SEA DOGS NOTEBOOK

THEY HAVE ARRIVED
According to the Victoriaville newspaper La Nouvelle/L’Union, the Sea Dogs arrived in the region last night via bus.

Game three of the semi-final playoff series is tomorrow night at 8:00 pm. Saint John will put a perfect playoff road record on the line against the Tigres.

HELLO FROM LEWISTON
Lewiston Sun Journal reporter Justin Pelletier had an article posted on his blog today about the possibility of an all-New Brunswick league final.

“Saint John, meanwhile, might be the most unheralded league-leading club since, well, Lewiston in 2007,” wrote the MAINEIacs beat reporter. “The lack of movement at the deadline caused people around the league to start writing the Sea Dogs off then and there. Lewiston is the only team in recent memory to have done the same thing.

“Marco Cousineau is a solid goalie and could match Riopel save-for-save, should that matchup come to fruition. But let's not forget that the Dogs' and Tigres' series is a 2-3-2 format, so, until Saint John wins a road game, this isn't over by a long shot.”

He does, however, pick Moncton to win it all. But he did have this great line about the Wildcats: “Even the loss of Russian cry-baby forward Kirill Kabanov hasn't slowed the train down.”

WESTON GETS HIS GAME ON
From Saturday’s TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL:

Saint John MP Rodney Weston says he will wear a Victoriaville Tigres jersey on Parliament Hill for a day if the Tigres beat the Saint John Sea Dogs in this round of the playoffs. Weston has challenged MP André Bellavance, of Richmond-Arthabaska, to wear a Sea Dogs jersey if Saint John wins. The series opened here Friday.

TICKET INFO
All 18 teams in the QMJHL will have to pay a larger portion of their ticket sales to the league next year.

“Halifax Mooseheads (and all QMJHL teams) will pay $0.10 more per ticket to the league,” reported News 95.7 and John Moore last week on Twitter.

Halifax, Moncton, Saint John and Quebec reportedly voted against the motion. The four teams were also ranked one through four at the top of league attendance this past season.

IS BEAULIEU NEXT IN LINE?
Following a game seven defeat in the quarter-finals against the Kitchener Rangers, Jacques Beaulieu and the London Knights now have a long off season.

Head coach of the Knights, Dale Hunter, won OHL coach of the year award last week. Knights reporter for the London Free Press Ryan Pyette hinted that Beaulieu taking over the team and Hunter leaving for the NHL is not that far fetched.

Hunter has always kept open the possibility of returning to the big leagues if everything fit. Right now, it's never been better.

Hunter turns 50 in July.

He doesn't have a son on the Knights anymore.

Trusted friend Jacques Beaulieu returned this year after building one of the Canadian Hockey League's best -- the Quebec league's Saint John Sea Dogs.

"I think we all know it could've been better," the former Sea Dogs head coach said, "but Kitchener is good offensively and when you fall behind a couple of goals, you have to open up to try to come back. You always want to see the best four teams in the conference finals, but . . . we weren't able to get it done."

PASSINGHAM FAIL
Former Sea Dog goaltender Troy Passingham joined the blooper club last night in a 5-3 Windsor Spitfire loss against the Kitchener Rangers in OHL playoff action. His blunder puts Windsor down 3-0 in their semi-final series.

Here is the goal as describe by Jim Parker of the Windsor Star:

With overtime looming and just 93 seconds left in regulation, Kitchener's Gabriel Landeskog lifted a puck from centre at the Windsor net Sunday.

It took one hop and slipped through the legs of Spitfires goalie Troy Passingham.


GAGNE STILL OUT
Kevin Gagne will likely miss game three in Victoriaville according to the Telegraph-Journal.

Seventeen-year-old defenceman Kevin Gagne isn't expected to suit up for Game 3. The Edmundston native has missed the last six playoff games due to a knee injury.

Gagne has only played in five of Saint John’s 11 playoff games. He hasn’t played since game five of the first round against the PEI Rocket.

AHL PLAYOFF UPDATE
Felix Schutz and the Portland Pirates are down 2-0 in their series against the Manchester Monarchs.

Alex Grant and the baby Penguins are down 3-0 in their series against Albany. According to the Times Leader, Grant saw some action yesterday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Alex Grant replaced Ben Lovejoy, who was recalled to Pittsburgh on Saturday, on the blueline for Sunday’s game. Grant had an even plus-minus rating and one shot in his first AHL playoff game.

Robert Mayer and the Hamilton Bulldogs are up 2-0 against the Manitoba Moose. Game three is tonight in Winnipeg.

All the series' are in round one.