After 17 years, the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League is back in St. John’s as the Newfoundland Regiment officially began their inaugural season Thursday night against the defending QMJHL champions Moncton Wildcats at the Mary Browns Centre in front of a sold out crowd.
Before the first game started, there were some pregame ceremonies that paid tribute to the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, as well as a ceremonial puck drop. The fans were also introduced to the players one by one.
Some notable players on this years Regiment team include captain Justin Larose, who scored 61 points in 63 QMJHL games last season, Montreal Canadiens prospect and starting goaltender Mikus Vekvanags and Newfoundlanders Ben Veitch and Quinn Norman, who were each selected 5th and 6th overall in the 2025 QMJHL Draft.
There is also Noah Laberge, Will Reynolds and Dawson Sharkey, who were drafted in this years NHL Entry Draft, but were unable to participate in this series due to participating in NHL training camps.
Once the game got underway, the Regiment started off slow, giving up a goal 42 seconds into the game as Rian Chudzinski put the Wildcats up 1-0. The Regiment didn’t even register a shot on goal until the 13:47 mark of the first period, where Tyson Goguen capitalized and scored the first goal in Regiment history.
Goguen’s goal opened the floodgates for the Regiment, as they would score another two goals in the following two and a half minutes, as Biagio Jr. Daniele and Marek Danicek scored their first of the season, before Goguen would grab his second goal of the game early in the second period, scoring a rebound goal on the powerplay and giving the Regiment a 4-1 lead.
After that, three goals were scored in a three minute span. First, Rian Chudzinski scored his second goal of the game at the 12:45 minute mark of the period, cutting the Regiment lead down to 4-2, before Maddex Marmulak sniped his first goal of the season and regained the Regiment’s three goal lead.
Over a minute later, the Wildcats scored yet again, thanks to Alex Mercier, as Moncton once again cut the Regiment lead down to two.
Niko Tournas would score in the final minute of the second period, as he shortened the Wildcats deficit to 5-4, capping off a wild middle period that saw five total goals get scored by each team.
The third period was calmer in terms of number of goals scored, however it still had tons of drama, as Alex Mercier netted his second of the game, and tied the game 5-5.
Although the Regiment got a scare, Louis-Francois Bélanger scored a beautiful goal at the 5:27 mark of the period, giving back the Regiment their lead late, before captain Justin Larose potted the empty netter to ultimately give them a 7-5 victory.
Both teams played an encore performance Friday night, where it was a nearly sold out crowd at the Mary Browns Centre. This time, the Regiment started 17-year old goaltender Antoine Proulx, who played his first career QMJHL game and will likely play a huge part in this teams future.
Tommy Bleyl opened the scoring in a high scoring first period, as the Wildcats took a 1-0 lead, which did not last long, as Regiment rookie Max Dineen scored his first career QMJHL goal 21 seconds later, tying the game up at 1-1.
After Alex Mercier gave the Wildcats a 2-1 lead, Rian Chudzinski was called for a high sticking double minor penalty late in the period, giving the Regiment a four minute powerplay, which they capitalized on as Tyson Goguen scored two powerplay goals in under 90 seconds to give the Regiment a 3-2 lead entering the first intermission.
The second period was much calmer, as for the first time all series it seemed as if the Wildcats had finally figured out how to limit the Regiment offence, and they were rewarded as Alex Mercier scored his second goal of the game and tied it 3-3.
In the third, both teams seemed to have calmed the game down, however, Niko Tournas scored at the 6:58 mark of the third period, giving the Wildcats a huge 4-3 lead with very little time left in the game.
After that goal, it seemed as if the Regiment were done for. They were unable to generate any offence and the Wildcats were shutting down any scoring chances the Regiment may have had.
That was until captain Justin Larose scored an insane game tying slap shot goal with 40 seconds left in the period.
That goal would send the game into overtime, where for the second night in a row Louis-Francois Bélanger scored the game winning goal, scoring on a breakaway in overtime, and giving the Regiment a 5-4 win and a 2-0-0 record.
It’s hard to imagine a better start to the season for the Regiment, and they’ll look to do continue this hot start next weekend when the Charlottetown Islanders come to town.
