Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Notebook: Sea Dogs return to home ice

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
The Saint John Sea Dogs are back home.

After playing five straight games on the road, the Sea Dogs return to TD Station ice on Wednesday night, hosting the Moncton Wildcats in an intriguing matchup. Saint John, despite losing back-to-back games, has been playing well in recent weeks while Moncton has been heading in the opposite direction, dropping six straight and going 1-9-0-0 in their last 10 games.

The Sea Dogs will quickly return to the road and travel to Charlottetown for a 7:30 p.m. matchup with the Islanders on Friday.

Following Friday's match, the Sea Dogs will play four straight at home, including a Sunday afternoon contest against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Note that this is the makeup game for Saint John's postponed Sept. 24 home opener. Also note that this is a 2 p.m. start on Super Bowl Sunday.

STANDINGS UPDATE
It's looking like every game will matter for the Sea Dogs down the stretch.

Heading into action Wednesday, the Sea Dogs have 36 points, placing them three points back of the final playoff spot. The top-16 teams in the QMJHL's overall standings qualify for the post-season.
As mentioned in a previous post, the Sea Dogs have plenty of matchups remaining against the Titan, Islanders and Cape Breton Eagles, so this could be a fun finish.

BURNS WATCH
It was a quiet road trip for Saint John's leading scorer.

Brady Burns recorded just one assist during the team's three-game Quebec road trip last week. This comes after being held pointless in just two games in all of January.

With 20 regular season games remaining, Burns sits at 108 career goals, tying him with Michael Kirkpatrick for the franchise lead. Burns also has 236 career points, placing him 21 points behind Jonathan Huberdeau's franchise record of 257.

WATER DAMAGE
Like many businesses and homes in the Maritimes, it looks like TD Station suffered some damage during last weekend's extreme cold.
HURTUBISE UPDATE
Nikolas Hurtubise has appeared in three games so far with his new club.

The former Sea Dogs netminder is now 2-1 with the QJHL's Terrebonne Cobras to go along with a 2.67 goals against average and a .905 save percentage.

Terrebonne is now an impressive 33-4-0-0 on the year and have been ranked second in the CJHL's weekly rankings.

BU (STILL) LOVES COYLE
Charlie Coyle's departure from Boston University wasn't the most pleasant back in 2012, but the school still honours him along with their other active NHL alumni. The above picture is from the concourse of BU's home rink.

Coyle spent one-and-a-half seasons with the Terriers before leaving for Saint John in January 2012.

ROAD TO KAMLOOPS
Can the QMJHL win a fourth straight Memorial Cup championship in June? The CHL looks at the five QMJHL teams that have emerged as the leading contenders.


OTHER THINGS
  • The Sea Dogs have lost five straight home games heading into Wednesday's contest with the Moncton Wildcats.
  • The Halifax Mooseheads have earned points in 24 straight games (21-0-2-1). They have a big test on Wednesday, visiting the Gatineau Olympiques. Gatineau has won five straight games.
  • It's quite a week for the Olympiques. After Wednesday's highly anticipated contest against the Mooseheads, Gatineau will face the OHL's Ottawa 67's in the annual home-and-home series between the two geographic rivals. Ottawa currently sits first in the OHL standings, making this an even more intriguing matchup than usual.
  • The 67's confirmed Tuesday that they will play the first round of the OHL playoffs at Gatineau's Slush Puppie Centre due to a curling event occupying the 67's home rink.
  • Could the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada relocate to Trois-Rivieres' Colisee Videotron? Steve Turcotte of Le Nouvelliste debunks the rumours - for now, at least. The Armada are averaging 1,600 fans per game this season, the fourth fewest in the league.
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