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Wildcats – Year eight - 2003-04
With 46 wins, 19 losses, 3 ties and 2 overtime losses, the Cats accumulated 97 points. They lost only 3 games on home ice, had 31 victories at the Coliseum, and went on a winning streak of 15 games at home. Corey Crawford set a team high for goaltenders with 35 victories and Steve Bernier, scored four goals in one game, tying another team record. Moncton picked up a couple of veterans in the Q draft, Thierry Douville came from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar for draft picks, Mathieu Wathier joined the blueline corps in a trade with Maine for goaltender Matt Davis. The Wildcats picked AAA goalie, Jean Christophe Blanchard in the draft’s first round. From European, came Konstantin Zakharov, of Belarus and Martins Karsums from Latvia. They proved to be important cogs in the Moncton offence. Zakharov finished the season with 49 points and Karsums, with 30 goals, to go with his 23 assists. In the NHL draft, Wildcats were very prominent, San Jose Sharks took Bernier in the first round, the Chicago Blackhawks grabbed Corey Crawford in the second round and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim selected Nathan Saunders in round number four. The QMJHL was re-aligned with the movement of the Montreal franchise to Charlottetown to become the P.E.I. Rocket and the Sherbrooke Castors moved to Lewiston, Maine and named the MAINEiacs. When the dust had settled after the 70 game regular season schedule, the Wildcats were third overall in the 16 team league behind Gatineau and Cape Breton. Moncton faced Baie-Comeau in round one and had little difficulty disposing of the Drakkar in four straight games. Then came the Battle of the Confederation Bridge, as the Wildcats and PEI Rocket locked horns in a tight, hard fought series. Goaltender Corey Crawford turned in a top flight performance in back-stopping Moncton to a 4-2 series win. The semi-final round featured the arch rival Rimouski Oceanic and the Wildcats. With plenty to prove from past years, the Wildcats turned on the pressure and stopped the Oceanic, lead by rookie sensation Sidney Crosby, in five games. The deciding game brought roars of jubilation from both the management and players. Shouts of “We beat Rimouski, we beat Rimouski,” echoed through the Moncton dressing room and down the corridors of the Colisée. The Wildcats had made it to the President’s Cup final for the first time in team history and the opponents were the Gatineau Olympiques. The two teams both had strong offence, with the Olympiques having speed to compensate for the bigger, tougher Wildcats. Crawford again lead the Wildcats with first class net-minding while Karsums lead in scoring during the post season with 17 points. Sharp shooter Mathieu Bétournay was the top goal scorer with 11. Bétournay, a three year veteran, gritty forward looked back at the team, the season and the playoffs. “We grew up together, all of the guys matured with each other because the team was built from within. The playoff run was the most exciting hockey any of us had experienced. We expected to beat Baie-Comeau but the series with P.E.I. was perhaps the best of them. We had built a rivalry during the year and we knew they would be hard to beat but Crawford was outstanding. Once we got to play Rimouski, we knew how important it was to everyone in the organization to beat this team and get to the final. We were all so happy that night in Rimouski when we won the series, we beat them in their own rink and we were going for the President’s Cup. It was one of the best feelings a hockey player can have. Against Gatineau, we knew they were a championship team and were hard workers. I think it was their experience that helped them win the series,” Bétournay said. The dream of a President’s Cup and a berth in the Memorial Cup ended at the Robert Guertin arena on Mother’s Day, May 9, 2004. To add to the list of first experienced by the Wildcats during that remarkable season was yet another. The play-by-play broadcaster for the Wildcats, Les Stoodley was joined by his son Kurt, a TV personality in Ottawa, as the color commentator, marking the first time in the history of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League that a father and son team had broadcast a league championship game. Team Photo
View Individual Stats
QMJHL Standings 2003-04
2003 QMJHL Entry Draft
2003 CHL Import Draft
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The maturing of the draft picks and the patience of management paid off for the Moncton Wildcats in the eighth year of the franchise. Ten team records were set during the season.
