Letter From The Q

Preston Lounsbury looks on inside the Avenir Centre during an off-ice interview discussing his final season and journey with the Moncton Wildcats and the QMJHL. (Submitted by Aiden Glendenning)

Hang ‌around ‌a ‌junior hockey rink long enough, and you figure it out fast. The game isn’t always the main event.

Sure, you can chase the action, the goals, the clips, all of the stuff that ends up online later. But the more attention you put into the game outside the game, the more your eyes begin to notice everything behind the scenes. Whether it’s the little rituals and superstitious habits, or the way guys act when the puck isn’t even on the ice.

It sounds weird, but this is the place you want to look if you’re looking to find the real story behind these young athletes. They aren’t all putting multiple points on the score sheet on game nights. Some do the dirty work instead.

The stuff that matters most — that’s where Preston Lounsbury fits in.

When your job is to cover the Wildcats, and you’re around the team all the time like me, you start noticing what a player like Lounsbury actually adds to a powerhouse team like Moncton.

Standing a tad over 6 feet and weighing in at around 180 pounds, Preston isn’t the biggest player on the ice. But like they say, it isn’t the size of the dog, it’s the size of the fight in the dog — at least I think that’s how it goes. 

One interaction I had with Lounsbury from earlier this season has still stuck with me because of how plain it was. I was just outside the room — waiting to shoot an interview after a skate, nothing crazy, just the usual chatter while the guys go back into the locker room.

But as Lounsbury walked by, I asked him about his recent efforts on the penalty kill and how effective he’s been out there. It was the kind of question that gives a player an easy opening to talk about something he does well. He didn’t take it.

He laughed a little, shrugged, and moved right past it like it didn’t deserve the oxygen. No explanation and no smidge of an interest in claiming it. He wasn’t being rude or performative; it just felt automatic and humble, like it genuinely didn’t occur to him that it was worth pointing out.

Somehow, that told you more than an answer ever could, because it matches the way he’s built his place on this team and that team-first mentality he has.

Right now, with the Moncton Wildcats, Lounsbury isn’t a numbers guy, and he isn’t the one driving the headlines after a big win. He doesn’t lead the scoring race, he’s not a walking highlight package.

However, what he has become is the type of player teams depend on and then forget to talk about. Fourth line, hard minutes, responsibilities that most fans don’t notice. Things like penalty killing, sacrificing offence to make the smart defensive play. None of it’s overly flashy, but all of it matters, and it asks for a level of reliability plenty of players never fully buy into.

Now it’s his last season in junior, and that identity feels a bit odd for Lounsbury. He’s 20, which means he’s living the final version of this QMJHL routine.

When I asked if that had started to sink in yet, with this being his final season in a Wildcats uniform, he didn’t dress it up. The answer was honest and quiet, which is pretty on-brand for him.

“Not really,” he said. “It’s pretty crazy. I remember like it was yesterday getting drafted here and playing my first game.”

The way he said it made it obvious he’s still sorting through it in real time. Junior hockey doesn’t feel long while you’re in it. It repeats.

Practices stack up, road trips start to feel normal, and each season looks like a slightly tweaked version of the one before, until one day you look around and realize you’re the oldest guy in the room.

“It’s kind of weird,” he admitted.

That shift, from the kid trying to fit into a room to someone the room leans on, doesn’t flip all at once. It creeps in. It builds without announcing itself, and for him, it started close to home — growing up in Salisbury, N.B. and playing minor hockey in Petitcodiac, hockey was always stitched into the structure of his life, even when it wasn’t overly competitive.

“I grew up in a smaller town,” he said. “There aren’t many high levels of hockey there, so I had to travel a bit to play in Moncton.”

However, those early years for Lounsbury weren’t all about making it to the highest level possible, they were about being around the game, friends, and learning the game outside the game.

“I met some of my best friends through hockey,” he said. “Even now, there are guys I still text almost every day.”

As he got older and a lot better, he would have to do like a lot of players and move away from home to pursue his dream of playing in the NHL. Luckily for him, moving wasn’t going to be so far — getting selected by the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats during the 2021 QMJHL Draft.

“He wasn’t the guy scoring all the goals, but he was always the one out there in the important moments,” said former Wildcats General Manager Ritchie Thibeau, who had drafted Lounsbury back in 2021.

There’s also a side of his story that you don’t really see just from being around the rink now, something that goes back to before he ever fully became a part of the lineup.

Watching Preston early on, he said it was obvious how much coaches leaned on him, even then. Not as the guy scoring goals or playing the spotlight minutes, but in the situations that actually decide games. Late shifts, important faceoffs, moments where you need someone to do the right thing without overthinking it. That part of his game showed up early, and it also shaped how his path into the league actually played out.

After drafting him in 2021, Thibeau said he brought Preston and his parents in for a meeting at the end of camp. Not to tell him he made the team, but the opposite. He told him he wouldn’t be staying that season. Instead, he wanted him to go back and play with the Moncton Flyers, with one goal in mind: to win.

If he could go back and win a national championship with his minor hockey team, a spot with the Wildcats would be waiting for him the next year.

It wasn’t a guarantee most players get, and it wasn’t the easiest conversation to have either. But it was a bet on what kind of player Preston was, even before he fully proved it at this level.

That season, winning is exactly what Lounsbury did, and after his minor hockey team captured the national title, Thibeau said he personally packed up a Wildcats bag himself, filled it with team gear, and brought it to Preston to use for summer training heading into the next camp.

It’s a small detail, but it says a lot about how that situation was viewed on both sides, and how Lounsbury and his determined effort keep him going.

Which, in a lot of ways, explains why a player who doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet ends up being trusted in the moments that matter most.

The Wildcats weren’t just a random Q team on a list for Lounsbury either. As a kid from Salisbury, N.B., he grew up watching the Cats. The one that felt real, the one that shaped what “that level” looked like when he was a kid, and not having to move far from home was a bonus.

“Moncton was always the team you wanted to go watch when you were a kid,” he said. “I remember playing ball hockey outside pretending to be those players, so playing for them now is pretty cool.”

You don’t need much added detail to picture that. Driveways and street games that run too long, kids stretching the day because they don’t want it to end — imagining the jump from where you are to where you want to be.

For Lounsbury, that connection didn’t disappear once he made it here either, it just evolves. It becomes more of a responsibility, as now, when he’s around younger fans during school visits or community stops, he’s aware of the full-circle part of it. 

“I remember being that kid,” he said. “So, I try to be as positive as I can and interact with them.”

This attitude fits with how he plays too. No big performance and no big statements. Just handling things the right way because to him, that’s what mattered, and continues to matter most. Even on his draft day in 2021 — because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no big stage, and no dramatic setting.

“I was on my couch at home,” he said. “It was honestly pretty chill.”

The lead-up still carried the usual uncertainty. You never really know what will happen or where you will end up.

Preston Lounsbury's interview during intermission. (Submitted by Aiden Glendenning)

That’s the reality of it for these players. Questions surrounding where you’ll land. If you’ll even get picked. What happens next? And then, when their name gets called, that uncertainty gets replaced by a sense of excitement.

“There was a lot of excitement,” he said. “Being with my family and knowing I was coming here.”

Now, four years later, I asked what he’d say to that younger version of himself — he didn’t overthink it or take long to respond.

“I’d say just buckle up. There’s a lot of highs and lows,” he said. 

That’s a part of the job, and over his time with Moncton, he’s seen both extremes. The team has gone through the lows of lows and the highs with Lounsbury and the Cats capturing the QMJHL Championship just last season.

“We’ve been at almost the lowest and at the highest,” he said. “So, I’d say just enjoy every step.”

That range of thought changes how you carry yourself. Less obsession over the result, more focus on the everyday parts that actually get you there. For Lounsbury, that shows up most clearly in the areas of the game that don’t get much shine. He talked about how his game has shifted, especially the physical side and the positioning, things that matter more when your role leans defensive, and he continued to keep things simple.

“Using your body, positioning… that’s a big thing now,” he said.

It’s also why he’s extremely useful on the penalty kill, where reads and timing can matter just as much as effort.

“I like being out there shutting teams down,” he said.

He didn’t go on and on about it. He doesn’t have to. The repetition of it is the point.

That same steadiness was part of one of the biggest moments he’s had so far. Last season, when on a championship run. A lot of players never get that experience in junior, no matter how many games they play. For him, it’s in the memory bank now.

“That feeling when you realize you did it,” he said. “You’re just jumping around, filled with joy.”

Those moments stick, not only because of what you won, but because of everything you had to live through to get there. All the shared hours. The group is becoming a real group.

“You build bonds for life,” he said. “There is still a group chat where we still talk all the time.”

This year, for Lounsbury and the Moncton Wildcats, the focus shifts toward trying to get that feeling back and winning again.

“I think we’ve got a shot,” he said. “Hopefully, we get to play one more day.”

Hockey people say that a lot in the spring and playoffs. One more game, one more day, keep it alive. It’s a simple philosophy on purpose. Not everything in his path has moved in a straight line, and going undrafted into the NHL can hit players in different ways, depending on how they choose to read it. But for him, it hasn’t changed him or his drive to succeed much at all.

“Everyone’s got different paths,” he said. “You never know what can happen.”

There’s perspective in that, the same kind that shows up in the rest of his answers.

“Being drafted is something you want, but it can be motivation too.” 

Statistically, only 10 per cent of players from the QMJHL ever crack an NHL roster. That ends up being roughly 40 players per season. However, going undrafted, your odds decrease by even more — this isn’t going to discourage a guy like Lounsbury. 

With Lounsbury committed to playing National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) hockey next season with the Holy Cross Crusaders, there’s a clear sense that this isn’t the end of his development. It’s just the next step.

“It’s another opportunity,” he said. “More time to develop.”

Holy Cross isn’t the most skilled NCAA hockey team, or even the most well-known.

Located in Worcester, Massachusetts, their current roster is ranked #38 nationally with an 18-18-2 record this season. However, it’s a place where Lounsbury feels he can continue to sharpen his skills — hunting for a spot in the NHL, while getting an education.

For Lounsbury, it doesn’t matter how good a team they are — he just wants a place to keep playing while chasing the NHL dream.

This ties back to how he’s handled his role in Moncton this whole time as well. Deal with what’s in front of you, do it properly, and keep moving.

When I had asked Lounsbury how he wanted to be remembered here in Moncton, he stayed in the same headspace.

“Just that I was hard working, positive. Hopefully a winner,” he said.

No extra framing or cheesy speech. Maybe that’s the part that stands out most.

He grew up nearby and watched this team as a kid, picturing himself in it, then actually got four years inside that world. Not in some dramatic, movie-scene way, just in the steady accumulation of hard work. From the stands to the ice, helping however the team needs, and now leaving knowing you did it the right way. 

“I left it all out there,” he said. 

For some, that’s just one of many cliché hockey statements being thrown out on a day-to-day basis, but for the 2025 QMJHL champion Preston Lounsbury, that’s about as real as it gets.