PRE-SEASON GAME DAY 1: vs Titan

A preview of tonight’s game between the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Saint John Sea Dogs…

When and where: Tonight at 7 p.m., Harbour Station

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/None/None (follow @station_nation on Twitter for updates)

Records: This is the first pre-season game of the year for both clubs. Last season, the Sea Dogs finished third in the Maritimes Division and 10^th overall in the league with a 32-26-4-6 record for 74 points. The Titan finished last in the Maritimes and last overall with a record of 17-43-6-2 for 42 points.

Last games: Saint John’s last game was on April 4 at Harbour Station where the Baie-Comeau Drakkar defeated the Sea Dogs 7-4, winning the first round playoff series 4-1. Nathan Noel had a hat trick in the game while Mark Tremaine added a single. Sebastien Auger made 38 saves in the loss. Bathurst’s last game was on March 21 at Centre 200 where they lost 3-2 in overtime to the Screaming Eagles. Mark Trickett and Campbell Pickard had Titan goals while Daniel Vautour made 36 saves in the loss.

2014-15 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 5-2-1-1 against the Titan last season while Bathurst went 4-5-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: March 6 at the KC Irving Regional Centre where the Sea Dogs edged the Titan 2-1. Luke Green and Mark Tremaine had Saint John goals while Campbell Pickard replied for Bathurst. Sebastien Auger made 28 saves in the win and Reilly Pickard made 26 in the loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Titan: None

Random stat: Saint John’s four leading scorers against Bathurst last season – Spencer Smallman, Luke Green, Nathan Noel and Daniel Dl Paggio – are all back with the Dogs this year.

A-B notes: Mark Simpson led the Titan in scoring last season with 17 goals and 45 points in 54 games… the Titan finished last in the standings in 2014-15 but lost the coin toss for the first overall pick to the Sea Dogs… with the second overall pick, Bathurst picked forward Antoine Morand… with the first overall pick in the 2015 CHL Import Draft, Bathurst picked forward Vladimir Kuznetsov… Jordan Maher finished fifth in rookie power play goal scoring last season with seven… the Titan had the league’s worst power play and penalty kill last season.

SJ notes: Saint John’s five leading scorers from last season – Nathan Noel, Spencer Smallman, Adam Marsh, Mathieu Joseph and Thomas Chabot – are all back this season… Noel led Saint John in scoring last season with 24 goals and 62 points in 66 games… Marsh finished 10^th in rookie scoring last season with 44 points in 60 games… Saint John has three first round picks from this summer’s draft at camp – Joe Veleno, Alex D’Orio and Cedric Pare… the Sea Dogs’ top pick in the Import Draft, Oliver Felixson, has not arrived at camp yet… tickets are free of charge for tonight’s game. Should be a good sized crowd for a Thursday night pre-season game.

Out of town:

Victoriaville vs Shawinigan – 8 p.m.

Next game: The Sea Dogs travel to Pownal, PEI to face the Charlottetown Islanders on Saturday at 4 p.m.