SEA DOGS NOTEBOOK

SOLD OUT
No more seats remain for Game Two of the President’s Cup final at Harbour Station. The Sea Dogs announced Friday afternoon that the match sold out and 200 standing room tickets were released.

The first 6,000 fans to enter the building this evening will receive a white rally towel. Fans are also asked to wear white as part of the “whiteout.”

There will also be a fan fest, which will feature a BBQ, beginning at 4:30 outside Harbour Station.

D.O.D. RECALLED
It was announced earlier this week that the team had called-up defenseman Spencer MacDonald and goaltender Jacob Edwards. Yesterday, the team announced that Devon Oliver-Dares has been recalled as well.

Oliver-Dares is a fan favourite after an impressive training camp and his gritty style. He has played four games with Saint John this season. From the Sea Dogs website:

Oliver-Dares played in four games for the Sea Dogs earlier this season, accumulating 11 penalty minutes before returning to the Dartmouth Ice Dawgs of the Nova Scotia Major Midget League. The five-foot-10, 185-pound Cole Harbour, N.S., native recorded 10 goals, 20 points and 46 penalty minutes in 26 games at the midget level. He also represented Team Atlantic at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, scoring a goal and registering 14 penalty minutes in five games. The Sea Dogs selected him in the third round (54th overall) of the 2010 QMJHL entry draft.

COMBINE
The list of players invited to this year’s National Hockey League draft combine were released earlier this week. 61 players from the Canadian Hockey League were invited to attend the annual pre-draft event from May 30 – June 4 in Toronto.

Six Sea Dogs were invited: Nathan Beaulieu, Jonathan Huberdeau, Tomas Jurco, Scott Oke, Zack Phillips, and Ryan Tesink.

Of note, the MasterCard Memorial Cup final will be held on May 29 in Mississauga. The draft combine begins May 30.

NOTES AND STATS
The QMJHL website released some notes and stats about the President’s Cup final on Thursday featuring the Sea Dogs and Olympiques. Gatineau is kinda good:

The Olympiques are regulars in the final parade as this will be their 10th participation since they joined the League in 1973/1974. Until now, they have raised the Cup 7 times (1986, 1988, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2004 and 2008). No other team can boast such a record for the President’s Cup. Just a reminder that for the firts five championships, we are referring to the Hull Olympiques before the merger of the cities of Hull and Gatineau.

The Sea Dogs’ 58-win season doesn’t exactly guarantee them a championship"

Finally, a reminder that a record season of 58 wins such as that of the 2010/2011 Sea Dogs does not necessarily guarantees winning the President’s Cup in the spring. Although Trois-Rivières has done so in 1978/1979 after their 58 wins, the Sorel Éperviers, with the same season record, were unable to double-up by losing the Finals to Québec in 1973/1974.

SCOUTS IN ONTARIO
Friend-of-the-blog Brandon Sudeyko of ‘In The O Radio’ tweeted that some Sea Dogs scouts were in attendance at the Hershey Centre for the Ontario Hockey League championship series on Friday night.

There are some St. John sea Dogs scouts in attendance tonight... They do know they only won 1 game so far right

THE INTRO
Via CHSJ News, the Sea Dogs hitting the ice on Thursday. No word yet if Peter McGuire approved of Jacob DeSerres’ entrance.



PALOV PREDICTS
The Chronicle Herald’s Willy Palov predicts the Sea Dogs to win the President’s Cup in six games. He has a pretty solid breakdown of offense, defense, goaltending, and coaching.

CORBEIL GETTING BETTER
It’s been a wild ride for Mathieu Corbeil, going from the basement of the QMJHL standings with the Halifax Mooseheads to the league final with Saint John.

“It’s the most winning team I’ve ever been on,” said Corbeil to Metro Halifax on Wednesday.

“It’s pretty exciting and it’s something I needed after all these years of losing.”

“It’s so fun to go to the rink and to be excited to practice, have fun and play ... to know the odds are on your side and you’re probably going to win,” Corbeil said. “It’s so much different ... and so much fun.”

GALLANT SIGNS
Former Sea Dogs tough guy Brett Gallant signed a one-year contract with the American Hockey League’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Thursday. The Sound Tigers are the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders.

“It’s nice to get it (contract) done early, and not have to worry about it this summer,” said Gallant, now 22, to the Charlottetown Guardian on Friday. “It’s nice to know you are going back for the year.”

“Obviously, my goal is to get to the NHL, but a big goal of mine was to get to the AHL. I worked hard at the East Coast level, and it was nice to get called up at the end of the year.”

Gallant had a goal and 73 penalty minutes in 17 games with Bridgeport last season.

DUREPOS ARTICLE
The Times & Transcript had an article on Sea Dogs defenseman Pierre Durepos yesterday.

"I definitely don't take this for granted," said Saint John Sea Dogs defenceman Pierre Durepos, who's made it to the President Cup final in each of his first two seasons in the league.

"Any time you get to play in the league championship series you want to make the best of it because you never know if you're going to have another chance. We have a lot of guys on our team who are fortunate to be getting their second chance and we definitely want to make it count this time."

Ridiculous stat from the article: Saint John is 138-27-2-4 in the regular season and playoffs combined since Durepos entered the league.

Photo Credits: David Connell Web Album, Bridgeport Sound Tigers