Men's hockey set to begin at Milano Cortina 2026

The men's hockey tournament begins Wednesday at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

There will be one former Saint John Sea Dog playing in the tournament: 34-year-old defenseman Jason Seed, who will suit up for host Italy.

Seed, who is a dual Italian and Canadian citizen, has spent the past four seasons playing pro hockey in Italy. 

Italy will play their first game on Wednesday against powerhouse Sweden. They'll also play Slovakia and Finland and will, obviously, be massive underdogs in those games.

The Ottawa native spent parts of three seasons with the Sea Dogs, helping the team win President Cup championships in 2011 and 2012 along with a Memorial Cup title in 2011.

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Former Sea Dogs forward Eriks Mateiko, meanwhile, was named to Latvia's Olympic roster but has been ruled out with an injury. Mateiko is in his first year of pro hockey with the AHL's Hershey Bears but had his season come to an end when he was cut by a skate.

According to a release, 26 QMJHL alumni were named to Olympic rosters, which includes Seed and Mateiko.

Other former Sea Dogs to play at the Olympic Winter Games include Tomas Jurco (2014 & 2022 - Slovakia), Felix Schütz (2018 - Germany), Jurij Repe (2018 - Slovenia), Stanislav Galiev (2022 - ROC) and Alex Grant (2022 - Canada).

Sea Dogs look to finally solve Regiment

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Will the Saint John Sea Dogs ever beat the Newfoundland Regiment?

It seems like a fair question following Saturday's game at TD Station, which saw the Sea Dogs blow a 3-1 lead in a 5-4 overtime loss. The back-and-forth game was eerily similar to some previous meetings between the two, which also saw Saint John blow multi-goal leads.

The loss dropped the Sea Dogs to 0-4-2-0 against the Regiment this season. Four of those six meetings have come since New Year's Eve – all of which were one-goal losses at TD Station.

Newfoundland 5 @ Saint John 4 (Feb 7 2026) OT

Newfoundland 4 @ Saint John 3 (Jan 11 2026) OT

Newfoundland 5 @ Saint John 4 (Jan 9 2026) 

Newfoundland 6 @ Saint John 5 (Dec 31 2025) 

Final Saint John 1 @ Newfoundland 5 (Oct 25 2025)

Saint John 3 @ Newfoundland 6 (Oct 24 2025)

The Sea Dogs will make their second and final trip of the season to St. John's this week, taking on the Regiment Wednesday and Thursday night. Game time for both is 6:30 p.m. AT.

As shown above, Saint John's previous trip to St. John's didn't go so well and they'll look to improve upon those outings. Some positive news heading into the week: the Sea Dogs have won more games on the road than at home this season (eight wins at home and nine on the road).

Saint John is 2-11-0-0 all-time at Mary Brown's Centre/Mile One Centre. They haven't won a game in St. John's since Jan. 3, 2008.

One of the keys for Saint John will be trying to slow down Newfoundland's big guns. Marek Danicek has 10 points (six goals and four assists) against the Sea Dogs this season followed by Justin Larose (four goals and five assists), Noah Laberge (two goals and seven assists) and Dawson Sharkey (four goals and three assists).

For the Sea Dogs, Alexis Joseph has five goals and seven assists against the Regiment. A fourth of his goals have come against Newfoundland.

This week's games have importance for both teams. Saint John is just trying to get into the playoffs while Newfoundland is fighting for positioning in the middle of the standings.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-4 (OT)

FINAL: Newfoundland 5, Saint John 4 (OT)

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - It was a rollercoaster, one that ended in a heartbreaking overtime loss for the Saint John Sea Dogs on Saturday at TD Station.

Marek Danicek scored at 3:08 of overtime to give the Newfoundland Regiment a 5-4 win over the Sea Dogs. The Regiment improved to 6-0 against the Sea Dogs this season with two more games between the two coming up this week in St. John's.

It was an eventful night as it looked like the Sea Dogs, having one of their better showings of late, had a good chance of winning in regulation. Then it turned into looking like they had no chance of even getting the game to overtime.

Saint John led 3-1 in the second period and carried a 3-2 lead into the third. The Regiment then scored twice in the final frame to take a 4-3 advantage.

Just as the Sea Dogs were trying to start a late-game press, Everett Baldwin was called for a slash at 19:06, sending the Regiment to the man advantage. Saint John pulled their goaltender just to make it even strength and, at 19:47, managed to net the equalizer to send the match into overtime.

OG ties it shorthanded.

🚨: Olivier Groulx (18)
🍎: Dylan Rozzi#GoDogsGo pic.twitter.com/toxMZUU9Sy

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) February 8, 2026

The Sea Dogs were able to kill off the remainder of the Baldwin penalty in extra time but couldn't stop the dangerous Danicek on an odd-man rush.

Luke Sinclair, Alexis Michaud, Justin Larose and Quinn Norman also scored for Newfoundland. Antoine Proulx made 29 saves in the win.

Groulx scored a pair of goals for Saint John while Maxime Côté and Angelo Fullerton had solo markers. Arseni Radkov made 29 saves in the loss.

The Sea Dogs have now lost seven of their last eight games and six straight home games.

Game Day 48: vs Regiment

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs and Newfoundland Regiment are about to get quite familiar.

The two will play three straight games against each other with the first meeting taking place tonight at 7 p.m. at TD Station. The next two games will take place in St. John's later this week.

Saint John has struggled mightily against Newfoundland this season, currently sporting a 0-4-1-0 against their old provincial rivals. That includes three straight losses at TD Station, all of which have taken place since New Year's Eve.

These points are valuable for both teams. Newfoundland is in a fight for playoff positioning in the middle of the standings while Saint John is just trying to stay in the race for the final couple spots.

Stream/TV/Radio: FloHockey/None/Sea Dogs Audio Network

Records: The Sea Dogs are 17-26-4-0 for 38 points (eighth Eastern/15th QMJHL) while the Regiment are 28-19-1-1 for 56 points (third Eastern/seventh QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Moncton Wildcats last night at TD Station. Alexander Donovan and Bo Damphousse scored for Saint John. Rafaël Courchesne made 31 saves in the win. The Regiment are coming off a 5-2 win in Charlottetown last night. Marek Danicek scored twice for Newfoundland while singles came from Alexis Michaud, Liam Arsenault and Dawson Sharkey. Louis-Antoine Denault made 24 saves in the win.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-2

FINAL: Saint John 2, Moncton 5

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs were no match for the first-place Moncton Wildcats on Friday at TD Station.

The Wildcats won an eighth straight game and nearly registered a third consecutive shutout, defeating the Sea Dogs 5-2. Moncton was in control all night long, leading 5-0 late in the third period. Alexander Donovan and Bo Damphousse scored with less than 90 seconds remaining.

St. Andrews native Gabe Smith scored twice for Moncton while singles came from Evan Depatie, Teddy Mutryn and Kuzma Voronin. Captain Caleb Desnoyers recorded three assists.

Backup netminder Jacoby Weiner made 31 saves and nearly recorded a second straight shutout. He showed some frustration when Donovan scored at 18:56 of the third.

Rafaël Courchesne made 31 stops in the loss.

The Sea Dogs, coming off a 2-0 loss to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday in Fredericton, were nearly shutout for a second straight game. The team's power play, which was so good throughout January, is 0/7 over the past two games.

Saint John fell to 1-6-0-0 against the Wildcats this season. They have one regular season meeting remaining.

Game Day 47: vs Wildcats

Daniel St. Louis/Moncton Wildcats

SAINT JOHN - A difficult task awaits the Saint John Sea Dogs tonight.

The Sea Dogs will host the Moncton Wildcats at 7 p.m. at TD Station. Moncton sits first overall in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League standings and have won seven straight games. On top of that, they have not allowed a goal in their past two games.

Saint John, meanwhile, is coming off a disappointing 2-0 loss to the last-place Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday in Fredericton. The team is no doubt looking to put that performance behind them with a strong outing tonight – but that will be a difficult task.

The Sea Dogs are 1-5-0-0 against the Wildcats this season with their lone win coming way back in October. They have kept a few of the other games close, so we'll see what happens in this one.

Stream/TV/Radio: FloHockey/None/Sea Dogs Audio Network

Records: The Sea Dogs are 17-25-4-0 for 38 points (eighth Eastern/15th QMJHL) while the Wildcats are 35-8-2-1 for 73 points (1st Eastern/1st QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday at the Aitken Centre. Arseni Radkov made 29 saves in the loss. The Wildcats are coming off a 3-0 home win over the Newfoundland Regiment on Sunday. Grayden Robertson-Palmer, Teddy Mutryn and Liam Bursaw scored for Moncton. Rudy Guimond made 38 saves in the win.