The Saint John Sea Dogs resume pre-season play this weekend as the grind of the junior hockey campaign officially gets going. This past weekend was the team's last without game action until the Christmas break.
Saint John has three pre-season games remaining before the regular season begins on Friday, Sept. 20. This Friday the team travels to Port Hawkesbury to take on the Cape Breton Eagles before hosting the Charlottetown Islanders on Sunday afternoon at TD Station.
Tickets to the Sunday game went on sale earlier this week. It's Saint John's only pre-season game at TD Station.
The Sea Dogs end the pre-season on Saturday, Sept. 14 in Tyne Valley, PEI taking on the Islanders for a fourth and final time.
The Dogs were 3-0 in the first half of the pre-season schedule, outscoring opponents 15-5. They defeated the Islanders twice and the Eagles once. Their last game action was Aug. 24 in Fredericton where they beat Cape Breton 6-3.
Most teams have trimmed their rosters down to a point where they will start the year with the group they have now. The Sea Dogs reduced their roster to 25 players on Aug. 27 but have since added forward Ben Cross off waivers from the Rimouski Oceanic while forward/defenseman Jeremie Richard will be returning to the Maritime Hockey League's Amherst Ramblers.
This weekend will likely be the Sea Dogs debut of overage goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel, who the team acquired on Aug. 25.
The Sea Dogs will have three players attending NHL camps in the coming weeks – forward Eriks Mateiko (Washington Capitals), firward Tyler Peddle (Columbus Blue Jackets) and defenseman Matteo Mann (Philadelphia Flyers) – meaning some corresponding moves may need to be made to fill those gaps.
Following the last round of cuts, Saint John still has 10 defensemen on their roster.
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