Cape Breton Eagles seek fifth new head coach in six years

The Cape Breton Eagles find themselves in a position that’s become all too familiar – looking for a new head coach.

For the fifth time in the last six years, the Cape Breton Eagles of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League are looking for a new head coach.

Louis Robitaille, who was behind the Eagles’ bench for the past two seasons, left the team last week to coach in the Supreme Hockey League (VHL) in Russia.

Eagles majority owner Irwin Simon addressed the team’s high turnover at a news conference Thursday.

“Some of it is hey, just timing, bad luck, personal reasons - but it’s not like every coach that came here we fired and they didn’t want to be here,” Simon said. Head coaches Jake Grimes, Jon Goyens and Chadd Cassidy left the team either on their own or in a mutual parting of ways, he said.

The Eagles are also coming off a season that fell short of expectations.

Early in the year team management stated the goal was carry their momentum from a league semifinal run in 2023-34 to contend for a QMJHL championship.

The Eagles lost in the first round of the playoffs to the same Baie-Comeau Drakkar team that eliminated them the previous year.

“I’m happy where we are, but it was an ‘Okay’ season to be honest and blunt about it,” Simon said.

The team’s general manager, Sylvain Couturier said there are already plenty of applicants just days into the search for a new head coach.

“There’s guys out there who have been associated with NHL teams or have coached within the NHL or been assistant coaches in the NHL,” Simon said.

Couturier said that Eagles assistant coach Matt Anthony will be among those interviewed for the head coach job.

“We’re up to at least twenty coaches that want to come here,” Couturier said. “There’s some very good quality guys that applied.”

Eagles’ division rival Moncton Wildcats entered the weekend one win away from their third QMJHL championship, with a 3-1 series lead in the league final against the Rimouski Oceanic.

The Wildcats have been guided this season by well-known head coach Gardiner MacDougall, who is coaching his first season in the Hub City after winning nine national championships at the University of New Brunswick.

Simon said there is more to a successful team than just coaching. He said teams hire “messiah” coaches and add great players in the NHL and still get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs but his goal remains the same.

“I want to basically have a parade one day with the Memorial Cup going down Charlotte Street.”

The team’s focus now turns to the QMJHL Entry and Canadian Hockey League Import drafts in June.

Couturier said the team hopes to announce its new head coach by July 1.

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