Quick Hits: Sea Dogs locked into No. 3 seed in Eastern Conference

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs are now locked into third-place in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Eastern Conference.

With three games remaining in their regular season schedule, the most points the Sea Dogs can finish with is 98. That means they won't be able to catch the Quebec Remparts (100 points) or Charlottetown Islanders (99 points).

The Sea Dogs also can't be caught by the fourth-place Acadie-Bathurst Titan who have struggled (and limped) down the stretch.

Finishing third means the Sea Dogs will play the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference in the first round. Right now that would be the Rimouski Oceanic who have 75 points with two games remaining. The Oceanic could still catch the fifth-place Halifax Mooseheads who have 76 points with one game remaining.

The Sea Dogs were 1-1-0-0 against the Oceanic this season and 6-2-0-0 against the Mooseheads.

A few other notes...

• Sherbrooke's Joshua Roy now leads the QMJHL in points with 113 while William Dufour is second with 112. Both have three games remaining in the regular season.
• Charlottetown's Patrick Guay has tied Dufour for the league lead in goals with 53. Guay and the Islanders have two games remaining.
• The Mooseheads are playing some of their best hockey of the season right now, winning their sixth straight game Tuesday night in Moncton. They are 8-2 in their last 10 games. The Moose have one game remaining in the regular season: a visit to last-place Cape Breton on Sunday.
• Only two QMJHL teams - the Charlottetown Islanders and Quebec Remparts - made the year-end CHL Top 10 rankings, which appears to summarize the year's rankings. The Winnipeg Ice were ranked first.
• Former Sea Dogs forward Alex Drover played in his first game with the Rimouski Oceanic since March 8 on Wednesday. Drover scored his 12th goal of the season in his return from injury.
• Former Sea Dogs head coach Josh Dixon and the Prince George Cougars have been eliminated from the WHL playoffs. The Cougars were swept by the favoured Portland Winterhawks, dropping Game 4 by score of 2-1 on Wednesday. Dixon is an associate coach with the Cougars.
• On TSN's Insider Trading, Chris Johnston reported that an announcement on which Canadian city/cities will host the 2023 World Junior Hockey Championship will be made soon. "We're going to know soon," said Johnston. "There's already been some talks it's going to be Halifax and Moncton, that they're the favourites among the five bids. Hockey Canada has not made a final decision."
• This may already be out there, but Canada's schedule for this summer's world juniors in Edmonton will see the team play Latvia (Aug. 10), Slovakia (Aug. 11), Czechia (Aug. 13) and Finland (Aug. 15). The quarterfinal (Aug. 17), semifinal (Aug. 19) and bronze/gold medal (Aug. 20) matches will take place afterwards.
• As noted by Le Droit's JF Plante, former Sea Dogs goaltender Charlie Millen is now a linesman in the OHL. Millen appeared in three games with Saint John during the 2011-12 season. According to his LinkedIn, Millen also works AHL games and Hockey Canada sanctioned matches.
• The school formerly known as Ryerson University will have a new name for its sports teams this coming season, reports Ben Steiner. The school, now known as Toronto Metropolitan University, will no longer be the home of the Rams.
• The OHL's Ottawa 67's could have a new home in the coming years. The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, who own the 67's, unveiled proposed plans to build a new 5,500-seat arena that would be ready for the 2024-25 season. The 67's current home, located underneath one of the football grandstands, has been dying a slow death for some time.