SEA DOGS STILL TOP DOGS

For the eighth consecutive week, the Saint John Sea Dogs are the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League. The latest edition of the BMO CHL MasterCard Top Rankings were released this afternoon.

The Sea Dogs faced some adversity early in the week as their Thursday night match in Moncton was pushed to Friday due to a snow storm, forcing the team to play their second straight three-in-three weekend.

But Saint John was able to pull through the tough schedule with a sweep. The Dogs defeated the Wildcats 4-3 on Friday before beating the Baie-Comeau Drakkar 6-1 on Saturday night at Harbour Station and 5-2 on Sunday afternoon.

Other Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams to crack the weekly top 10 were the Montreal Juniors at No. 4, Quebec Remparts at No. 6, and the Drummondville Voltigeurs at No. 10. The Lewiston MAINEiacs were an honourable mention.

The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10 teams are selected by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.

Here are the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings for week 19:

1 Saint John Sea Dogs (41-5-1-2)
2 Mississauga St. Michael's Majors (37-8-0-2)
3 Saskatoon Blades (39-10-0-2)
4 Montreal Juniors (35-9-4-3)
5 Red Deer Rebels (35-13-1-4)
6 Quebec Remparts (36-11-1-2)
7 Niagara IceDogs (31-11-2-4)
8 Portland Winterhawks (34-15-0-3)
9 Saginaw Spirit (32-13-3-1)
10 Drummondville Voltigeurs (32-12-5-2)

Honourable Mention:
Ottawa 67's (31-15-1-1)
Kootenay Ice (33-16-1-2)
Lewiston MAINEiacs (33-16-1-2)

In the Buzzing The Net "Dynamic Dozen," the Sea Dogs sat atop the mathematically determined rankings again this week.

Looking ahead to the upcoming week, the Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tonight, travel to Moncton on Friday, and then shift to Halifax on Saturday.

PRE-GAME: Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs Saint John Sea Dogs

By Station Nation Staff

GAME DAY

WHO: Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs Saint John Sea Dogs
WHEN: Tonight, 7:00 pm
WHERE: Harbour Station

VISITING TEAM: Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Record: 33-16-0-1 (2nd in Maritime Division)
Last Game: 8-1 loss at Drummondville Saturday
Leading Scorer: Gabriel Levesque (50GP-28G-45A-73Pts)
Notes: The Acadie-Bathurst Titan enter action today with a record of 33-16-0-1 which is good for second in the Maritimes Division and sixth overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Titan face a stiff test if they want to finish atop the division as the Saint John Sea Dogs have an 18-point lead. Bathurst has 18 games remaining on their schedule… the Titan are coming off an 8-1 loss in Drummondville Saturday against the Voltigeurs. Gabriel Levesque scored Bathurst’s lone goal late in the third period in the blowout loss. Sean Couturier torched the Titan with two goals and three assists. Olivier Roy allowed four goals on 16 shots while Robert Steeves let in four on 31 shots… Bathurst is currently on a two-game losing skid after a hot stretch. They are 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games… on the road this season, the Titan are 14-10-0-1 and have outscored their opposition 79-73 in the 25 outings. They have earned 29 points on the road compared to the 38 they have gotten at the KC Irving Regional Centre… the Titan’s power play comes in ranked eighth in the league with a rating of 23.3%. On the road, they are operating at 20.4%... Bathurst’s penalty kill is something to watch for this evening. The Titan enter tonight’s game with a rating of 83.2%, good for second in the league. On the road, the squad is running at 85.6%, giving them the best road penalty kill in the QMJHL… Bathurst is averaging the third most penalty minutes per game with an average of 17… Gabriel Levesque is playing quite well this season. The centre leads the Titan in scoring and is tied for second in league scoring with 73 points… Levesque also leads the club in both goals with 28 and assists with 45… Vincent Arseneau leads the club in penalty minutes with 113… Levesque sits third among QMJHL assist leaders with 45 on the year… Jonathan Lessard has scored the fifth most power play goals in the league this year with 11… Levesque sits second in power play assists with 22… Lessard is tied with Saint John’s Zack Phillips for second in the league in game winning goals with seven… Sebastien Trudeau is tied for the league lead in first goals with seven… Zack O’Brien is technically a rookie this season. He leads the league in rookie scoring with 45 goals in 45 games… Olivier Roy will likely start in net for the Titan. The world junior silver medalist has a record of 19-11-0-0, a goals against average of 3.03, and a save percentage of 0.903… Roy is third in the league in shootout wins with three… 20-5-0-1 when scoring first… Trudeau is on an 11-game scoring streak… Levesque is on an eight game scoring streak… Garrett Clarke has taken at least a penalty minute in nine straight game.

HOME TEAM: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 41-5-1-2 (1st in Maritimes Division)
Last Game: 5-2 win vs Baie-Comeau Sunday
Leading Scorer: Jonathan Huberdeau (48GP-29G-44A-73Pts)
Notes: The Saint John Sea Dogs come into tonight’s contest with a record of 41-5-1-2 which is good for first place in the Maritimes Division and first in the entire Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Saint John has an 18-point lead in the division over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and an eight-point lead over the Montreal Junior for top spot overall… in last week’s BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings, the Sea Dogs were ranked first… the Dogs are coming off a 5-2 victory over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar Sunday afternoon at Harbour Station. Despite some nervous moments in the second period, the Sea Dogs played fairly well against one of the worst teams in the league. Tomas Jurco scored a pair while Nathan Beaulieu, Michael Kirkpatrick, and Danick Gauthier added singles…. The Sea Dogs have been hot of late, winning six straight and earning at least a point in their last 13 games. They are 9-0-1-0 in their last 10 games… Saint John continues to amaze at home as they are now 23-0-1-1 at Harbour Station this year. They have outscored their opponents by the wide margin of 125-53. They are an averaging an unreal five goals per home game… the Sea Dogs’ power play is ranked seventh in the league with a rating of 24.1%. At home, they are running at 20.7%... on the penalty kill side of things, the Dogs are ranked sixth in the QMJHL with a rating of 81.1%. At home, the team is operating at 85%, good for third among home team’s penalty kills… Saint John has been struggling with discipline over the past few games. The team has risen to 13th in the league in average penalty minutes per game with 13… Jonathan Huberdeau continues to light the league up. He now has 73 points in 48 games which ties him for second overall in league scoring… Huberdeau and Zack Phillips are tied for the team high in goals with 29 on the year… Huberdeau leads the squad in assists with 44… Alexandre Beauregard leads the team in penalty minutes with 104 on the year. Since joining Saint John, he has 24 in 13 games… Phillips sits second in power play goals scored in the league this year with 13… Phillips is also tied for second in game winning goals this season with seven… Steven Anthony is tied for second in insurance goals with five… Huberdeau is a league best +41… Michael Kirkpatrick has taken the second most dangerous shots this year with 137… goaltender Jacob DeSerres will likely get the start in net tonight. He has a record of 19-2-0-0, a goals against average of 2.23, and a save percentage of 0.918. The 20-year old has the second best GAA and save percentage in the league.

VIDEO: Phillips' goal in Moncton

This is a little old now, but Zack Phillips scored a beautiful goal against the Moncton Wildcats last Friday at the Coliseum.

From our boy Jerome of NHL Draft Video, here is the highlight reel move against Wildcats goaltender Steve Gleeson:

MEMORIAL CUP RALLY TONIGHT

SAINT JOHN – At today’s 2012 Memorial Cup Bid Rally at Brunswick Square, the Saint John Sea Dogs will introduce the “well-respected community leader who would serve as chair of the tournament.”

From a Sea Dogs release:

Wayne Long, president of the Sea Dogs, said he is looking forward to revealing the name of the tournament chair, as well as publicly unveiling the Saint John 2012 logo.

“It was key to get a strong community leader with experience in running national and international events,” Long said. “We feel we’ve got somebody to lead the charge and who has the credentials to back it up. We’ll be thrilled to introduce and announce the person at our rally.”

The rally begins at 5:30pm at the Centre Court of Brunswick Square. All fans/general public are welcome to attend and are encouraged to wear blue and/or Sea Dogs related clothing items. The rally will be filmed and later shown to the Memorial Cup selection committee when they roll into town on February 9.

Having a beautiful arena and a good team is one thing, but being able to show the selection committee that the people of Saint John will support the event will be a big boost.

The announcement of who will host the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup will not be made until spring.

Yeah, it’s snowing, but unless Brunswick Square closes, the rally is a go. If it does shut down early for the day, it will be postponed to a later date.

The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tonight at 7pm at Harbour Station. According to the team’s Facebook page, “tonight's game is 'not not' on. We're proceeding as though it will be played, unless the QMJHL decides otherwise.”

BIG STORM ROLLING IN

For the second time in less than a week, weather appears to be putting a Saint John Sea Dogs game in jeopardy.

The Sea Dogs are scheduled to host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tomorrow night at Harbour Station but there is expected to be 10-15 cm of snow following in the afternoon and carrying into the evening.

Saint John had their contest in Moncton against the Wildcats last Thursday pushed back a day due to inclement weather. If Wednesday’s match is postponed, it could be a bit more challenging to reschedule with the Saint John Mill Rats invading Harbour Station Thursday and the Sea Dogs hitting the road Friday and Saturday.

Weather has been a quite a story this season as this could potentially be the fourth postponement for the Dogs this season. It would be the first home match to fall victim to weather.

But, nothing is official as of yet and probably won’t be until tomorrow afternoon. The Sea Dogs posted this on their Twitter page earlier today:

Also taking place tomorrow evening is the 2012 Memorial Cup Bidding Rally which is scheduled to take place at the Centre Court at Brunswick Square at 5:30pm. The rally is being filmed and will later be shown to the Memorial Cup selection committee.

A Sea Dogs press release states that “in the case of extreme weather conditions forcing Brunswick Square to close, the rally would be postponed to a later date.”

Of course, if you choose the fourth option in the Sea Dogs’ online poll, getting to Brunswick Square tomorrow shouldn’t be an issue.

'Q' TEAMS STAYING PUT

It looks as though all 18-teams making up the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season will be around this time next year.

The QMJHL announced today in a release that no teams had submitted to move or sell their franchise prior to yesterday's deadline. There had been lots of rumors floating around for over a month with the biggest of them being the Lewiston MAINEiacs departing for Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Another rumor had the PEI Rocket moving to Sherbrook, Quebec. Then, of course, there were the age old thought of whether a team would return to St. John’s, Newfoundland for the 2011-12 campaign. None of that will happening this year, at least.

Here is the QMJHL release:

The Commissioner of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Gilles Courteau, today announced that no official request for sale or relocation has been sent to his attention at the League office.

"Although a number of reports have been published over the past few weeks, not a single Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team submitted a request to sell or relocate on January 31st," said the Commissioner. "Guidelines are outlined in our Constitution and our members are well-aware of the process regarding these types of requests."

In essence, the Commissioner is responsible for evaluating any request and making recommendations to the League’s members, if deemed necessary.

"It is a long process without any guarantee of success since a sale or a request for relocation must be approved by our members," added the Commissioner.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is responsible for ensuring that its franchises operate within the rules outlined by the League while respecting the guidelines set forth in the Constitution.

Probably the best part about teams staying put is that the divisions won’t have to be realigned for millionth time.