A rough year after an appearance in the final sees the rebuild begin in Rimouski.
The Rimouski Océanic's season ended with a win.
That win snapped a 25-game losing streak, one that tanked them almost all the way to last in the league, with the start of the streak lining up almost exactly with the trade of star goalie William Lacelle.
After reaching the QMJHL final and hosting the Memorial Cup in 2025, it was always expected they'd go all-in for that, and then take a fall the next season. That is exactly what happened.
Mathys Dube emerged as a leader, scoring 40 points on a basement-dwelling Océanic side. (Photo: Iften Redjah)They essentially only returned goalies Mathis Langevin and William Lacelle this season, an elite tandem that served them very well last year.
Langevin struggled a bit to start this year, and eventually left mid-season for the NCAA. Lacelle played well, and stole more than a few games behind a pretty bad roster.
But over the holiday trade period, Rimouski made the decision to trade Lacelle to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (who were very hungry for a goalie) in exchange for a massive package, including two first-round picks.
This was probably a wise move for the long-team, but it totally tanked any chances of doing something this season. The historic losing streak followed, and it took until the final day of the season for Océanic fans to see another victory.
It's always difficult to see the bright spots in a losing season like this, but there were a few individual performances that they can carry into next year.
Mathys Dube took a strong 2025 playoffs and catapulted it into a strong year this year, leading the team with 40 points. He should continue to be a key player for this team heading into his 19-year-old season next year.
Zack Arsenault was a regular with this group as a 16-year-old rookie, and didn't look out of place. He seems like a piece that can grow into being a key player.
There are a handful of other young pieces who saw some ice time down the stretch as well. While they likely won't be right back to contention in 2026-27, it'll be seen as more of a building year than a regression year like this season was.
But that's the cost of going all-in on hosting the Memorial Cup.
Other Postmortems
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