Mooseheads finished their first season with a 24–42–6 record, earning a playoff berth despite finishing 11th overall in the 13-team league. The club lost in the first round, but took the first-place Beauport Harfangs to seven games. The Mooseheads continued to build over the next couple of seasons, finishing with a winning record and third place in their division in their third season. Fan support continued to grow, averaging 5349 during the regular season and reaching 9600 in the playoffs. The team reached the President's Cup semi-final for the first time in 1997, losing to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in a seventh game. The club also continued to have success in recruitment, drafting winger Alex Tanguay, a future NHL all-star and Stanley Cup winner, 20th overall in the 1996 midget draft. First Memorial Cup tournament: 1997–2003 The Mooseheads underwent several changes prior to its fourth season in 1997–98. In addition to losing key players such as Shelley, the team's inaugural coach and general manager, Clément Jodoin, moved to an assistant coaching position with the Montreal Canadiens and the club's founder Harold MacKay stepped down as president. The organization recruited Denis Leblanc as general manager and Danny Grant, a former NHL 50-goal scorer and university coach, as the Mooseheads' new coach. The club struggled on the ice, finishing fifth in their division and losing in the first round of the playoffs in five games. Grant was then replaced as coach by Bob Mongrain. Aided by key acquisitions, including goaltenders Pascal Leclaire and Aleksei Volkov, and Slovakian forward Ladislav Nagy, the team rebounded to second place divisional finishes in 1999 and 2000, losing in the second round both seasons. Despite limited on-ice success, the Mooseheads still drew many fans; in 1998–99 cumulative attendance topped one million through the regular season and playoffs. It was the key factor in the Canadian Hockey League's awarding the 2000 Memorial Cup tournament to Halifax. Following the four-game sweep to the Rimouski Océanic in the second round of the 2000 QMJHL playoffs, and a month before the Memorial Cup tournament was to begin, the club released Mongrain, replacing him with assistant coach Shawn Mackenzie. Led by a 10-point performance by Ramzi Abid, the Mooseheads finished the Memorial Cup round-robin with a 2–1 record, but lost in the semi-final to the Ontario Hockey League's Barrie Colts. Following the team's strong Memorial Cup showing, Mackenzie was awarded the head coaching