It was a special night last Friday in Shawinigan, where the Cataractes, champions of the 2012 MasterCard Memorial cup, were honored during a pre-game ceremony at the Centre Bionest. With great emotion, former captain Michael Bournival and current captain Loïk Poudrier revealed the Memorial Cup banner, surrounded by many team members including Morgan Ellis, Kirill Kabanov, Michael Chaput and Pierre Ollivier Morin. Hanging high above the ice, the banner will forever remind the hockey world of the Cataractes first  Memorial Cup title in franchise history, during the final game against the London Knights last May.

The fans gathered at The Centre Bionest were also taken down memory lane with a short movie highlighting important moments of the 10-day event, retracing the champions’ road to victory.

For the Shawinigan organization, this historical night was a great opportunity to honor the different   team executives who succeeded each other since the very beginning, back in 1969. Mr. Guy Suzor, the man behind the 1$ transaction which brought the Victoriaville Bruins to Shawinigan over 40 years ago, was part of the festivities which also  kicked off the Cataractes 2012-2013 season.