Friday, October 7, 2011

Sea Dogs Notebook


GALIEV HURT
Some bad news courtesy of the Telegraph-Journal this morning – Stanislav Galiev will miss both weekend games with an “upper-body injury.”

“The club will know more upon further evaluation,” states the newspaper.

In five games since returning from Washington Capitals training camp the 19-year old Russian winger has three goals and three assists.

With Galiev out, the return of the Galiev-Phillips-Huberdeau line will have to wait.

APPS
The Sea Dogs announced yesterday that they have finally launched apps for Blackberry (OS6) an Android devices. They launched an iPhone/iPad app last year.

“We pride ourselves on being a leading major junior hockey franchise, not just with our on-ice product, but with our off-ice efforts to improve the fan experience,” said Sea Dogs President Wayne Long in arelease. “Fan response was extremely positive for the iPhone app last season. The only complaint was that BlackBerry and Android users couldn’t wait to have a Sea Dogs app on their phones as well. We have been hard at work behind the scenes with Buzzer Apps to make that a reality and we’re proud to announce these two new apps.”


ROUSSEL STUFF
Charles-Olivier Roussel is expected to make his Sea Dogs debut this Saturday against the Rimouski Oceanic at Harbour Station.

According to a couple of tweets by equipment manager David Kelly, Roussel will wear No. 55. Jevin MacLellan, Alexandre Leduc, Shea Kewin and Rory Craddock have worn the number in the past.

The Boisbriand newspaper Nord Info reports that Jonathan Huberdeau called Roussel to welcome him to the club.

With Roussel coming back to the QMJHL for an overage season, Mikael Lalancette asks who are the best defensemen in the league?

Lastly, will the former Shawinigan Cataractes defenseman come back to haunt his ex-team this May?

KSL RELEASED
The Vancouver Canucks’ American Hockey League team, the Chicago Wolves, released former Sea Dogs netminder Karel St. Laurent earlier this week.
                                                
St. Laurent was a free agent invite at Canucks rookie camp and then advanced to main camp. Vancouver later assigned him to the AHL ranks.

St. Laurent started last season with the Sea Dogs, going 4-1-0 with a 2.95 goals against average and a 0.901 save percentage. He then joined the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles after the Dogs picked up Jacob DeSerres.

Looking at St. Laurent’s Twitter, it appears he’s getting a tryout or something with the ECHL’s Reading Royals.

UNB TRIED TO GET KIRKY
University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds head coach Gardiner MacDougall told the Daily Gleaner on Thursday that they tried hard to land former Sea Dogs forward Michael Kirkpatrick. The all-time Saint John leading scorer joined St. FX earlier this week after being cut by the St. John’s Ice Caps.

"We were right down to the bitter end (for Kirkpatrick) but that's the way it goes,” MacDougall said. “Good players are going to have different teams after them. Not only is Kirkpatrick skilled, he's a proven winner. He's going to a team that's been very, very close. I'm sure he'll be a key cog for them.”

"When Gardiner first called, I was sitting right beside Kirky in the airport," UNB captain Kyle Bailey, who was also cut by the Ice Caps, said. "I was kind of giving him the UNB sales pitch when Gardiner's call came in. I told coach I thought it was pretty cut and dry that he'd be going to X. I didn't have anything bad to say about St. FX. They're a good team and a good program and he's a good player.”

UNB and St. FX, who have developed quite a rivalry over the past few seasons, meet next Friday at 7pm at the Aitken Centre in the opening game of the regular season for both clubs.

BOUTET SUSPENDED
The Rimouski Oceanic will be without defenseman Eitienne Boutet when they visit Harbour Station tomorrow. The QMJHL suspended Boutet five games following a hit-to-the-head on Moncton Wildcat Thomas Flynn last weekend.

Here is the video courtesy of HockeyFights.com:


Boutet has a goal and two assists in five games this season.

IIHF ON THE DOGS
Lucus Aykroyd of the International Ice Hockey Federation visited Harbour Station a couple of weeks ago. He wrote an unreal article on the Sea Dogs and the Saint John hockey scene, an article that appeared on the front page of the IIHF website on Wednesday.
The Sea Dogs are a ray of light in Canada’s oldest city, whose image since its 1785 founding has centered on fishing boats navigating through dense fog, surrounded by whales and lobsters.
Be sure to check it out here.

RIPPING THE TOP 10
Also apparently ignored by the select group is the fact that the defending Memorial Cup champion has almost all the key players from the championship back now along with some key additions.  
After being in first place almost all of last season including the first two this season (despite losing the first three games on the team’s schedule.  
Obviously this group cares nothing about it’s credibility. 
The Sea Dogs slipped all the way to sixth in the CHL Top 10, ending a streak of 17 straight weeks at No. 1.

HIGHLIGHTS
If you are interested in viewing highlights from Saint John’s 7-0 loss in Victoriaville last Saturday, here you go.



Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Twitter, Marc Henwood/Station Nation

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