Sea Dogs Slip To No. 6

SAINT JOHN – The Saint John Sea Dogs slipped to sixth in the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings this week. The latest edition of the rankings were released today.

The Sea Dogs had a bit of a rough week, going 1-1. They played an ugly game on Thursday night at Harbour Station, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Memorial Cup hosting Shawinigan Cataractes. The Sea Dogs then beat the Drummondville Voltigeurs 3-0 on Saturday night but their offense didn’t have a great game.

Saint John is now 32-13-0-2 and sit second in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 66 points. They are 6-3-0-1 in their last 10 contests.

Other QMJHL teams on this week’s list include the Cataractes at No. 3 and Quebec Remparts at No. 7. The Victoriaville Tigres 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 17.

1. Tri-City Americans (34-10-0-0)
2. London Knights (32-9-0-1)
3. Shawinigan Cataractes (32-10-2-2)
4. Kamloops Blazers (31-10-1-2)
5. Plymouth Whalers (30-10-2-1)
6. Saint John Sea Dogs (32-13-0-2)
7. Quebec Remparts (29-9-4-2)
8. Portland Winterhawks (30-12-2-1)
9. Edmonton Oil Kings (29-11-1-4)
10. Kitchener Rangers (28-12-1-0) 

Honourable Mention:
Ottawa 67's (26-11-4-1)
Victoriaville Tigres (29-15-0-2)
Niagara IceDogs (26-13-0-3)

In Buzzing The Net’s weekly Dynamic Dozen, the Sea Dogs were ranked sixth as well.

Saint John plays two games this week. They host the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday night at the Station and then travel to Bathurst to play the Titan on Sunday afternoon.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

VIDEO: Theo Fleury at Sea Dogs Practice

SAINT JOHN – Theo Fleury was in town today and made a visit to Harbour Station for Sea Dogs practice this afternoon. Fleury is in Saint John this evening speaking at the Muriel McQueen Fergusson 2012 Gala Dinner presented by Scott McCain and Margaret McCain.

Here’s SeaDogsTV’s feature on Fleury’s visit to Harbour Station today.

"Beauregard's Biggest Battle"

If there is anything on the internet you should read today, it’s Patrick King’s column on Alexandre Beauregard over at Sportsnet.ca.

In it, King discusses Beauregard’s playoff heroics last spring, his current fight with cancer, and speaks with Chicoutimi head coach Marc-Étienne Hubert and former teammate Jonathan Huberdeau.

Anthony Marcotte, who covers the Sagueneens for a Chicoutimi radio station, also has a solid read up at AOWELL.ca en francais. Buzzing The Net also has an article. 

If you haven’t already, you can send Beauregard a message on Twitter @AlexBo125. 

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

Sea Dogs Notebook

DOGS JERSEY IN C-BUS

Here’s friend-of-the-blog @CBJProspects sporting his new Mathieu Corbeil jersey at Nationwide Arena in Columbus over the weekend.

BEAUREGARD

Alexandre Beauregard has received an outpouring of support on Twitter since it was announced that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. From Simon Despres to Nathan MacKinnon, several QMJHL players, teams and fans have tweeted their well wishes to the former Sea Dog. The messages sent to him can be read here.

ROSZELL ON TWITTER

The biggest Sea Dogs related news of the week came when the legendary Tim Roszell joined Twitter. He gained nearly 100 followers in his first day and that number has since grown to 135. You can follow the Sea Dogs’ play-by-play man by clicking here.

For historical purposes, here’s a screen shot of his first tweet.

Also, we discovered this week – completely by accident – that News 88.9 finally has a Sea Dogs blog. Each game recap features Roszell's goal calls. Unreal.

FOOD DRIVE

The results of the New Year’s Rivalry Cup food drive are finally in. The teams will split the points because the two used different weighing methods.

“Generous Moncton fans piled food high at the Coliseum on New Year's Eve and the Wildcats were able to secure an industrial scale to actually weigh each food item, for a grand total of 1,911 pounds,” states a release. “Saint John raised a similar amount of food at its home game Jan. 2, with a total determined based on a national formula for calculating food bank donations.”

The real winners are New Brunswick food banks. That’s what it’s all about.

Moncton remains in the lead in the overall Rivalry Cup standings, holding an 11.5-10.5 edge in the competition.

Beauregard Diagnosed With Thyroid Cancer

Alexandre Beauregard, the tough-as-nails forward who scored one of the biggest goals in Saint John Sea Dogs franchise history last year, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The Chicoutimi Sagueneens, his current team, made the announcement today on their website.

Beauregard, 20, played just 41 career games with Saint John but was always a fan favourite because of his gritty and tough play. He scored in double-overtime of Game Six of the President’s Cup final, sending the Sea Dogs to the Memorial Cup for the first time in team history.

Here’s what Beauregard said in a Sagueneens statement, as translated by Google.

"The announcement was a shock, for sure. I do not think it is the end of the world, however. My goal is to return the game to help Saguenéens in the playoffs. "

Sea Dogs captain Jonathan Huberdeau tweeted this to Beauregard today.

@AlexBo125 will be fine !! He is a strong guy #seadogsforlife ! Love my saint-Jerome boy ! #missyou we are all with you !! #goodluckmylove

You can send Beauregard a message on twitter by tweeting @AlexBo125.

We don’t even know what to say. From all of us at SN, get well soon Alexandre Beauregard.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

Who is the Top (former) Dog?

By Andrew McGilligan

SN Staff

With Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Simon Despres notching the first-ever NHL goal and point by a former Saint John Sea Dog player, it begs the question: Who is the most successful Sea Dog?

First let’s set some ground rules.

The player can’t currently be on the team and only the accolades while not in a Dogs uniform will be considered.

Not an easy question to answer and one that everyone will have a different opinion on.

Despres, Yann Sauve, Mike Hoffman and Mathieu Corbeil have all suited up for an NHL game. That puts them high on the list, given the goal of many young Canadians is to someday play in the NHL.

However, current players can’t be considered, so that takes care of Corbeil leaving the two former Port City blueliners and Hoffman.

By virtue of his NHL goal and point, Despres is ranked ahead of the other two.

Past graduates have gone on to play in the minors such as the AHL and ECHL. While others have elected to play in the CIS.