Thursday, May 17, 2012

Sea Dogs Notebook


PREVIEW

“The Sea Dogs have been on a huge roll for the past three seasons and come into the Memorial Cup as the defending champions and favourites to win it all once again,” writes Aaron Bell. “They have lots of depth - especially up front - and the experience to give them a head start in the quick tournament.”

NOVA SCOTIA
As Willy Palov writes in Wednesday’s Chronicle Herald, the Sea Dogs have a few Nova Scotia born players on their squad.

“It’s a little different than last year,” said Stephen MacAulay. “We have the same group of core guys but we added a few new guys so our makeup’s a bit different. It’s still the exact same feeling. After we won that last game against Rimouski (to win the QMJHL title), you couldn’t really put into words how good it felt. Even though we were expected to win and we had such a great record in the playoffs, it’s still an unbelievable feeling.”

Devon Oliver-Dares also talks about all the bad luck he has had health wise this season.

BEAULIEU
Here is the first of many Nathan Beaulieu-grew-up-a-London-Knights-fan story you’ll be hearing about all week.  The first comes from the London Free Press.

"It means a lot because it's my hometown team," Beaulieu said. "I grew up with the Knights and it's going to be special to play them because there are still a lot of people in that organization who are like family to me.”

Beaulieu’s father Jacques, of course, is a former Knights assistant coach and Sea Dogs head coach/general manager. He’s currently with the Sarnia Sting in the OHL.

TPS
On The Pipeline Show on Tuesday night, Gerard Gallant was a guest on the program as they setup the Memorial Cup. All four head coaches and Sam Cosentino were guests on the program. It’s worth a listen.

PANTHERS
Kris Eberwein has an article up on Yahoo! about Jonathan Huberdeau and the Florida Panthers.

“Huberdeau almost made the Panthers team for the 2011-12 season,” he writes. “He put on a great show at the Panthers' training camp which must have made it very difficult for the front office to send him back to Canada. In the grand scheme of things there is no reason to rush the kid along but at the same time there's no reason to have a potential all-star playing in the Q either.”

CONFIDENT
Got news for you: the Sea Dogs are feeling confident heading into this year’s tournament as the Canadian Press explains. Head coach Gerard Gallant feels his team is entering the Memorial Cup on a solid note following that 8-0 win in Rimouski last Thursday.

"That was the best I've seen us play this year," Gallant said. "I'm really happy with the way we've played lately and that's a good sign going into the Memorial Cup, where you know you're going to face really good competition."

POLLING
Sportsnet has a bunch of polls up on their website. Some of the questions include how many points Jonathan Huberdeau will record, how many games Shawinigan will win, who will win it all, and more.

BEST IN AWHILE
Solid article from Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press, via the Toronto Sun, about this year’s tournament appearing to be the best since 2005.

“There isn't a Sidney Crosby-like talent to track this go-round -- you'll have to make do with Florida's third overall pick, Jonathan Huberdeau of the Saint John Sea Dogs, once again -- but there are zero pretenders here,” writes Pyette.

Saint John’s motivating factor: the lost Memorial Cup bid.

STATS
The QMJHL has done great job putting together this stats package featuring all four Memorial Cup teams. Be sure to check that out.

THE UNKNOWN
Via the Ottawa Citizen, John MacKinnon of Postmedia News writes about the unknown at the Memorial Cup. He’s bang on with his opening paragraph.

“Here’s the deal with the Memorial Cup: Every team knows a little bit about their opponents, just not enough to mar the mystique of the national major junior hockey championship,” writes MacKinnon.

Also unknown: what Nick Kypreos will say.

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