Saturday, February 5, 2022

Notebook: Hurtubise impressive in debut

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
Nikolas Hurtubise did something on Friday night that hadn't been done by a Saint John Sea Dogs goaltender in over two years: record a shutout.

That long length of time is a little misleading given how few games the Sea Dogs have played over the past two years compared to normal times. But still - that's a long time.

The last Sea Dogs shutout was recorded by Zachary Bouthillier, who made 32 saves in a 3-0 home win over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Jan. 12, 2020. Bouthillier had two shutouts during the 2019-20 season that ended abruptly due to COVID.

Hurtubise wasn't tested a ton on Friday, facing only 17 shots. But he was sharp when he had to be and made a few very nice saves.

Friday's contest began a stretch of five games in eight days for the Sea Dogs. We'll likely see Thomas Couture in action soon with Noah Patenaude still out with an injury suffered in December.

FAMILIAR FACES
It looks like Christopher Inniss could make his Chicoutimi Sagueneens debut on Wednesday against the Sea Dogs.

The overage defenseman was placed on waivers by Saint John at the trade deadline and was picked up by the Sags. Inniss was handed a two-game suspension for high sticking in Saint John's last regular season game on Dec. 18, a suspension that will presumably be served this weekend when the Sags host the Halifax Mooseheads and Charlottetown Islanders.

After this weekend's pair of games, Chicoutimi's next contest is on Wednesday against the Sea Dogs.

Inniss is just one of a few former Sea Dogs that Saint John will see in their first five games of the restart. They'll also be seeing Evgeny Sapelnikov (Baie-Comeau) and Alex Drover (Rimouski).

LONG TIME NO SEE
Folks, these are crazy times we live in.

  • Last time the Armada visited Saint John (before Friday): Dec. 1, 2019
  • Last time the Oceanic visited Saint John: Oct. 31, 2019
  • Last time the Sea Dogs visited Baie-Comeau: Feb. 1, 2020
  • Last time the Sea Dogs visited Chicoutimi: Jan. 31, 2020
  • Last time the Sea Dogs visited Rimouski: Jan. 28, 2020

POWER RANKINGS
Stephane Leroux of RDS has moved the Sea Dogs all the way up to No. 2 in his latest QMJHL power rankings. Only the Charlottetown Islanders were ranked higher.

Rounding out the top five are Sherbrooke, Shawinigan and Quebec.

FARM TEAM
The Calgary Sun has a story on how the Sea Dogs are basically a Calgary Flames farm team these days.

“You don’t see that too often — three prospects from the same organization playing junior together,” Jeremie Poirier told the Sun. “It’s pretty special, and I think it’s good for all of us. We can talk to each other and support each other, whether it’s good times or bad times.”

Along with Poirier, Ryan Francis and Yan Kuznetsov in Saint John, the Flames also have prospects in Bathurst (Cole Huckins) and Halifax (Cameron Whynot).

NHL STAR OF THE MONTH
Jonathan Huberdeau has been recognized for his ridiculous month of January.
Huberdeau was also a guest on Agent Provocateur this week, a podcast co-hosted by his agent Allan Walsh.


MHL RETURNS
The Maritime Junior Hockey League was set to return to action on Feb. 3 with the Amherst Ramblers taking on the Fredericton Red Wings. That game, and Saturday games, were postponed by weather. It looks like the league will now return to action on Sunday in Campbellton.

From the league last week:

As previously announced, the schedule has moved from 52 games to 42 due to the time available.

A number of games in the first two weeks of February are already shown as being postponed. This is due to the extension of COVID-19 restrictions in Nova Scotia to February 14th and the inability, at this time, to play games in that province. Announcements will be made when these games are rescheduled.

The MHL will continue discussions with Public Health officials in all three Maritime provinces in the days and weeks ahead.

Like the QMJHL, the MHL has not played a game since Dec. 18. The league's schedule is currently planned to end on March 20.

SUMMER WJC
It's still looking like we'll see a World Junior Hockey Championship at some point this year.
Cool (but actually... warm?).

COVID PROTOCOL
Some unfortunate news out of Victoriaville - but also a reminder that we are likely in for some turbulence around the QMJHL in the months ahead.
OTHER THINGS
  • On TSN's Insider Trading, Darren Dreger reported that the Memorial Cup can't/won't be played later than June. Dreger also reports that the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game should be rescheduled for later this month in Kitchener.
  • Speaking of TSN, the CHL broadcast schedule on the TSN website says that the network will be airing games three, four and five of all three CHL league finals.
  • Le Journal de Montreal writes about the QMJHL's schedule and how it's going to be jammed full in order to get all 68 games in.
  • Former Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant earned his 300th NHL victory on Tuesday.
  • As expected, U Sports has pushed back its men's hockey championship. The event, hosted by Acadia University, will now take place March 31 - April 3 in Halifax.
  • The NHL's Arizona Coyotes potentially playing in a 5,000-seat university arena while they wait for a new rink has gotten plenty of attention. What's gotten much less attention is an oddly similar situation in the WHL (although on a much smaller scale). The Winnipeg Ice have been playing at a 1,400-seat arena on the University of Manitoba campus since moving to the city in 2019. The original plan was to build a larger arena within a couple years of the move. Those plans have since fallen through and the Winnipeg Free Press reported in November that the team is looking at other options. The team intends to stay in Winnipeg, though.
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