Some Leap Day news & notes

Eduardo Ibarra/Saint Mary's Huskies

HALIFAX - It'll be an all-New Brunswick affair in the Atlantic University Sport men's hockey championship.

The best-of-three series will feature the undefeated UNB Reds going up against the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus. The series begins on Saturday in Fredericton.

The Reds, who went 30-0 in the regular season and swept the Saint Mary's Huskies in their lone playoff series, feature former Saint John Sea Dogs Kale McCallum and Nick Blagden. The Reds are, of course, coached by Gardiner MacDougall, who led the Sea Dogs to the 2022 Memorial Cup championship.

UdeM finished second in the AUS standings but were 25 points back of UNB with a 16-11-3-0 record. They swept StFX in their lone playoff series. The Aigles Bleus feature former Sea Dogs forward Jeremie Jacob.

Both teams have automatically qualified for this year's University Cup, which will be held March 14-17 in Toronto.

The teams for the 2024 University Cup in Toronto are set!

- UNB Reds
- Moncton Aigles-Bleus
- UQTR Patriotes
- McGill Redbirds
- TMU Bold
- Brock Badgers
- Calgary Dinos
- UBC Thunderbirds

Conference winners will be seeded 1-3.

Puck drop March 14 on @cbcsports pic.twitter.com/PVg1411z20

— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) February 28, 2024

A few other things...

• It's Feb. 29, a day the Sea Dogs have played only once on in franchise history. Just a couple weeks before the COVID shutdown in 2020, the Sea Dogs defeated the Cape Breton Eagles 5-4 on Leap Day at TD Station.
• The Baie-Comeau Drakkar, who will take on the Sea Dogs on Friday at TD Station, are ranked No. 1 in this week's CHL Top 10 rankings.
• With six home games remaining, the Sea Dogs are averaging 2,747 fans per game. A disappointing number no doubt, but a big final few games could still get them at or above last year's mark of 2,957.
• QMJHL Central Scouting has unveiled its second rankings for this year's QMJHL Entry Draft, which will take place June 7-8 at Moncton's Avenir Centre. The list of 90 players are projected to be picked in the first five rounds.
• 20-year-old defenseman Artem Grushnikov, the prospect involved in Wednesday's Chris Tavev deal between Calgary and Dallas, played with the Hamilton Bulldogs at the 2022 Memorial Cup in Saint John.
• Via HockeyFights.com, here's the fight between Reid Calder and Lukas Landry last Saturday in Drummondville.