As announced during alumni weekend and made official this week, both
Mike Thomas and Stephen Anderson will join the V-Reds for the upcoming season.
According to UNB, Thomas will start playing in the second half “after completing
his academic requirements.”
Thomas, who played five seasons with
Saint John from 2006 to 2011 and captained the team to a Memorial Cup
championship, played with UNB during the 2013-14 season and recorded six goals,
two assists and 111 penalty minutes in 25 games. He returns to the club after
attending firefighting school last year.
"Michael is a proven winner and a
top character leader who will add an exciting physical dimension to our hockey
club,” said head coach Gardiner MacDougall. “He is very popular in the
community and will be a key addition for the second half.”
Anderson spent parts of three seasons
with the Sea Dogs. He was traded prior to last season and split the 2014-15
campaign with the Val-d’Or Foreurs and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.
"We've always had a lot of success
with players from PEI, and we expect Stephen to continue the tradition," said
MacDougall. "Stephen has lots of speed and grit and his versatility will
allow him to play all three forward positions. We see a big upside for his
development and growth here at UNB."
Also recruited by UNB this season were
QMJHL goaltenders Alex Dubeau and Etienne Marcoux.
HOW GOOD WILL THE DOGS BE?
If you are looking to get excited about
the upcoming season, check out Willy Palov’s weekly column in the Chronicle Herald.
Palov writes that the Sea Dogs might be
just as good – or even better than – the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and
Charlottetown Islanders, who are both built to be strong this year.
“(Saint John’s) defence is about as good
as it gets, their forward depth may be the best in the league and they have an
underrated overager in goal,” writes Palov. “Not only that, but proven champion
Danny Flynn is now on their bench. They will make noise.”
A fun season is ahead.
PRE-SEASON STATS
Pre-season numbers don’t mean much… but
lets look at some anyway! That’s what we do.
The Sea Dogs finished exhibition play
with a 3-3-0-0 record, scoring 21 goals and registering a +2 goal differential.
The Dogs were 2-1-0-0 on home ice and 1-2-0-0 on the road.
Matthew Highmore and Sam Povorozniouk
led the team in points with five each. Those two, along with Adam Marsh,
all had three goals, which led the team. Meanwhile, Nathan Noel’s four assists
were a team high.
Underager Joe Veleno had a productive
introduction to the league, recording two goals and two assists in four games
to finish third in team scoring.
Forward Matt Green was the only played
to appear in all six pre-season games.
GOOD CROWDS
The Sea Dogs always seem to have solid
pre-season crowds in comparison to other markets - and this season was no
different.
The official attendance for all three Sea
Dogs exhibition home games was over 2,000. There were definitely fewer people
in the building than what the official attendance mark stated, but the crowds
were still good for pre-season hockey.
Saint John’s average attendance was
3,504.
BLIGHT LANDS IN TRURO
Former Sea Dogs defenseman and overager
Braydon Blight as joined the MHL’s Truro Bearcats for the 2015-16 season.
“Any time you can bring in a big
defenceman with major junior experience, that’s a major addition,” said Bearcat
Jacob Fancy to the Truro Daily News. “It’s indescribable how much that brings
to your club.”
The Sea Dogs added Blight as a free
agent last season. In 37 games, the Clinton, Ontario native registered three
goals and five assists.
ACES CAMP BEGINS
The St. Stephen County Aces get their training camp rolling today with a couple practices and a 7 p.m. scrimmage.
There are quite a few notable names on
the Aces training camp roster, including Michael Veleno, Cody Grant,
Ben Reid and Mitchell Arseneau. Goaltender Kyle Porter is also back in St.
Stephen.
The Aces play their first game of the
MHL pre-season on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. against the Summerside Western
Capitals.
Former Sea Dogs defenseman
Charles-Olivier Roussel has signed with the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals. The Ads
are affiliated with the Edmonton Oilers.
Roussel, a second round pick of the
Nashville Predators in the 2009 NHL Draft, played with Saint John during the
2011-12 season and helped the Dogs win a President Cup. In 58 regular season
games he scored 13 goals and added 27 assists. He had another three goals and
12 assists in 17 playoff games.
The 23-year-old has bounced between the
AHL and ECHL during his pro career. He even played 11 games in the LNAH last
season.
The Admirals are coached by Shawinigan
Cataractes legend Eric Veilleux – who coached Roussel for a few seasons in the
QMJHL.
BEAULIEU INTERVIEW
Here’s a Nathan Beaulieu interview from
alumni weekend:
Photos: Marc Henwood/Station Nation; Marc Henwood/Station Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment