The Shawinigan Cataractes are a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The team is based out of Shawinigan, Quebec. The Cataractes have been previously known as the Shawinigan Bruins until 1973, and were called the Shawinigan Dynamos from 1973–78. The Cataractes play their home games at the Centre Bionest de Shawinigan. Former home of the team was Arena Jacques Plante.

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History

Shawinigan was a founding member of the QMJHL in 1969, and is the only team to operate continuously in the same city since then. The team originated in the Quebec Junior Hockey League. The Bruins of 1965–66 were runners-up in the eastern Canadian championship for the George Richardson Memorial Trophy versus the Oshawa Generals.

The 1977–78 Dynamos set a futility record, with 3 wins, 4 ties and 56 losses. In a single game versus Sherbrooke, they allowed a record breaking 22 goals scored against.

The Cataractes have had good seasons in their history, winning the Jean Rougeau Trophy for most points in the regular season twice (in 1985 and 2001), but have never managed to win the QMJHL championship. Theirs is currently the second-longest drought in the Canadian Hockey League, second only to the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL.

The team has participated in the Memorial Cup tournament once, in 1985, when they were the host team. They managed to make it to the cup final but lost to the Prince Albert Raiders. The Jacques Plante Arena only hosted the first two games of the tournament, as the arena has a large number of support columns in the seating area that made televising the games impossible. The remainder of the tournament was played in Drummondville, Quebec.

The name "Cataractes" often confuses English-speaking hockey fans. The name literally translates as "Cataracts" meaning "Waterfalls"; the team is named for Shawinigan Falls, a prominent waterfall in the city. A Quebec Senior Hockey League team operated in the city as the Shawinigan Falls Cataracts (1945–53) and the Shawinigan Cataracts (1954–58). It won the playoffs in the 1954–55 season. Even though they do not have a waterfall on their uniform.

In 2008–09, the Cataractes have established a new franchise record of 15 consecutive wins. They have broken the record previously established during the 1994–95 season.

On December 18, 2008, the Cataractes played their last game at the Jacques Plante Arena.

On December 27, 2008, the Shawinigan Cataractes played the first-ever game in their new state-of-the-art facility the Centre Bionest de Shawinigan and the new arena was sold out with 4,112 spectators in attendance. Matthew Pistils recorded the first goal in the history of the new Centre Bionest de Shawinigan. The Cats won the game 5-1 vs. Junior de Montreal.

The Shawinigan Cataractes have no links with the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts, a Newfoundland West Coast Senior Hockey League team.

NHL alumni

Yearly results

• 1969–73 Shawinigan Bruins
• 1973–78 Shawinigan Dynamos
• 1978–present Shawinigan Cataractes

Legend: OTL = Overtime loss, SL = Shootout loss

Season	Games	Won	Lost	Tied	OTL	SL	Points	Pct %	Goals for	Goals against	Standing
1969–70	56	36	19	1
73	0.652	318	254	2nd in East
1970–71	62	38	23	1
77	0.621	301	256	2nd in QMJHL
1971–72	61	34	24	3
71	0.582	290	208	5th in QMJHL
1972–73	64	28	34	2
70	0.453	301	278	4th in QMJHL
1973–74	70	30	37	3
63	0.450	347	402	3rd in East
1974–75	72	16	45	11
43	0.299	324	462	5th in East
1975–76	72	9	59	4
22	0.153	254	554	5th in East
1976–77	72	18	42	12
48	0.333	265	357	4th in Dilio
1977–78	72	3	65	4
10	0.069	258	687	5th in Dilio
1978–79	74	24	43	7
53	0.372	310	424	5th in Dilio
1979–80	72	28	35	9
65	0.451	314	339	5th in Dilio
1980–81	72	34	34	4
72	0.500	325	321	4th in Dilio
1981–82	64	35	27	2
72	0.562	349	278	5th in QMJHL
1982–83	70	52	16	2
106	0.757	406	232	1st in Dilio
1983–84	70	37	33	0
74	0.529	329	287	1st in Dilio
1984–85	68	48	19	1
98	0.713	384	255	1st in Dilio
1985–86	72	32	38	2
66	0.458	353	361	4th in Dilio
1986–87	70	38	26	6
82	0.586	408	335	2nd in Dilio
1987–88	70	30	37	3
63	0.450	387	381	4th in Dilio
1988–89	70	31	35	4
66	0.471	318	321	8th in QMJHL
1989–90	70	38	30	2
78	0.557	328	275	4th in QMJHL
1990–91	70	27	40	3
57	0.407	261	289	4th in Dilio
1991–92	70	37	27	6
80	0.571	279	273	2nd in Dilio
1992–93	70	19	46	5
43	0.307	262	357	5th in Dilio
1993–94	72	36	31	5
77	0.535	316	313	4th in Dilio
1994–95	72	40	28	4
84	0.583	325	270	2nd in Dilio
1995–96	70	35	30	5
75	0.536	289	259	3rd in Dilio
1996–97	70	41	24	5
87	0.621	277	232	2nd in Dilio
1997–98	70	40	24	6
86	0.614	262	217	3rd in Lebel
1998–99	70	44	22	4
92	0.657	275	212	1st in Lebel
1999–00	72	37	25	5	5
84	0.549	295	257	1st in Central
2000–01	72	54	10	6	2
116	0.792	375	192	1st in Central
2001–02	72	43	21	5	3
94	0.632	288	200	1st in Central
2002–03	72	25	35	8	4
62	0.403	209	249	3rd in Central
2003–04	70	39	21	4	6
88	0.586	259	215	2nd in West
2004–05	70	31	25	12	2
76	0.529	199	188	2nd in West
2005–06	70	37	28
3	2	79	0.544	285	278	6th in West
2006–07	70	25	39
2	4	56	0.357	228	301	9th in Telus†
2007–08	70	33	33
4	70	0.471	226	241	6th in Telus
2008–09	68	51	14
3	0	105	0.750	308	183	2nd in Telus Central††

^†Seeded 8th in Eastern Division for 2006–07 playoffs.

^††Seeded 5th in Telus Division for 2008–09 playoffs.