41 players taking part in Sea Dogs camp

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs announced a few roster moves ahead of this morning's scrimmage at Harbour Station.

The team announced eight players who took part in the team's Rookie Camp last week have been reassigned. They are:

LW Tyler-James Flack
LW Brennan Laverty
RW Alexis Lyonnais
F Daniel Surette
D Justin Lush
D Matthew O’Leary
D Jack McGovern
G Andrew MacLeod

Surette (2017, round 12), O'Leary (2015, round 12) and McGovern (2016, round eight) are all draft picks of the Sea Dogs while the rest were free agent invites.

The moves leave the Sea Dogs with 41 players at camp: four goalies, 14 defencemen and 23 forwards.

Here's a look at this morning's scrimmage rosters:

Today's scrimmage rosters.#SJSeaDogs | #PortCityRise pic.twitter.com/bgxar97wkD

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) August 22, 2017

Goaltender Matt Williams is with the team for training camp. He was not listed on the roster released last night.

Camp roster, schedule announced

SAINT JOHN - Saint John Sea Dogs training camp will begin Tuesday morning at Harbour Station.

The Sea Dogs announced their camp roster and schedule this afternoon.

The roster features one goaltender, eight defencemen and 13 forwards. The list of players who are moving on from rookie camp, which took place last week and ended on Sunday at the Moncton Rookie Challenge, will be announced soon.

Here is the roster:

Highlighting the list is top 2018 NHL Draft prospect Joe Veleno, Boston Bruins draft pick Cedric Pare, returning netminder Alex D'Orio, and the team's new imports - Ostap Safin and Radim Salda.

Sea Dogs acquire two forwards from Volts

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SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs made a trade with the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Monday.

The Sea Dogs acquired 17-year-old forward William Poirier (11-13-1999) and 19-year-old forward Anthony Boucher (06-25-1998) from the Voltigeurs in exchange for a third-round pick in 2018, a ninth-round pick in 2018 and a fifth-round pick in 2020.

The trade has not been posted on the QMJHL website at the time of this post, but the Volts have confirmed the deal on Twitter.

William Poirier et Anthony Boucher échangés à Saint-John. En retour les @SJSeaDogs cèdent des choix de 3e & 9e ronde 2018 et 5e choix 2020

— Voltigeurs (@Voltigeurs_DRU) August 21, 2017

Poirier, selected 18th overall by the Voltigeurs in the 2015 QMJHL Entry Draft, had six goals and 17 assists in 67 games with the Volts last season. In 128 career games, the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que. native has registered nine goals and 32 points.

Boucher was a second-round pick of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in 2015. In 66 games with the Volts last season, the Levis native had nine goals and 13 assists. In 122 career QMJHL games, Boucher has 11 goals and 27 assists.

While the two haven't lit up the league offensively, hopefully they can provide a bit of offence to a Sea Dogs team that is losing a lot of its goal scoring.

Both players will presumably be in Saint John this week when main training camp begins.

Wildcats win 2017 Rookie Challenge

MONCTON - The Moncton Wildcats are 2017 Rookie Challenge champions.

The host Wildcats defeated the defending champion Halifax Mooseheads fairly easily on Sunday afternoon at Superior Propane Centre, winning 6-2.

Moncton's first-round picks - Jakob Pelletier and Jaxon Bellamy - stood out once again. Pelletier scored twice and Bellamy once. Colton McKenna, Brodie MacArthur and Patrick Musico also scored. Alex MacDonald and Zachary Paradis teamed up for the win in net.

Halifax had goals from Fearghus MacDonald and Gavin Hart. Cole McLaren suffered the loss in net.

Wildcats are Rookie Challenge champs pic.twitter.com/U0yfQJxUKR

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) August 20, 2017

The Wildcats went 3-0 at the tournament, also defeating the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 5-3 on Friday and Saint John Sea Dogs 7-1 on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, the Screaming Eagles defeated the Sea Dogs 5-1 to claim fifth-place. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan finished third thanks to a 8-2 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders.

Here's a look at the final results (in order of finish):

Team	Record	GF-GA
Moncton Wildcats	3-0-0-0	18-6
Halifax Mooseheads	2-1-0-0	13-11
Acadie-Bathurst Titan	2-1-0-0	13-8
Charlottetown Islanders	1-2-0-0	8-17
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles	1-1-0-1	13-12
Saint John Sea Dogs	0-2-1-0	6-17

Pelletier finished with a tournament high five goals and eight points. Moncton's Daniil Kuzmin led the tournament in assists with four.

RECAP: Sea Dogs lose 5-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Cape Breton 5

MONCTON - The Saint John Sea Dogs are heading home without a win at the 2017 Rookie Challenge.

The Sea Dogs suffered their third straight loss on Sunday morning at Moncton's Superior Propane Centre, falling 5-1 to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Both teams entered the fifth-place game winless.

Isiah Campbell scored Saint John's lone goal. Andrew MacLeod made 11 stops in the loss while  Joel Goguen made 12 saves.

Cape Breton had a pair of goals from Antoine Rochon and Jake Martin. Nicolas Sauve also scored. Tommy DaSilva made 20 stops in the win.

It's the second straight year that Saint John went winless at the event. They fell 4-1 to Halifax, 7-3 to Moncton and 7-2 to Bathurst in 2016. This year, they lost 5-4 to Halifax (OT), 7-1 to Moncton and 5-1 to Cape Breton.

The Sea Dogs will no doubt be disappointed to go winless, but it's not overly surprising. Saint John doesn't have the prospect depth other teams currently have and they didn't have any first round picks playing this weekend. That's the cost of success in junior hockey. Saint John will surely have a better showing the next couple seasons.

Rookie Challenge Game Day: at Cape Breton (in Moncton)

MONCTON - The 2017 QMJHL Rookie Challenge will end for the Saint John Sea Dogs with a 10 a.m. contest against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles today at Moncton's Superior Propane Centre.

The Sea Dogs - Screaming Eagles match, featuring two 0-2 teams, will determine who gets fifth-place.

The third-place game features the Charlottetown Islanders and Acadie-Bathurst Titan while the first-place match sees the host Moncton Wildcats taking on defending Rookie Challenge champion Halifax Mooseheads.

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/None/Wildcats Television (YouTube)

Rosters: Saint John's 34-man rookie camp roster (18 forwards, 12 defencemen and four goalies) has been reduced to 29 players; Cape Breton's Rookie Challenge roster.

Rookie record: The Sea Dogs are 0-1-1-0 while the Screaming Eagles are 0-1-0-1.

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 7-1 loss to the Moncton Wildcats last night. Ben Reid scored Saint John's lone goal. Stewart Bagnell allowed five goals on 11 shots while Joel Goguen allowed two of 14 shots. The Screaming Eagles are coming off a 6-5 shootout loss to the Charlottetown Islanders yesterday afternoon. Brooklyn Kalmikov and Antoine Rochon each scored twice for the Eagles while Nicolas Sauve added a solo marker. Daniel Thompson allowed five goals on 21 shots in the loss.

2016-17 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 6-2-0-1 against the Screaming Eagles last season while Cape Breton went 3-6-0-0 against Saint John.

Players to watch
Cape Breton: Brooklyn Kalmikov - selected 15th overall by the Screaming Eagles in this year's QMJHL Entry Draft, Kalmikov has three goals and an assist in the tournament.

Saint John: Ben Reid - an occasional call up by the Sea Dogs over the past couple seasons, the 18-year-old has scored in both of Saint John's games in Moncton.

Notes: Isiah Campbell has three assists in the tournament for Saint John... Tristan Murcure and Ian Smallwood each have two assists... Stewart Bagnell has started both of Saint John's games... Antoine Rochon has scored two goals and added an assist for Cape Breton... along with Kalmikov, the Screaming Eagles feature another first round pick in Noah Laaouan (14th overall).

Next game: The Sea Dogs begin regular pre-season play on Wednesday night when they face the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 7 p.m. at Harbour Station.