Will Sea Dogs finally celebrate at home?

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs will look to do something they've never done before on Wednesday: win a championship on home ice.

The Sea Dogs have won three President Cup titles and one Memorial Cup championship, all of which were clinched on the road. Only once has the team even had the opportunity to raise a trophy on home ice: Game 5 of the 2011 President Cup final, which the Sea Dogs dropped 3-2 before winning the series in six games.

A few other things to think to about it...

• Raising the Memorial Cup on home ice has proven to be difficult in recent years. Since 2000, the host team has appeared in the final 11 times but won only five times.
• This is the fourth straight tournament that the host team has advanced to the final. Halifax (2019) and Regina (2018) both lost while Windsor (2017) was victorious. Like the Sea Dogs, those three host teams did not win their league championship (the Mooseheads lost in the final).
• The Sea Dogs will look to become the third straight QMJHL team to win the Memorial Cup, joining Rouyn-Noranda (2019) and Bathurst (2018).
• The Bulldogs will be looking to win their first Memorial Cup championship. The city of Hamilton does have a couple previous champions though, most recently the Hamilton Fincups (now the Erie Otters) in 1976.
• Sea Dogs head coach Gardiner MacDougall has led the UNB Reds into 10 University Cup championship games, winning seven. That includes a 2-1 record when the championship game was played on home ice.
• The Sea Dogs are 1-2 all-time in must-win games at the Memorial Cup, winning the 2011 final before losing in the semifinals in both 2012 and 2017. This Sea Dogs group, of course, dropped a must-win game earlier this year when they lost Game 5 of the opening round to the Rimouski Oceanic.
• Saint John also had a bye to the final in 2011. That year, they defeated the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors in the opening game of the tournament and did so again in the championship game.
• The Sea Dogs are 4-4 all-time against teams from the OHL at the Memorial Cup. Saint John's 5-3 win over the Bulldogs in the tournament opener ended a four-game losing streak against OHL clubs.