A strong finish to the year mixed with the performance of some young players should lead to a summer of optimism in Sherbrooke.
The tides began to turn for the Sherbrooke Phoenix in the back half of the season.
While they were one of the bottom five or so teams for the majority of the year, a good run of form by the end of the season saw them jump up to fifth in the West, and all the way to a game seven in round one.
While they'll be disappointed to let their series lead slip against Shawinigan and couldn't reach the second round, the development of a young team should lead to a lot of optimism for the future in Sherbrooke.
Ilya Kolmakov had a strong rookie season for the Phoenix. (Photo: Vincent Lévesque-Rousseau)The team's scoring was led by blueliner Louis-Alex Tremblay, and youngsters Thomas Rousseau, Ilya Kolmakov, Jayden Plouffe and Florent Houle, all of whom should be back next year. Starting goalie Kyan Labbe, who had a great year, should also be returning for his 19-year-old season.
Being able to build this nucleus of talent is exactly how to win in this league, and they'll have plenty of assets to go out and add to this contention window, whether that be through the draft or trades.
It's also important to point out just how good this team was down the stretch. Before the final weekend of the year where they had nothing to play for, they went on an eight-game winning streak.
On that streak, they beat Chicoutimi twice and Drummondville once (though also got free wins against both non-playoff teams). They were legitimately in great form, and showed the ability to contend against any team in the league.
The playoffs didn't quite go their way, but once again, they were able to contend as the lower seed, and push a more veteran team right up to the brink in a first-round series.
They'll learn from the lessons they took from that playoff loss, but also the lessons they learned from winning late in the regular season. This team levelled up in 2026, and they'll be looking to do so again in order to be a contender by the time 2027 rolls around.
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