SEA DOGS NOTEBOOK

ANOTHER HUGO PHOTO
Here is another classic Hugo Laporte photo courtesy of KJ McLean.

We are officially done with our Laporte coverage… for now.

WE HAVE A PROBLEM
Call us cautiously optimistic or whatever you want, but we are already looking ahead to round three. When we worked out the schedule, we found there to be a possible conflict.

Harbour Station hosts The Exploratorium Interactive Kids Fair on Saturday, April 17 from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm. The 17th would normally be the date for game two of the semi-finals.

We say a “possible” conflict because we have no idea how long the setup/take down would be. But when an inflatable planetarium is at your venue, you know there is going to be trouble.

That begs the question of whether game one will stay on Friday night with game two on Sunday or will game one be Thursday and game two on Friday.

CHL.ca POLL
A poll on the Canadian Hockey League’s website saw that many believe Saint John will be heading to the MasterCard Memorial cup in May.

The results have since changed in favour of Barrie.

GALIEV TO THE CAPS?
The Washington Capitals blog “The Russian Machine Never Breaks” profiled three potential Russians the Caps may draft in the upcoming NHL entry draft.

Sea Dogs forward Stanislav Galiev was one of them, with the blog having some interesting quotes from the Russian, like:

“I never wished to eat something from Subway or McDonald’s.”

To read the full article click HERE.

The post also provided this handy chart:

THE HOFFMAN FILE
The Ottawa Citizen had an article toady about the career of Mike Hoffman and the future possibilities of him playing with the Senators. Hoffman also speaks about his time with the Gatineau Olympiques franchise.

"Things didn't work out in Gatineau,'' Hoffman said of his 19-game stint with the Olympiques. "Everything happens for a reason.''

"Hoffman was a good player for us, but he didn't work as hard as he works today,'' Olympiques general manager Charlie Henry said. "He has really changed, and he's much more mature.''

This past week, Olympiques reporter Jean-Francois Plante had a French post on his blog about Hoffman’s time with the ‘Piques.

Plante goes on to explain that it is ironic Hoffman would win the sportsman of the year trophy. According to Le Droit blogger, Hoffman was released because several players stepped forward and said he was affecting team chemistry.

Gatineau would go on to win the Presidents Cup that year.

OH NO
After going a year without mentioning “the slogan,” this was in today’s Telegraph-Journal:

She said the team's slogan - Our team. Our time. - sums everything up.

"It really describes their season this year."

The Plymouth Whalers are using the slogan for their playoff run and are currently down 2-0 in their series against the Windsor Spitfires.

UP NEXT
Leading the best-of-seven series 2-0, Saint John hits the road for game three on Tuesday night at 8:30 pm at the Robert Guertin Arena.

Saint John has yet to lose a playoff road game in this year’s post-season. The Sea Dogs also had the best road record in the league during the regular season.

The Olympiques are 1-2 at home in this post-season, and had a record of 18-12-1-3 during their 34 game regular season schedule.

Game four is Wednesday at the same time and same venue.

THE LEADERS
Through seven playoff games, Michael Kirkpatrick leads the Sea Dogs in scoring with 12 points. Kirkpatrick is also tied with Nicholas Petersen for the team lead in assists with nine.

Rookie Jonathan Huberdeau leads the team in goals with seven, meaning he is averaging a goal per game.

Three of Saint John’s top five scorers are rookies (Stanislav Galiev, Tomas Jurco, and Huberdeau). Regular season leading scoring Mike Hoffman is sixth (tied for fifth but has fewer goals) in points on the team with nine.

Kirkpatrick sits 12th in league playoff scoring while Galiev is second among rookies with 11 points.

Yann Sauve leads the team in penalty minutes with 17 while Mike Thomas’ five minute kneeing major that took place on Friday is the only penalty he has taken so far in the playoffs.