one of the finest amateurs of his time. He played for the Queen's University team that challenged the Ottawa Hockey Club for the 1906 Stanley Cup , and played for the 14th Regiment of Kingston team won the Ontario Hockey Association title, and the J. Ross Robertson Cup in 1908, and
837-475: Was donated to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) by James Armstrong Richardson Sr. in memory of his brother in April 1932. The original three trustees named for the trophy were James T. Sutherland , W. A. Hewitt and Fred Marples . The trophy was presented annually from 1932 until 1971. It represented the Eastern Canada junior hockey championship, and a berth in the Memorial Cup final versus
868-523: Was intended to be best-of-seven, but ended after five games with the Remparts leading three games to two. St. Catharines refused to return to Quebec City due to violence that occurred after game four, and threats from the Front de libération du Québec against its players. CAHA president Earl Dawson declared the series over when no further compromise could be reached. The Quebec Remparts ultimately accepted
899-486: Was rededicated during the 2010 tournament to honour all soldiers who died fighting for Canada in any conflict. The trophy was originally known as the OHA Memorial Cup and was donated by the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) in 1919 to be awarded to the junior ice hockey champion of Canada. From its inception until 1971, the Memorial Cup was open to all Junior A teams in the country and was awarded following
930-567: Was retired in 1971, when the Memorial Cup became a round-robin series between the winners of the three major junior hockey leagues in Canada; the Western Hockey League , the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League . The trophy was named for Captain George Taylor Richardson , a hockey player who died while serving in World War I. Captain George Taylor Richardson (September 14, 1886 – February 9, 1916)
961-466: Was the brainchild of Capt. Jim (Sutherland) when he was overseas in the Great War (1914–18) and at the time, President of the Ontario Hockey Association (1915–17). He wrote suggesting the trophy in memory of the boys who were killed in the war and no doubt a big part of the idea was instigated by his devotion to his beloved (Alan) Scotty Davidson*, who fell (June 6, 1915) with many other hockey players in