The Remparts could break a record dating… from the Montreal Forum!

UPGRADE DAY

It's not impossible that the first game of the series between the Quebec Remparts and the Gatineau Olympiques breaks the all-time record for a playoff game in the QMJHL. Record dating from the time of the Montreal Forum! 

As of 8 a.m. Friday morning, 16,072 tickets had been sold out of a maximum capacity of 18,740 at the Videotron center, when the amphitheater is in hockey configuration and all boxes are filled to capacity.

As we wrote Thursday, the Remparts have already smashed their old record of 15,342 which dated from May 12, 2006, during game no. 5 in the President's Cup final against the Moncton Wildcats. Now they're taking on the QMJHL's all-time record dating back over 40 years.

Will the attendance record for a playoff game be broken this week? It dates back 40 years at the Montreal forum…Verdun vs Longueuil…among others Pat Lafontaine and Jacques Lemaire…to be continued! @LHJMQ @max_blouin @joeyalfieri @quebec_remparts @OlympiquesGAT

— Mario Cecchini (@MCecchiniALS) April 28, 2023

On April 22, 1983, the first game of the final between the Chevaliers de Longueuil and the Junior de Verdun drew 17,860 spectators to the Montreal Forum. 

It's been a long time. Proof?

New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant formed a formidable duo with Pat LaFontaine with the Juniors while Jacques Lemaire led the Knights.

For the record, Verdun won 5-4 in the second period of overtime on a goal by LaFontaine to finally get their hands on the President's Cup in five games.

In fact, the three games of this final presented in Verdun still constitute the attendance records in the playoffs in the QMJHL (17,860, 17,208 and 16,192).