One of the big news items in the AQHL was three trades titled "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." The good trade was made between Manchester and Sherbrooke, the Americans had top three goalies and need to find a way to down size before things go downhill and need a forward, while the Loups need scoring and need to light up the defence lines, so the Americans traded their goalie Mike Saunders with 1985 2nd and 1986 4th round picks, while Loups traded forward Miro Sandstrom along with 1985 4th and 1986 2nd round picks. The result was great for both: the Americans improved their scoring, kept pace to finish 2nd in the Atlantic division and 3rd overall, while the Loups got back on track after a 10-game losing streak and squeezed into the final playoff spot. While both New Glasgow and Verdun trades were bad, the Knights traded overaged Simon Klatt to the Highlanders for Aleksey Filimonov; both teams struggled and missed the playoffs. Neither team traded their draft picks, which was the only positive outcome of the trade. The ugly was the moment that the entire league and the hockey world will forever remember for was the “Fake gold trade” between the 1984 Bronz Cup champions Moncton Bears and the Shawinigan Voltages, before the trade was made Vols owner Pierre Leflar was not happy with the roster telling everyone about the way he treating the coaches like garbage, Pierre told them to shut up about it and decide to make an example out of it, with no good players to trade Pierre decides it was a good idea to trade draft picks, so he made a deal with the Bears, The Vols got goalie Mike Fishen a third stringer, while the bears got not one, not two, but three 1st round draft picks from 1985 to 1987! The Bears would finish 1st place in the league, as for the Vols, two words: Rock Bottom!
The ugly trade was the final straw that broke the camels back for Paul Name as he had an emergency meeting with owners and with a landslide vote the league stripped the ownership off from Pierre and the Vols now belongs to the AQHL for now until a new owner is found, if there are no one want to buy the team to keep them in Shawinigan then the team will be open for anyone to take the team outside of Shawinigan.
With a well put-together roster and three 1st picks in the next three years in tow, the Bears took 1st place in the league with no issue. Trois-Rivieres Titans take not only the Quebec division again but also 2nd place in the league, thanks to goalie Dale Holst winning 30 out of 35 games with 10 shutouts. In 3rd place, the Manchester Americans made some good moves, resulting in some shake-ups on the lines, and the result was great for both the team and the city. The Portland Clippers may lose some players, but they have some young core clicking very well to finish 4th. With losing 2 top forwards, the Laval Tigers had a slow start but got back on track with some key wins to take 5th place. After missing the playoffs for two years, the Drummondville Les Rouges got back in the playoffs by winning 9 of the last 12 games to clinch 6th. The Fredericton Vikings returned to the playoffs by finishing 7th after winning their last 7 games. Both the Sherbrooke Loups and the Cape Breton Warriors went back and forth for the last playoff spot, but key injuries hurt the Warriors, and the Loups won the last game of the season over Val-d’Or, while the Warriors ended their game with Charlottetown in a tie. Rounding out the rest after the Cape Breton Warriors are Charlottetown, Rouyn-Noranda, Verdun, Val-d’Or, New Glasgow and in very last place, Shawinigan.
1985 AQHL Playoffs
Round 1
This round was a short one for all four series. The Moncton Bears swept the Loups, even though there was a one-goal win in game three for the Bears. The Reds had no answers to even avoid being swept by the Americans; the Ames performed very well and hopes to go all the way. Laval Tigers dominated the Clippers in the first two games, but Portland fought back, and the Tigers won both game three and four in overtime. The whole league would witness a big upset as the Vikings with only 22 points less than the Titans, the first game ended in overtime, while in game two and three the Titans blew a two goal lead to lose with seconds remaining, and game four the Titans had the big lead 5-0 going into the third period where out of nowhere both Wayne Daoust and rookie Bill Boyle both score goals, Wayne’s hat-trick tied the game up to end regulation and with five minutes left into the first overtime Bill scored the winner making it for the first time in AQHL history that two players scored three goals each to win a game, as the Vikings move on to the second round, the Titans management had to go back to the drawing board.
Round 2
The series between the Americans and the Tigers have been the best, back and forth in the first three games but the Tigers took the last three games big thanks to their duo defence of Tom Meighan and rookie Shawn Montpelier as they not only held the line but also score goals including Tom’s OT winner in game five and Shawn’s hat-trick to give the Tigers a series win over the Americans to punch their ticket to the Bronz Cup finals. On paper the Bears got this series in the bag but in game three and four the Vikings push themselves to the next level and won both of them in overtimes, the Bears won game five but in game six the Vikings came back from being behind 4-0 to win it in overtime, game seven was the game no one never thought it would happen, leading 5-3 in the third Dave Messier scored 2 unanswered goals to tie it up and heading in overtime, 12:42 into overtime the Bears got a 5 on 3 powerplay until they had puck ready to score but it hit the post were Ted Savage got the puck than took the biggest gamble of his career skate it into a open gap for a breakaway and scored a overtime winner to shocked the whole crowd at the Brown Bear Memorial Centre, and the Fredericton Vikings are heading to the Bronz Cup for the first time since the 1975-76 season.
Bronz Cup Finals
Laval Tigers vs. Fredericton Vikings
It’s the ultimate battle between two teams that were predicted to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, who are in hopes of winning the Bronz Cup. On one end, the Laval Tigers are making their first cup appearance since the 1972-73 season and are hoping to win the cup, having become the first Bronz Cup champion in 1971. While the Fredericton Vikings try to win their first cup in team history. Game one was all Tigers, led by Matt Nasreddine with two goals and five points, for a 6-2 win over the Vikings. The Vikings got payback in game two, with Dave Messier and Bill Boyle scoring two goals each to even the series with a 4-2 win. The Vikings made it two wins in a row in game three, but in overtime, they came back from being down 4-0 in the third period. In overtime, Ed Thibault made a point shot that somehow, someway went in the net despite so much traffic in front of the net. Game four was a rough one for the Tigers; the Vikings were all over them all game, but in the end, Alex Chouinard scored the only goal for a 1-0 win for the Tigers to even the series two games apiece. Throughout the fifth game of the series, it was scoreless until 1:20 left in the third, when Matt Nasreddine scored, and the Tigers went on to win game five 1-0. Unlike game five, game six was a goal fest between the two; however, it went to overtime, 6-6, after 2 overtimes and 12:56 into the third. Wayne Daoust made a breakaway to the net and scored the winner with the final score of 7-6 to tie the series 3 games apiece. Game number seven was for all the marbles, in the first period the Laval Tigers were all over the Vikings with 19 shots on goal but no goals was made, in the second period Fredericton had their turn but with 23 shots on goal but just like the first period no goals were made, early into the third period out of nowhere Matt Nasreddine scored two goals within 5 minutes into the third period to give the Tigers a chance to win it all, however 8 minutes left in the final period Dave Messier scored two goals to tie it up, 2:10 left in the final period Dave Messier got the breakaway and scored the tie-breaker, despite the Tigers pour on the shots but the Vikings held their ground and at last the clock hit zero and the Fredericton Vikings are the 1985 Bronz Cup Champions winning the series 4 to 3.
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