Home woes and Halifax success

Trevor MacMillan/Halifax Mooseheads

There are a couple trends to keep an eye on in the Saint John Sea Dogs' final two games of the first half.

The first one is obvious: the Sea Dogs have been, to put it nicely, pretty bad on home ice so far this season. The team is just 5-10-0-0 at TD Station and only two teams have fewer home wins: 16th-place Victoriaville (1-8-4-0) and 18th-place Baie-Comeau (3-11-1-1).

If the Sea Dogs want to get out of the league's basement – they currently sit in 17th-place – improving their home record is a must.

The Sea Dogs enter Wednesday night's home game against the Halifax Mooseheads on a five-game home losing streak. The team won just two games on their seven-game homestand in November.

Saint John was 10-7-0-0 at TD Station in the first half last year.

The good news for the Sea Dogs is that they've been quite good on the road this season, posting a very respectable 7-7-1-0 record. The team won two of three games on their Quebec road trip last week and we'll see what kind of momentum they can carry into Thursday's contest in Halifax.

That brings us to the second trend to keep an eye on: the Sea Dogs have been very good at Scotiabank Centre in the calendar year 2025, sporting a 4-1 record heading into Thursday's contest.

Jan. 11: 4-3 OTW

Jan. 26: 4-1 W

March 8: 3-1 W

Sept. 26: 4-3 L

Sept. 27: 5-2 W

Dec. 18: TBD

The Sea Dogs are 8-9-1-0 in Halifax over the past five seasons.

The Mooseheads sit sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 15-12-1-1 record. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games and have lost back-to-back contests.

A few other news and notes...

• Saint John has a -19 goal differential at home. One the road that differential is only a -3.
• It's the final week of the first half and this will be the Mooseheads' first trip to Saint John this season. They travel to TD Station three times in the second half.
• The Mooseheads made a trade on Monday, acquiring the rights to overage forward Samuel Rousseau from the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Rousseau had been playing with the BCHL's Victoria Grizzlies, meaning he'll need Hockey Canada approval to return to the QMJHL. The Moose had only been carrying only one overager.
• Bit of an unusual end to the QMJHL's pre-Christmas schedule with all 18 teams playing on Wednesday and Thursday rather than on a weekend.
• The Moncton Wildcats and Chicoutimi Sagueneens enter this week in a tie for first overall. They sit five points ahead of third-place Blainville-Boisbriand.
• The Wildcats have won six straight games but will (likely) play the next few weeks without captain Caleb Desnoyers and head coach Gardiner MacDougall due to the world juniors.
• A reminder that the QMJHL's trade period begins Friday and ends on Jan. 6.