'I didn't expect it': Cape Breton Eagles part of QMJHL history with six-goal comeback in 1998

When a team gives up six goals in the first period, the odds of coming back and winning that game are not very good.

In fact, only four teams in Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League history have accomplished the feat, and the Cape Breton Eagles are one of them.

It was Oct. 7, 1998, and the fourth home game of the season for the Eagles, hosting the now defunct Sherbrooke Castors at Centre 200 in Sydney with the second-smallest crowd that season (2,338) in attendance.

Sherbrooke was starting a three-game road trip through the Maritimes with stops in Moncton and Halifax days later. The team had last played three days prior, losing 5-1 to the Halifax Mooseheads in Quebec.

Led by François Fortier, the Castors jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first seven minutes and 35 seconds of the game with goals by Fortier, Patrick Vincent, Bryan Lachance and Philippe Denicourt. The team would add two more before the period was over by Pierre-Luc Courchesne and future Eagle David Cloutier to take a 6-0 lead.

Goaltender Danny Lavoie allowed three goals on 23 shots before being replaced by Nicolas Chatham at 7:35 of the period.

At the time, Bruce Campbell of New Waterford was the Eagles’ head coach. Knowing his club wasn’t playing well, Campbell let them have it in the dressing room during the first intermission.

“I was watching, and I knew the effort wasn’t up to standards,” said Campbell. “I knew we were a young team, and we were probably in over our heads on that particular night.

“The one thing that you can control is effort and after that first period I made it clear that if that was the kind of work ethic we were going to have this year, we might as well fold it up. It was only early in the season, and we were going through the motions – needless to say I wasn’t very calm when I was doing it.”

The message was heard loudly and clearly by the Eagles players.

Cape Breton went out in the second period and scored five times in the first 10 minutes, including four goals in just over a minute between the 6:34 and 7:52 mark to pull within one going into the final 20 minutes of play.

Ryan Walsh had two goals and two assists in the frame, while Jonathan Gagnon had two goals and Yannick Carpentier chipped in with a single marker.

The Eagles would tie the game in the third period with a power play goal by Philippe Tremblay at 2:35, but Sherbrooke regained the lead midway through the final stanza with Fortier scoring his second of the game.

Cape Breton responded less than a minute later with an Alexandre Pagé goal, which was followed by Walsh completing the hat trick for his third of the game to give the Eagles an 8-7 lead at 18:34. Randy Copley of Inverness sealed the 9-7 win with an empty net marker one minute later at 19:34.

“I didn’t expect it, but I knew one thing, we were going to work the rest of the game because they would be afraid to come back in the dressing room if they didn’t,” laughed Campbell. “Rodger Cuzner was at the game, and he called me afterwards and said he could only imagine what I said after the first period or what I did, and I told him I lost my mind.

“Ryan Walsh and the better players stepped up. I didn’t think we’d come back from that, but they proved me wrong.”

At the time, the Eagles were only the second team in league history to have a six-goal comeback victory. The first was on Jan. 6, 1977, when the Quebec Remparts beat the Sorel Éperviers, who are now the Cape Breton Eagles, 9-8 in Sorel-Tracy, Que.

The Remparts were led in that game by future hockey hall of famer Michel Goulet, who netted a hat trick in the contest.

Quebec and Cape Breton were the only two teams to have six-goal comeback wins until March 8, 2013, when the Gatineau Olympiques overcame a six-goal deficit to beat the Val-d’Or Foreurs 8-7 at the legendary Centre Robert-Guertin in Gatineau, Que.

The most recent six-goal comeback win came last month when the Victoriaville Tigres defeated the Drummondville Voltigeurs 8-7 at Colisée Desjardins in Victoriaville, Que. The Voltigeurs led 6-0 midway through the second period before the Tigres stormed back to win the game in regulation time.

Campbell was aware of the recent comeback win for Victoriaville but was surprised that only four teams held that record in the league.

“I am very surprised because there would be a lot more penalties called now,” said Campbell. “Back in the day, punching and grabbing was still involved, so for us back then, it wasn’t like we were going to get six power plays in the third period and try to make a comeback – we were doing it just out of hard work and grit.”

As for the current Eagles team, they return to the ice on Friday when they travel to the provincial capital to play against the Halifax Mooseheads. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.

• Jan. 6, 1977, Quebec 9, Sorel 8
• Oct. 7, 1998, Cape Breton 9, Sherbrooke 7
• March 8, 2013, Gatineau 8, Val-d’Or 7
• Sept. 20, 2026, Victoriaville 8, Drummondville 7