A game six home victory sees the Sags take home their first title since 1994.
After an exceptional season, the Chicoutimi Saguenéens have officially won the 2026 Gilles-Courteau Trophy, defeating the Moncton Wildcats in six games.
Chicoutimi truly went all-in this year, assembling a core of top QMJHL talent from top to bottom, and will now represent the league at the Memorial Cup in Kelowna.
Here's all the action from the party that was game six at the Centre Georges-Vézina.
Moncton (1) - Chicoutimi (x)
Sags captain Emmanuel Vermette celebrates his key 3-1 goal late in the second period of game six. (Photo: Floralie Bournival)Right from the start, you could tell how ready the Saguenéens were for this game, wanting to close out the championship at home.
They outshot the Wildcats 12-1 at one point in the opening period, and found the opening goal through an Alexis Toussaint deflection in front. While Moncton gained a bit of momentum at the end of the first, the balance of play was still very much in favour of the home side.
In the second, it was Liam Lefebvre who sent the fans into a frenzy, and gave Chicoutimi a big 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats wouldn't go away that easy, though. Captain Caleb Desnoyers put one home in front, and all of a sudden the lead was down to one with the visitors pressing.
That made Emmanuel Vermette's late back-breaker that much more important for the Sags, who made no mistake to beat Rudy Guimond, and restore the two-goal lead.
The third period started with the fans at the Centre Georges-Vézina in a frenzy, towels waving and chanting loud all period. The home team sure got behind them defensively, putting up a clinic of a performance to close out their lead.
Moncton managed just five shots in the first 17 minutes of the third, and took a four-minute penalty that the Saguenéens used to kill off some key minutes. Guimond went to the bench at that moment as the Wildcats pushed, but time was ticking down.
Lucas Beckman made some key saves down the final stretch, including a big one on Alex Mercier in the slot, and there were some big shot blocks by the Chicoutimi defenders as the time dwindled as well.
With 1:36 left, the empty netter came. A huge, captain's effort from Vermette to turn the puck over, work through multiple defenders and feed Christophe Berthelot. It's fitting that Berthelot was the one who iced it, as he had a monster championship series.
The Moncton net emptied again, and Mavrick Lachance scored another empty netter with 47 seconds left. At 5-1, the building truly erupted, and the Chicoutimi fans then knew their team was going to win their first QMJHL championship since 1994.
The final seconds ticked off, and the celebrations truly begun. The 32-year wait is over, and Chicoutimi are Gilles-Courteau Trophy champions.
Moncton gave it as good a shot as you could in their back-to-back effort, but came up just short in the end to a deep Saguenéens team who played a tremendous game six to close this series out.
The Saguenay region can celebrate again, and maybe start booking some flights to Kelowna for this upcoming weekend.
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