Danny Flynn Done As Wildcats Coach

From the Wildcats website:

Robert Irving, President of the Moncton Wildcats, announced today that Danny Flynn will transition on a full-time basis into the role of Director, Hockey Operations for the Moncton Wildcats, and will no longer continue with his previous coaching responsibilities. 

The organization would like to thank Danny for his past contribution and for his continued support in the future. 

The search for a new Head Coach will begin immediately, and it is the Wildcats anticipation to fill this position within the next several months. 

The Moncton Wildcats are committed to a winning hockey program, which our fans have come to expect and we will continue to operate the hockey club on this basis.

Boom goes the dynamite.

Not that surprising. It’ll be interesting to see who the Wildcats bring in as head coach because, as we all know, Irving certainly has the funds to bring in a big name. 

Gagne, Oceanic Upset In 1st Round

The Rimouski Oceanic, who came close to finishing second overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s regular season, have been eliminated by the 13^th-seeded Gatineau Olympiques in the first-round of the playoffs.

The Olympiques, who feature former Sea Dogs defenseman Gabriel Bourret, won the series in six games with a 2-1 victory today at the Robert Guertin Centre.

Rimouski finished fourth overall and had the third best record in the league of 41-18-3-6 for 91 points. Gatineau finished 13^th with a 29-34-1-4 record, 28 points behind the Oceanic. This is certainly an upset.

Of course, the Oceanic acquired 20-year old defenseman Kevin Gagne from Saint John during the trade period. Gagne had six goals and 37 points in 31 regular season games in the second half with Rimouski and added a goal and an assist in this playoff series. Obviously this wasn’t the way Gagne wanted his junior career end - but what a junior career he had. He won three regular season titles, two President’s Cups, and a Memorial Cup in five QMJHL seasons.

Earlier this month, Gagne signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Anaheim Ducks. He’s also nominated for the QMJHL’s top defenseman award.

The Oceanic, who made it all the way to the President's Cup final last season, also feature former Sea Dogs forward Scott Oke.

Gatineau will now face the top-seeded Halifax Mooseheads in the second-round.

In other action on Sunday, the Quebec Remparts advanced to the second-round with a 4-3 overtime win over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. The Remparts won the series in six games.

Only the Val-d’Or/PEI series has yet to be decided. The Foreurs lead the best-of-seven matchup 3-2 heading into Game 6 tomorrow night in Charlottetown.

Pictured: Some Chicoutimi fan living the dream

Five Ex-Dogs Played NHL Games Saturday

Nathan Beaulieu’s NHL debut highlighted a big night for the Saint John Sea Dogs on Saturday.

Beaulieu was one of five former Sea Dogs to play NHL games yesterday. Simon Despres and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Hoffman and the Ottawa Senators, Jonathan Huberdeau and the Florida Panthers, and Charlie Coyle and the Minnesota Wild were also in action yesterday.

Playing at the Bell Centre on Hockey Night in Canada, Beaulieu had a solid debut with the Montreal Canadiens. The defenseman, wearing No. 40, had one shot, one hit, and an even rating in 17:17 of ice time, helping the Habs defeat the New York Rangers 3-0.

Via Hockey Inside/Out, here’s Beaulieu speaking to the media after the game.

Elsewhere, Huberdeau had two assists in the Panthers’ 3-2 overtime victory over the New Jersey Devils. He also had two shots and a hit in 18:09 of ice time.

Huberdeau’s two points now place him first in the NHL’s rookie scoring race with 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points in 36 games. He’s one-point ahead of Tampa Bay’s Cory Conacher.

The Globe and Mail had an article on the former Sea Dogs captain yesterday.

Wildcats Are Done

Saint John Sea Dogs fans have some mixed feelings on this Friday night.

On the one hand, there will not be a New Brunswick based champion in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season. On the other hand, the Moncton Wildcats had their season come to a stunning end.

The Wildcats, who finished sixth overall in the league in the regular season, appeared poised for a solid playoff run after acquiring Phillip Danault (who was suspended for tonight’s game) from the Victoriaville Tigres at the deadline. Instead, they were upset in five games in the first-round by the Tigres, a team that traded away their best player and finished 11^th overall. This is a significant upset.

Tigres goaltender Brandon Whitney was unreal in this series, finishing with a 4-0-1 record to go along with a 1.87 GAA and 0.951 SV%. He made 31 saves in tonight’s deciding Game 5. Philippe Maillet scored 32 seconds into overtime to give Victoriaville the 3-2 win and 4-1 series win.

Moncton’s Dmitrij Jaskin, who had 99 points in the regular season, finished the series with just one goal and two assists.

So now the big question is: will Danny Flynn be back with the ‘Cats next season?

Elsewhere in the league tonight, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada minus Ryan Tesink defeated the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 3-2 to win the series 4-1. Former Sea Dogs forward Aidan Kelly had a goal and an assist for the Titan in the series.

Kevin Gagne and the Rimouski Oceanic kept their season alive with a 2-1 win over the Gatineau Olympiques. The favoured Oceanic trail the series 3-2.

Chicoutimi beat Quebec 3-2 and now trail the series 3-2, Val-d’Or defeated PEI 3-1 and lead the series 3-2 entering Game 6 on Monday in Charlottetown, and Rouyn-Noranda won their series in five games with a 6-4 victory over Drummondville tonight.

*Above image appeared in the Moncton Times & Transcript this week

Sea Dogs Notebook

FULLERTON

With his CIS career now over at UNB, former Sea Dogs goaltender Travis Fullerton has made the jump to the pro ranks.

Fullerton signed an amateur tryout agreement with the East Coast Hockey League’s San Francisco Bulls earlier this week. He made his pro debut on Wednesday, making 25 stops in a 1-0 overtime loss to the Idaho Steelheads.

The Bulls, whose assistant coach is former Sea Dogs forward Kyle Paige, are the ECHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks.

According to UNBHockeyFans.com, Fullerton “finished his UNB career with a regular season record of 60-11-2 to go along with a school record 14 shutouts, a save percentage of 0.911, and a goals against average of 1.87.”

HF RANKINGS

Jonathan Huberdeau came in at No. 3 in Hockey’s Future’s spring edition of the Top 50 NHL Prospects.

“Whatever questions remained regarding Huberdeau's ability to generate the same offense in the NHL as he had in the QMJHL have been answered, and then some,” they write. “Huberdeau scores with aplomb and consistency for an injury-depleted Florida team that struggles to generate offense.”

Huberdeau was the only Sea Dog to crack the top 10 but three other former Saint John players made the top 50.

Nathan Beaulieu, called up to the Montreal Canadiens today, was ranked 24^th, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Simon Despres was 25^th, and Minnesota Wild forward Charlie Coyle came in at No. 36.

LOOKING AHEAD

Sea Dogs president Wayne Long spoke to News 88.9 on Thursday, looking ahead to next season.

“We’re doing a lot of looking and scouting and we should pick ninth overall in the European draft and have two first round picks this year (in the summer draft),” says Long. “We’re quickly going to bring in some new, young and exciting talent to add to what we think is a great young core of players that we have now.”

An eventful off-season is ahead.

SARNIA

Former Sea Dogs head coach and general manager Jacques Beaulieu saw his team’s season come to an end this week.

Beaulieu’s Sarnia Sting were eliminated in the first-round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs by the Plymouth Whalers. Much like Saint John this year, Sarnia got blown out in most games and were outscored 24-8 by Plymouth.

In the regular season, the Sting finished seventh in the OHL’s Western Conference with a 35-28-1-4 record. They lost Alex Galchenyuk to the NHL mid-season which had to suck.

Beaulieu To Make Habs Debut Tomorrow

Nathan Beaulieu has been called up to The Show.

The Montreal Canadiens announced today that the former Saint John Sea Dog defenseman had been called up to the big club. The 20-year old has been playing with the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs this season.

The Habs host the New York Rangers tomorrow night (8pm AST; CBC and RDS) and, according to Twitter, Beaulieu is expected to make his National Hockey League debut.

Head coach Michel Therrien confirmed that Nathan Beaulieu will play tomorrow against the Rangers and Carey Price will get the start in goal.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 29, 2013

Beaulieu will become the fifth former Sea Dog to play in a NHL game this season joining Simon Despres, Jonathan Huberdeau, Charlie Coyle, and Mike Hoffman. There will also be a familiar face behind the Montreal bench when Beaulieu makes his debut in Gerard Gallant.

In 62 games with the last-place Bulldogs this year, Beaulieu has six goals and 19 assists.

Hockey's Future recently raked him 24th in their annual spring rankings of the Top 50 NHL prospects.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation