SEA DOGS NOTEBOOK

PLAYOFF TICKETS ON SALE SATURDAY
Sea Dogs post-season tickets will go on sale to the general public on Saturday, March 13 at 10:00 am at the Harbour Station box office and online.

Traditionally, playoff ticket prices for the first round have increased by a dollar or two compared to regular season costs. No details on pricing have been released.

SAY WHAT?
We stay away from talking about the 2009 playoff attendance, but this is just too much.

"As crazy as this sounds, we lost money in the playoffs last year,'' Wayne Long said in the Telegraph-Journal. "You have two weeknight games where you're drawing about 2,800 fans and you have travel costs to Cape Breton and back. Some people assume that when you go to the playoffs, it's all gravy.

"Really, we went backwards in the playoffs because of the weaker than expected attendance, the weeknight games and the fact there were only two (playoff) games.''

Also in today’s in Telegraph-Journal, Long claims that the team was never really as close to bankruptcy as the Globe and Mail claimed on Wednesday.

"We certainly had some financial challenges in our first two years, but the franchise was never near bankruptcy,'' Long said. "There were cash calls that had to occur to keep the franchise going, but that's no secret."

POLL REULTS
This past week’s poll results are in. The question was: who was Saint John's regular season MVP?

The results can be seen below:
Mike Hoffman- 13
Michael Kirkpatrick- 4
Simon Despres- 2
Nicholas Petersen- 1
Other- 1
Mike Thomas- 0

This weeks’ question is: will any former Sea Dogs play in the 2014 Winter Olympics?

JURCO ON HOT LIST
Tomas Jurco is already getting attention from scouts despite not being eligible for NHL Draft until 2011. Jurco was listed as the number six prospect in The Hockey News’ weekly “Hot List” this week. The “Hot List,” is a weekly roundup of minor league, junior, college and high school players and appears every Tuesday only on thehockeynews.com.

Here is what they had to say about the Sea Dogs rookie:

Given his late December birthday, NHL teams will have to wait another year to get a shot at Jurco’s services, but that’s just fine with the Sea Dogs. The Slovakian rookie has posted 43 points in 58 games this year to go along with an exemplary plus-34 rating.

To view the full rankings click HERE.

DOGS FOUNDATION NEEDS NEW LEADER
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL
SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs Foundation is seeking a new executive director. The job advertisement, posted electronically, describes one of the main functions of the executive director as coordinating fund rasing projects and events. The job also includes maintaining relationships with funding sources and acting as a resource to the Sea Dogs Foundation board of directors to help with policy decisions. The executive director has to prepare an annual plan and budget for the foundation and or the Sea Dogs hockey club. The foundation is looking for a candidate with fund raising experience and computer skills.

COUSY GETS HIS RANKING
Saint John goaltender Marco Cousineau was named the seventh best drafted goaltender by Hockey’s Future in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Here is what they had to say about the 20-year old net minder:

After backstopping the Drummondville Voltigeurs to the QMJHL championship as a 19-year-old, Marco Cousineau found himself back in juniors as a 20-year-old overager, due to the fact that the Anaheim Ducks lack an AHL farm team to give him his first taste of professional hockey. Signed to a three-year NHL entry-level deal, set to start next season, Cousineau's final tour in the QMJHL has landed him with another league contender in the Saint John Sea Dogs. After starting the season with the PEI Rocket, a mid-season deal placed Cousineau in Saint John and he soon returned to his winning ways. So far, the 6'1, 201 lbs, netminder has a record of 23-16 to go along with a 2.90 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. Cousineau's experience with Drummondville last season, where he went 13-3 in the playoffs should prove to be invaluable for a Saint John team with their eye on the league's prize.

To read the full article click HERE.

UP NEXT

The Sea Dogs take on the Halifax Mooseheads Sunday at 4:00 pm at Harbour Station.

Sunday’s contest has been designated Fan Appreciation Day, with a variety of promotions and giveaways set to be staged on the final home game of the regular season for the Port City’s major junior squad.