Notebook: A bad start but plenty of time

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs are off to a winless start for the fist time since the 2017-18 season.

The Sea Dogs finished opening weekend with a 0-1-1-0 record thanks to an 4-3 overtime loss in Bathurst and a 6-5 home loss to Charlottetown. The team's last winless opening weekend was in 2017-18 when Saint John dropped their first four games of the season (they won three straight after that).

So... what does this mean? Nothing. It means pretty much nothing. It's always nice to get off to a strong start, but losing back-to-back games is going to happen during a season. The Sea Dogs got off a 2-0 start last season and then lost three straight. We know how last season went.

The Sea Dogs also started 0-2 in 2016-17 and 2011-12, seasons that saw them rebound well enough to win the President Cup (although they did start those seasons without some key regulars due to NHL camps).

UP NEXT

The Sea Dogs and Titan will have a rematch this Friday at TD Station. On Saturday, the Dogs welcome the Moncton Wildcats to town. Both of those games begin at 7 p.m.

The following weekend, the Sea Dogs are in Moncton on Friday, Oct. 16 and then travel to Halifax to face the Mooseheads on Saturday, Oct. 17.

The Sea Dogs will continue to play games on back-to-back nights until mid-November.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 6-5

FINAL: Charlottetown 6, Saint John 5

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - Opening weekend was a rollercoaster ride of emotions for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

After blowing a 3-0 third period lead on Friday and losing in overtime, the Sea Dogs dug themselves into a hole on Saturday at TD Station, found a way out of it, but ultimately fell 6-5 to the Charlottetown Islanders.

The Islanders led 2-0 after one - despite being outshot 18-13 - and grabbed a 4-0 lead in the second period. Saint John scored in the final few minutes of the second and then netted three goals in the third - which included Josh Lawrence's tying goal at 15:56.

Charlottetown managed to retake the lead at 17:03 with Brett Budgell scoring on a wide open net. The Isles scored an empty netter at 18:35 to make it 6-4. Jeremie Poirier scored with 26 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to one and the Dogs had a decent chance in the dying seconds - but that's as close as they would come to tying things up a second time.

It was a bizarre and disappointing weekend for the Sea Dogs who are clearly still trying to shake some of the bad habits from the past couple seasons. Saint John struggled in both ends and just couldn't get things clicking for any substantial amount of time. Fortunately it's early, but this is not the start anyone hoped to see.

Cédric Desruisseaux scored a hat trick for Charlottetown while singles came from Budgell, Lukas Cormier and Patrick LeBlanc. Cormier, who will have his name heard at this week's NHL Draft, added two assists.

Poirier, Nicholas Girouard, Peter Reynolds, Dawson Stairs and Josh Lawrence scored for Saint John. Lawrence added two assists.

In a battle of former Rimouski Oceanic goaltenders, Colten Ellis bested Creed Jones, making 32 saves in the win. Jones, making his regular season debut, made 29 stops in the loss.

Game Day 2: vs Islanders

SAINT JOHN - After a rough season opening loss, the Saint John Sea Dogs return home looking to earn their first win of the regular season.

The Sea Dogs host the Charlottetown Islanders this evening. The Isles are expected to be one of the top teams in the Maritimes Division this season and are coming off a 4-2 victory in Moncton last night.

The Sea Dogs blew a 3-0 lead last night. The Islanders overcame a 2-0 deficit. We'll see what happens tonight.

Game time at TD Station is 7 p.m.

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/CFBC 930 AM/QMJHL Live

2020-21 records: The Sea Dogs are 0-0-1-0 for one point (fourth Maritimes, 10th QMJHL) while the Islanders are 1-0-0-0 for two points (second Maritimes, sixth QMJHL).

2019-20 records: The Sea Dogs finished the shortened season with a 30-33-1-0 record for 61 points (fourth Maritimes, sixth Eastern, 11th QMJHL) while the Islanders were 33-26-5-0 for 71 points (third Maritimes, fifth Eastern, seventh QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss in Bathurst last night. Joshua Roy, Kale McCallum and Alex Drover scored for Saint John. Noah Patenaude made 42 saves in the loss. The Islanders are coming off a 4-2 win in Moncton last night. Thomas Casey scored a pair for Charlottetown while singles came from Keiran Gilbert and Lukas Cormier. Colten Ellis made 20 saves in the win.

2020-21 head-to-head: This is the first meeting of the season between the two.

2019-20 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 1-7-1-0 against the Islanders last season while Charlottetown went 8-1-0-0 against Saint John.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-3 (OT)

FINAL: Saint John 3, Bathurst 4 (OT)

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

BATHURST - Maintaining leads is officially a problem for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

After blowing several leads throughout the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League pre-season, the bad habit has carried over into the regular season. The problem was on full display in the team's season opener on Friday at the KC Irving Regional Centre, falling 4-3 in overtime to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan after entering the third period with a 3-0 advantage.

Things were looking good for the Sea Dogs until Mathieu Desgagnés got the Titan on the board at 5:16 of the third. Cole Huckins scored a little over four minutes later on a rebound and then Desgagnés netted his second of the game a minute later to even things up.

Riley Kidney scored the overtime winner with 15 seconds remaining in the extra frame.

The Sea Dogs looked decent in this game, but similar to last Friday's pre-season loss to Moncton, just didn't seem to have that extra jump the squad showed at times earlier in exhibition play. Saint John's offense was coming in waves and they dominated puck possession at times in the first few games of the pre-season. That style seems to have slowly slipped away the past few games for whatever reason. Yes, they're facing more structured teams at this point... but still. Something has just looked off.

Saint John was outshot 46-36 in the game, which comes as a surprise given that the Titan are not an offensive powerhouse. Noah Patenaude looked pretty good in net - certainly much better than he did in his season debut a year ago when he allowed eight goals. Patenaude struggled with rebounds a bit, but looked much more comfortable compared to some of his games last season. He made 42 stops in the loss.

Chad Arsenault made 33 stops in the Titan net to collect the win.

Joshua Roy, Kale McCallum and Alex Drover scored for Saint John.

If anything, this loss will hopefully give the Dogs a spark moving into tomorrow's showdown with a much stronger opponent in the Charlottetown Islanders. We saw a bad habit from the pre-season carry over on Friday night, let's hope we don't see bad habits from the past couple seasons tomorrow.

Notebook: Sea Dogs ranked 8th in CHL

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs will open the 2020-21 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season as the eighth ranked team in the country.

The CHL released its pre-season top 10 on Wednesday. The release is a bit of a head scratcher given that the other two major junior leagues may not begin play for another two months - or possibly even longer.

Presenting the 2020-21 Pre-Season #KiaCHLTop10 Rankings:@PhoenixSherbroo open at one ☝️

1-SHE, 2-EDM, 3-OSH, 4-VDO, 5-LDN, 6-KAM, 7-SAG, 8-SNB, 9-POR, 10-CHI.

Honours: BDN, PA, SHA, SOO, WSR

Weekly editions to resume when each of @TheWHL, @OHLHockey and @QMJHL are in action. pic.twitter.com/QK07wgYCWH

— CanadianHockeyLeague (@CHLHockey) September 30, 2020

The Sherbrooke Phoenix (first), Val-d'Or Foreurs (fourth) and Chicoutimi Sagueneens (10th) were the other QMJHL teams to crack the list. The Shawinigan Cataractes were an honourable mention.

WEBCAST DETAILS

The off-season was an emotional rollercoaster for the QMJHL's webcasts.

After many highs and lows, the QMJHL will kick off its regular season with the same provider, Neulion, on the same platform, QMJHL Live, that it has used for the past several years. There are expected to be some quality improvements, but we will find out beginning tonight.

Only two pricing options are available this season: a single game for $7.99 or a monthly all-access pass for $39.99. Season ticket members were sent a discount code for 50% off the monthly pass.

For anyone interested in purchasing the Neulion monthly streaming package to watch #QMJHL #LHJMQ hockey. 🥅🏒

Details ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/tVeHLgagT8

— Denis Leblanc (@DenisL_1981) September 26, 2020

It's unclear if the OHL and WHL will be using Neulion again this season.

Game Day 1: at Bathurst

BATHURST - The strangest and longest off-season in Saint John Sea Dogs history has come to a close. Now, it's time to play the (real) games.

After months of uncertainty, the Sea Dogs will play their first game of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season tonight against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. This should be the beginning of an upswing for the Sea Dogs, who have suffered a few rough years of rebuilding after winning the President Cup in 2017.

On paper, Saint John's lineup is stacked and looks poised for a three-year run. But the Sea Dogs - led by new head coach Greg Gilbert - need to show that promise on the ice. They have this season to figure things out before the pressure to win really hits next year.

Game time this evening at the KC Irving Regional Centre is 7 p.m.

TV/Radio/Webcast: Rogers TV/CFBC 930 AM/QMJHL Live

2020-21 records: This is the first game of the regular season for both clubs.

2019-20 records: The Sea Dogs finished the shortened season with a 30-33-1-0 record for 61 points (fourth Maritimes, sixth Eastern, 11th QMJHL) while the Titan were 12-40-8-4 for 36 points (sixth Maritimes, 10th Eastern, 18th QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 3-2 pre-season overtime loss to the Moncton Wildcats last Friday at TD Station. Jeremie Poirier and Brady Burns scored for Saint John. Creed Jones made 36 stops in the loss. The Titan are coming off a 10-4 pre-season home loss to the Charlottetown Islanders on Sept. 20. Alexis Dubé, Yannic Bastarache, David Doucet and Mathieu Desgagnés scored for Bathurst. Tommy DaSilva allowed six goals on 25 shots. Pierre-Vincent Guignard allowed for goals on 16 shots.  

2019-20 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 7-1-0-0 against the Titan last season while Bathurst went 1-6-0-1 against Saint John.