Friday, September 20, 2019

Game Day 1: vs Mooseheads

SAINT JOHN - Hockey is officially back.

The Saint John Sea Dogs kick off the 2019-20 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season tonight, hosting the Halifax Mooseheads at TD Station. Game time is 7 p.m.

The Sea Dogs should take some steps forward this season (hopefully some big steps) while the Mooseheads will likely take a step back from where they were a year ago, reaching both the President Cup and Memorial Cup finals.

This is the third straight season and fourth time in five years that the Sea Dogs and Mooseheads have opened up regular season play in Saint John.

TV/Radio/Webcast: Rogers TV/Sea Dogs Radio/QMJHL Live

Records: This is the first game of the regular season for both clubs. Last season, the Sea Dogs finished ninth overall in the Eastern Conference with a record of 13-49-2-4 for 32 points while the Mooseheads finished first with a record of 49-15-2-2 for 102 points.

Last games: Saint John's final pre-season game was this past Saturday in Fredericton where they fell 3-2 to the Cape Breton Eagles. Brady Burns and Dawson Stairs scored for Saint John. Zachary Bouthillier made 28 stops in the loss. Halifax's final pre-season contest was last Friday where the team fell 4-3 to the Moncton Wildcats. Senna Peeters scored twice while Marcel Barinka added a solo marker. Cole McLaren made 27 saves in the win.

2018-19 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 0-6-1-1 against the Mooseheads last season while Halifax finished 8-0-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: The Sea Dogs and Mooseheads met on Aug. 23 in a pre-season game in St. Stephen. Halifax won the match 4-2 thanks to goals from Senna Peeters, Seva Losev, Samuel Dube and Said Abi-Faycal. Saint John had goals from Nicolas Guay and Jeremie Poirier.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Mooseheads: None.

Moosehead to watch: Import Senna Peeters recorded six goals and two assists in five pre-season games. Three of those six goals came against Saint John.

Random stat: Alexis Gravel should get the start in net for Halifax tonight. He only played three of the eight games against Saint John last season, picking up three wins and allowing a total of seven goals on 78 shots.

Notes: Dawson Stairs and Josh Lawrence led Saint John in pre-season scoring with five points each... Stairs and Brady Burns led the team in goals with three... Lawrence had a team high four assists... Senna Peeters and Marcel Barinka led the Mooseheads in pre-season scoring with eight points each... Peeters had a team high six goals... Barinka led the team in assists with seven... Maxim Cajkovic was the last Sea Dog attending an NHL camp and is expected to play tonight... Benoit-Olivier Groulx is the only Moosehead still attending an NHL camp.

Out of town:
Cape Breton at Acadie-Bathurst - 7:00 PM AST
Moncton at Charlottetown - 7:30 PM AST
Chicoutimi at Sherbrooke - 7:00 PM EST
Blainville-Boisbriand at Val-d'Or - 7:00 PM EST
Québec at Victoriaville - 7:00 PM EST
Rimouski at Baie-Comeau - 7:30 PM EST
Gatineau at Drummondville - 7:30 PM EST

Next game: The Sea Dogs take on the Wildcats tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at TD Station.

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