On the Brink of Greatness

By Cameron MacEachern
Station Nation Staff

The day is upon us. For the first time in their brief history, the Saint John Sea Dogs are one win away from the President’s Cup. A victory tonight will crown them as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Champions, and send them to Mississauga for the Memorial Cup. And really, what’s one more win? The Sea Dogs have done more winning than DJ Khaled and Charlie Sheen combined this season.

Maybe it will be a blowout. Jonathan Huberdeau with a 6-point effort, and the result is never in doubt. That’s certainly not an unfamiliar outcome for the fans at Harbour Station.

Perhaps it’ll be a tighter affair. Despres, Gelinas, Beaulieu and company shut the show down, De Serres stops them all, and Stephen MacAulay wins it with five millionths of a second on the clock, typically.

One way or another, all it takes is one more win. One win of what would be 74 on the season. That is nothing short of remarkable.

But rest assured, they need that final win. Right now, nothing else matters. Mention the 2007 New England Patriots and your first thought is about their loss in the Super Bowl, rather than the perfect regular season that got them there. Similarly, anything short of a President’s Cup for the Sea Dogs, at this point, is a failure.

Summer’s close. Jacob De Serres, Captain Mike Thomas and franchise leading scorer Michael Kirkpatrick will be moving on soon. Simon Despres will be in a Pittsburgh Penguins uniform before long. Others will be traded and make the jump to the pros. But first, this group has one more mountain to climb together; their collective sights set on playoff win number 16.

That win will give them a QMJHL Championship ahead of all but two of their Maritime Division foes, all of which have been in the league longer than they have. That win could be the last double bird flipped in the direction of Angelo Esposito, although it probably won’t be. That win might actually educate a few people that it’s Saint John, not St. John or St. John’s or whatever other variation of the name people use. That win will establish the 2010-11 Saint John Sea Dogs as one of the greatest junior hockey teams of all time.

Soak it up, Sea Dogs fans. That win could come tonight.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation