Sherbrooke Phoenix head coach Stéphane Julien THURSDAY for the second time in his career won the Ron Lapointe Trophy for Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) Coach of the Year.
Julien was also honored in 2019-2020, helping his team rack up 50 wins and 105 points in the regular season. His team is still alive in the playoffs as they lead the QMJHL semifinals 2-1 against the Halifax Mooseheads. Julien served eight campaigns at Sherbrooke, dominating Sylvain Favreau, his current semi-final rival, and Tigres de Victoriaville’s Carl Mallette in the race for the annual award.
Sherbrooke landed at the top of the Western Conference thanks to his special teams. The club dominated the circuit due to the effectiveness of their power play and their numerical inferiority. Individually, his players Jacob Melanson, Joshua Roy and Justin Gill finished 7th-9th in the league standings.