The Sherbrooke Castors or Beavers (in English) was the name of two different junior ice hockey teams in the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The l ...

and another team in the Quebec Eastern Provincial Hockey League. Both later franchises played at the

Palais des Sports Palais des Sports (French: Palace of Sports) is a generic name of comprehensive indoors sports venue, mostly in the French-speaking world, including: ; France: *Palais des Sports de Beaulieu, Nantes * Palais des sports Ghani-Yalouz, Besançon * Pal ...

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional cou ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, Canada.

Earlier Castors

The earlier Sherbrooke Beavers were a

senior ice hockey Senior hockey refers to amateur or semi-professional ice hockey competition. There are no age restrictions for Senior players, who typically consist of those whose Junior eligibility has expired. Senior hockey leagues operate under the jurisd ...

team which won the

1965 Allan Cup The 1965 Allan Cup was the Canadian senior ice hockey championship for the 1964–65 senior "A" season. The event was hosted by the Sherbrooke Beavers and Sherbrooke, Quebec. The 1965 playoff marked the 57th time that the Allan Cup has been awa ...

, and previously played in the Quebec Eastern Provincial Hockey League, an amateur league and team from 1959 to 1962.

Original Castors

The Sherbrooke Castors (1969-1982) moved to

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu () is a city in eastern Montérégie in the Canadian province of Quebec, about southeast of Montreal. It is situated on the west bank of the Richelieu River at the northernmost navigable point of Lake Champlain. As of ...

in 1982, named the Saint-Jean Castors. In 1989 they were renamed the

Saint-Jean Lynx Saint-Jean Lynx were a junior ice hockey team which played from 1989 to 1995 in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. They played at the Colisée Isabelle-Brasseur. In 1982 they moved from Sherbrooke and were formerly the Sherbrooke Castors. Th ...

. In 1995 the team moved to

Rimouski Rimouski ( ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski is the site of Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), t ...

to become the

Rimouski Océanic The Rimouski Océanic are a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The franchise was granted for the 1969–70 season as the Sherbrooke Castors. The Castors played in Sherbrooke from 1969 to 1982 before moving to ...

. This original Castors franchise won the President's Cup in 1975, 1977 and 1982. The second incarnation never won. The Castors played in the

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between ...

in those three years, and came closest to winning in 1982, when they lost in the tournament final to the

Kitchener Rangers The Kitchener Rangers are a major junior ice hockey team based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. The Rangers have won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OH ...

Sherbrooke Faucons/Castors

The second Sherbrooke Castors team (1998-2003), originally the

Trois-Rivières Draveurs The Trois-Rivières Draveurs ("Raftmen") were a Canadian junior ice hockey team playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). They played home games at the Colisée de Trois-Rivières, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. The team was origi ...

, franchise moved to Sherbrooke in 1992 as the Sherbrooke Faucons ("Falcons"). The Faucons were renamed to Castors in 1998 and moved to

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, the state's capital, and Portland, the state's most populous cit ...

in 2003, to be renamed the Lewiston Maineiacs. The Maineiacs folded in 2011, and the City of Sherbrooke received an expansion franchise in 2012 in the form of the Sherbrooke Phoenix.

NHL alumni

The following Castors/Faucons later played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

: * Dmitry Afanasenkov * Norm Aubin *

Alain Belanger Alain may refer to: People * Alain (given name), common given name, including list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Alain (surname) * "Alain", a pseudonym for cartoonist Daniel Brustlein * Alain, a standard author abbreviatio ...

* Yves Bélanger *

Serge Boisvert Pierre Serge Boisvert (born June 1, 1959) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. In Sweden, Boisvert played for Västra Frölunda, and for Frisk Tigers, Spektrum Flyers and V� ...

* Paul Boutilier * Fred Burchell * Claude Cardin *

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy awards, and is also a cellist who has recorded n ...

John Chabot John David Chabot (born May 18, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1983 to 1991, and then played in Europe from 1991 until retiring in 2001. He later worked as a ...

Dan Chicoine Daniel Chicoine (born November 30, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey forward who played 31 games in the National Hockey League for the Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ic ...

* Rejean Cloutier *

Jean Cusson Jean Cusson (born October 5, 1942) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who briefly played in the National Hockey League for the Oakland Seals. Cusson spent three years with the Canadian national team before the Seals signed him t ...

* Claude Cyr * Mathieu Dandenault * Gord Donnelly * Gilles Dube * Norm Dube *

Norm Dussault Joseph Normand "Ti-Nomme" Dussault (September 26, 1925 – August 28, 2012) was a professional ice hockey player who played 206 games in the National Hockey League. Dussault was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, where his father worked as an ic ...

* Jean-Francois Fortin * Ray Fortin *

Gerard Gallant Gerard Gallant (born September 2, 1963) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously served as the head coach for the Columbus Blue ...

Jean-Marc Gaulin Jean-Marc Gaulin (born March 3, 1962) is a German-born Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 26 games in the National Hockey League with the Quebec Nordiques between 1983 and 1986. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1982 ...

* Jere Gillis * Alan Haworth *

Pierre Jarry Pierre Joseph Raynald Jarry (born March 30, 1949) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played 344 games in the National Hockey League and 18 games in the World Hockey Association between 1971 and 1978. He played for the To ...

* Brian Johnson * Claude Larose * Fern LeBlanc * Rejean Lemelin * Jean Lemieux *

Mario Lessard Mario Lessard (born June 25, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Born in East Broughton, Quebec, Lessard began his National Hockey League career with the Los Angeles Kings in 1978, the team he would play his entir ...

Gilles Lupien Joseph Leonard Gilles Lupien (April 20, 1954May 18, 2021) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played five seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Hartford Whal ...

* Drew MacIntyre * Jimmy Mann * Peter Marsh * Sean McKenna * Corrado Micalef * Richard Mulhern * Simon Nolet * Michel Petit * Noel Picard *

Roger Picard Joseph Roger Adrien Picard (born January 13, 1935 ) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and minor league head coach who played 15 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played 15 games with the St. Louis Blues in the club's ...

* Pascal Rheaume * Dany Sabourin *

Richard Sevigny Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

* Bobby Simpson *

Claude St. Sauveur Claude St. Sauveur (born January 2, 1952) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 285 games in the World Hockey Association and 79 games in the National Hockey League between 1972 and 1979. Early life St. Sauveur was bo ...

Radoslav Suchy Radoslav () is a common Slavic masculine given name, derived from ''rad-'' ("happy, eager, to care") and ''slava'' ("glory, fame"), both very common in Slavic dithematic names. It roughly means "eager glory". It is known since the Middle Ages. Th ...

Jocelyn Thibault Joseph Régis Jocelyn Thibault (born January 12, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blac ...

* Rick Vaive * Sid Veysey * Kurt Walker

References

{{Authority control Defunct Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams Castors Ice hockey clubs established in 1969 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1982 Ice hockey clubs established in 1998 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2003 1969 establishments in Quebec 1982 disestablishments in Quebec 1998 establishments in Quebec 2003 disestablishments in Quebec