Pre-Season Game Day 1: vs Wildcats

FREDERICTON - The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League pre-season begins tonight for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs host the Moncton Wildcats at 7 p.m. at Fredericton's Aitken Centre. It's the first of eight pre-season games for the Sea Dogs. All four of the team's home matches will be played at the Aitken Centre.

If it feels like just yesterday that the Sea Dogs were playing... well they sort of were. The team has had less than two months off since lifting the Memorial Cup on home ice on June 29.

This is the beginning of a rebuild for the Sea Dogs with much of last season's team either traded or moving on to professional hockey. But with so many roster spots available, it does make for an interesting training camp and pre-season. Saint John's exhibition contests should be fairly intense with so many players having legitimate shots of making the squad.

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/None/None

Pre-Season Records: This is the first game of the pre-season for both clubs.

2021-22 records: The Sea Dogs finished with a record of 47-17-1-3 for 98 points (second Maritimes/third Eastern/third QMJHL) while the Wildcats went 28-31-6-3 for 65 points (fifth Maritimes/seventh Eastern/12th QMJHL). Both teams were eliminated in the opening round of the QMJHL playoffs. Saint John went on to win the Memorial Cup as the host team.

Last games: The Sea Dogs last played on June 29, defeating the Hamilton Bulldogs 6-3 in the Memorial Cup final at TD Station. Vincent Sevigny, Cam MacDonald, Riley Bezeau, William Dufour, Josh Lawrence and Peter Reynolds all scored for Saint John. Nikolas Hurtubise made 25 saves in the win. The Wildcats last played on May 9, falling 5-0 in Game 3 of the first round to the Charlottetown Islanders. Jonathan Lemieux made 37 saves in the loss.

2021-22 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs went 7-2-0-0 against the Wildcats last season while Moncton went 2-7-0-0 against Saint John.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Wildcats: None (defenseman Natan Grenier is a former Sea Dogs draft pick but never appeared in a game).

Random stat: The Sea Dogs played three games at the Aitken Centre during last year's pre-season, going 2-0-1-0.

Notes: Saint John's training camp roster can be found here... Moncton's camp roster can be found here. The Wildcats have mostly rookies in camp this week... Moncton's top pick in the 2022 QMJHL Entry Draft was defenseman Adam Fortier-Gendron, who went 14th overall... Saint John's top pick in 2022 was Moncton Flyers defenseman Jeremie Richard, who went in the third-round, 37th overall... this will be Travis Crickard's first somewhat-real-game since being named Sea Dogs head coach.

Out of town:
Acadie-Bathurst at Cape Breton - 7:00 PM ADT

Rouyn-Noranda at Val-d'Or - 6:00 PM EDT

Sherbrooke at Victoriaville - 7:00 PM EDT

Next game: The Sea Dogs and Wildcats meet again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Dieppe's UNIplex.