In this guide
The name reaches beyond QuebecThe playoff pairing system changed in spring 2026Round two can cross the initial conference pathsThe Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League is commonly abbreviated QMJHL in English and LHJMQ in French. Both identify the same major junior league within the Canadian Hockey League, rather than two different competitions.
Its league championship is the Gilles-Courteau Trophy. The champion can then progress to the Memorial Cup, which is a separate tournament involving the other major junior league champions and a host club.
The name reaches beyond Quebec
The league’s Quebec Maritimes name is useful programme context. A Maritimes club remains part of the QMJHL even when its city is outside Quebec. The club name and full league identity explain that geographical scope.
An English programme using QMJHL and a French result using LHJMQ may consequently describe the same fixture. Keep the clubs, edition and round attached when comparing records across the two languages.
The playoff pairing system changed in spring 2026
The league’s published change keeps the first round inside the East and West conferences, then determines series by the overall standings from the second round onward. Earlier formats retained conference separation for longer.
The same announcement abolished the four-division structure and retained conference and overall standings. A current bracket should therefore not be reconstructed using an old four-division template.
Round two can cross the initial conference paths
Once the first-round survivors are ranked together, a second-round opponent need not come from the same original conference. A first-round bracket graphic cannot always be extended into two fixed halves all the way to the final.
This makes the round label particularly useful. A Round 1 programme follows conference pairings; a Round 2 programme follows the league-wide reseeding process. For an archive, preserve the year as well, so a pre-change playoff bracket is not presented as the current system.