It's CHL Import Draft day

This Canada Day is also CHL Import Draft day.

The annual Import Draft begins at noon Atlantic on Friday with the Saint John Sea Dogs currently holding the 48th and 108th overall picks, respectively. Both of those picks will likely be higher with some teams opting to pass on their selections.

The WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers will pick first overall followed by the OHL's Saginaw Spirit and QMJHL's Cape Breton Eagles.

The draft can be followed on the CHL website.

Both of Saint John's current import players, forward Raivis Ansons and defenseman Yan Kuznetsov, are expected to graduate to the professional ranks for 2022-23.

The Sea Dogs have made two picks in four of the past five Import Drafts.

The Sea Dogs selected Kuznetsov, a Calgary Flames prospect, with their first-round pick last year. In the second-round, the Sea Dogs selected Belarusian forward Evgeny Sapelnikov, who the team dealt to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the Ansons deal.

The major news surrounding this year's Import Draft is that Russian and Belarusian players are not eligible to be selected, making for a smaller pool of players to pick from. The Sea Dogs have selected a total of five Russians and one Belarusian in their history.

The 2022 QMJHL Entry Draft, meanwhile, takes place virtually this Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday's championship win

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - For the Saint John Sea Dogs, a lot of things haven't gone according to plan over the past few years.

The coaching changes. The goaltending carousel. The Joshua Roy situation. COVID. The trade drama(s) with the Halifax Mooseheads. The first round playoff loss. And there's probably many more.

But for one night, and for much of the past two weeks, everything went right for the Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs won their second Memorial Cup championship with a decisive 6-3 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs on Wednesday night at TD Station. The Sea Dogs scored twice in the first six minutes. They defended well and got good goaltending from Nikolas Hurtubise. When momentum swung in Hamilton's favour, Saint John was able to take it right back with an equal or better blow.

Wednesday's game, simply put, was one of the best games played by this group of Sea Dogs players.

Saint John finished the Memorial Cup with a 3-0-1 record, defeating the Bulldogs twice and the rival Shawinigan Cataractes once. The team's lone loss was an overtime thriller to the Edmonton Oil Kings, which could have gone either way.

There's no doubting that Gardiner MacDouagll had a huge influence on this team, injecting new life into a group that easily could have given up on the season after a gut wrenching first round playoff loss. The team looked refreshed and prepared when it took to the ice. They had the advantage of rest, and they definitely used that to their advantage.

Photos: Sea Dogs championship parade

SAINT JOHN - 2022 Memorial Cup festivities ended with a championship parade on Thursday afternoon in Saint John.

The Memorial Cup champions Saint John Sea Dogs paraded down King Street before making the turn down Water Street en route to Area 506 Waterfront Container Village stage. Once at the stage, brief speeches were made by Scott McCain, Gardiner MacDougall, Trevor Georgie, Mark-Anthony Ashfield, Vincent Sevigny and William Dufour.

The Sea Dogs held a similar parade in 2011 when the team won its first Memorial Cup championship. That year, the parade ended at the Market Square stage where speeches were made.

Memorial Cup parade to be held today

SAINT JOHN - The Memorial Cup officially arrived in Saint John via a parade on June 19. Now, almost two weeks later, the Memorial Cup will be staying in Saint John via a parade.

The Saint John Sea Dogs will celebrate their Memorial Cup championship, which was clinched with a 6-3 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs last night at TD Station, this afternoon.

The parade will begin tomorrow at noon!

Going from King St. East to the @area506fest Container Village, we can't wait to see you there! #CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/OfMtwrSzBj

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) June 30, 2022

The Sea Dogs also held a parade for their 2011 Memorial Cup win, which saw a huge turnout.

Recap: Sea Dogs win 6-3

FINAL: Hamilton 3, Saint John 6

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs are Memorial Cup champions again.

The Sea Dogs won their second Memorial Cup championship on Wednesday night at TD Station, posting a convincing 6-3 win over the Ontario Hockey League champion Hamilton Bulldogs.

Vincent Sevigny, Cam MacDonald, Riley Bezeau, William Dufour, Josh Lawrence and Peter Reynolds scored for Saint John. Nikolas Hurtubise earned the win in net, making 25 saves. 

Mason McTavish scored twice for Hamilton while Jan Mysak added a solo marker. Marco Costantini took the loss in goal, making 21 saves.

Saint John got off to a strong start, scoring twice in the first six minutes, and never really looked back. Hamilton stayed in the game and had momentum go in their favour at times, but Saint John stayed composed and responded well.

It's been a wild few years for this core group of players. It was a wild season of ups and downs. The Sea Dogs certainly took an unusual route to becoming Memorial Cup champions, but they got there - and looked very worthy of a championship on Wednesday.

Sea Dogs win 2022 Memorial Cup

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs are Memorial Cup champions.

The Sea Dogs captured junior hockey's most prestigious trophy with a 6-3 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs on Wednesday night in front of a packed house at TD Station.

Vincent Sevigny, Cam MacDonald, Riley Bezeau, William Dufour, Josh Lawrence and Peter Reynolds scored for Saint John. Nikolas Hurtubise earned the win in net.

Mason McTavish scored twice for Hamilton while Jan Mysak added a solo marker. Marco Costantini took the loss in goal.

The Sea Dogs advanced to the championship game following a 2-0-1 record in the round-robin portion of the tournament. The team earned a bye straight to the final thanks to a 5-3 victory over the Shawinigan Cataractes on Saturday.

It's the second Memorial Cup championship for Saint John and first since 2011.

This was the fourth time the Sea Dogs had played in the tournament and the first on home ice. They lost in the semifinals in 2012 in Shawinigan and 2017 in Windsor.

This was the first time the Sea Dogs clinched a championship on home ice.

More to come...