Ianniello joins Bold

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Joseph Ianniello is joining the TMU Bold of U Sports for the upcoming season, the school announced Saturday on Instagram.

The 20-year-old defenseman joins the Bold after spending parts of the past two seasons with the Saint John Sea Dogs. He posted 10 goals and 37 assists in 90 career QMJHL games.

The Woodbridge, ON native joined the Sea Dogs during the 2022-23 season that also saw him appear in 28 games with the CCHL's Navan Grads.

Ianniello was an eighth-round pick of of the Barrie Colts in the 2020 OHL Priority Selection.

Ianniello was in a fight for one of Saint John's three overage spots. With Ianniello gone, three 20-year-olds remain on the team's current roster: goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel along with defensemen Matteo Mann and Nate Tivey.

The Bold begin pre-season play on Friday night against the University of Toronto.

Sea Dogs unveil centre ice design

Sea Dogs X

SAINT JOHN - A day before the team hits the TD Station ice for the first and only time this pre-season, the Saint John Sea Dogs have unveiled this year's centre ice design – and it's spectacular.

So fresh and so clean, clean 🥶#GoDogsGo pic.twitter.com/aeS55MEVba

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) September 7, 2024

The Sea Dogs wisely had their 20th anniversary logo made into a circle design, allowing it to fill up the entire centre ice circle.

The logo is much more creative than previous anniversary markings.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 10-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Cape Breton 10

PORT HAWKESBURY, NS - It was a mismatch on paper and turned into a mismatch in reality.

A Cape Breton Eagles lineup filled with veterans hammered a much less experienced Saint John Sea Dogs squad 10-1 on Friday night in QMJHL pre-season play at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre.

The Sea Dogs had very few moments of sustained offensive pressure and struggled mightily to contain Cape Breton's offense. The Eagles scored on a number of odd man rushes and tap-ins that came courtesy of defensive mistakes.

It's obviously not a result the Sea Dogs wanted – but that's just the way the pre-season shakes down sometimes. Saint John was without their three NHL campers – Eriks Mateiko, Tyler Peddle and Matteo Mann – along with other regulars like Nicolas Bilodeau and Egan Beveridge.

The loss drops the Sea Dogs to 3-1 in pre-season play.

Elliot Dubé scored Saint John's lone goal, which came in the second period with Cape Breton already up 6-0.

Charles-Edward Gravel allowed six goals on 26 shots in the first half of the game while Justin Robinson allowed four on 21 shots in the second half. Those stat lines are ugly but, again, they weren't getting a lot of defensive help in front of them.

Emile Ricard scored a hat trick for Cape Breton; Noah Reinhart scored twice; and singles came from Callum Aucoin, Cam Squires, Jacob Newcombe, Xavier Daigle and Tomas Lavoie.

Jakub Milota made 16 saves in the win.

Shots in the game were 47-17 in favour of Cape Breton. Saint John was credited with just eight dangerous shots.

Pre-Season Game Day 4: at Cape Breton

PORT HAWKESBURY, NS - The Saint John Sea Dogs have traveled through Port Hawkesbury plenty of times but tonight, for the first time, they'll stop in and play a pre-season game.

The Sea Dogs continue QMJHL exhibition play this evening when they take on the Cape Breton Eagles at the 1,000-seat Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.

Saint John is 3-0 in pre-season play following two wins over the Charlottetown Islanders and one over the Eagles. Those games featured plenty of rookies and fringe QMJHL players. Games from here on out will be a much better representation (although still not perfect) of how teams will stack up this season.

TV/Radio/Stream: None/None/YouTube

Pre-Season Records: The Sea Dogs are 3-0-0-0 this pre-season while the Eagles are 1-2-0-0.

Last games: The Sea Dogs and Eagles last played on Aug. 24 in Fredericton where Saint John won 6-3. Florian Schenk had a pair of goals for Saint John while singles came from Jeremie Richard, Will Allen, Coen Miller and Dylan Rozzi. Cape Breton goals came from Aiden McCullough, Mavrik Duhaime and Antoine Roy. 

2024 pre-season head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 1-0-0-0 against the Eagles this pre-season while Cape Breton is 0-1-0-0.

Last meeting: See above.

2023-24 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 2-6-1-0 against the Eagles last season while Cape Breton went 7-1-0-1 against Saint John.

Reinhart back in Maritimes Division

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

A former Saint John Sea Dogs forward is back in the Maritimes Division.

The Cape Breton Eagles acquired 20-year-old forward Noah Reinhart from the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Thursday in exchange for second- (2025) and third-round (2027) picks.

Reinhart spent the second half of last season with the Voltigeurs where he helped the club win the Gilles Courteau Trophy and qualify for the Memorial Cup tournament. The Dundas, ON native had 13 goals and 16 assists in 30 regular season games with Drummondville and another five goals and six assists in 19 playoff games.

“We are very excited to have Noah, he is a proven winner,” said Eagles general manager Sylvain Couturier in a news release. “With Brayden Schmitt out for a period of time to recover from injuries, this was a move we had to make. The message from the organization is clear; we want to give our team the best chance to win every night.”

The Eagles announced earlier this week that Schmitt, along with teammates Angelo Fullerton and Lucas Romeo, were in a car accident on Monday en route to Cape Breton. Schmitt was released from hospital on Wednesday and is resting at home with family.

Reinhart spent parts of two seasons with Saint John. In 131 career QMJHL games, he's recorded 43 goals and 60 assists.

The Sea Dogs traded Reinhart to the Voltigeurs in January as the main part of a package to acquire forward Tyler Peddle.

Reinhart joins Cole Burbidge as former Sea Dogs currently on the Eagles roster.

The Sea Dogs and Eagles meet on Friday night in pre-season play in Port Hawkesbury, NS. They meet in the regular season for the first time on Sept. 29 in Sydney.

Pre-season set to resume for Dogs

It's almost that time.

The Saint John Sea Dogs resume pre-season play this weekend as the grind of the junior hockey campaign officially gets going. This past weekend was the team's last without game action until the Christmas break.

Saint John has three pre-season games remaining before the regular season begins on Friday, Sept. 20. This Friday the team travels to Port Hawkesbury to take on the Cape Breton Eagles before hosting the Charlottetown Islanders on Sunday afternoon at TD Station.

Tickets to the Sunday game went on sale earlier this week. It's Saint John's only pre-season game at TD Station.

The Sea Dogs end the pre-season on Saturday, Sept. 14 in Tyne Valley, PEI taking on the Islanders for a fourth and final time.

The Dogs were 3-0 in the first half of the pre-season schedule, outscoring opponents 15-5. They defeated the Islanders twice and the Eagles once. Their last game action was Aug. 24 in Fredericton where they beat Cape Breton 6-3.

Most teams have trimmed their rosters down to a point where they will start the year with the group they have now. The Sea Dogs reduced their roster to 25 players on Aug. 27 but have since added forward Ben Cross off waivers from the Rimouski Oceanic while forward/defenseman Jeremie Richard will be returning to the Maritime Hockey League's Amherst Ramblers.

This weekend will likely be the Sea Dogs debut of overage goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel, who the team acquired on Aug. 25.

The Sea Dogs will have three players attending NHL camps in the coming weeks – forward Eriks Mateiko (Washington Capitals), firward Tyler Peddle (Columbus Blue Jackets) and defenseman Matteo Mann (Philadelphia Flyers) – meaning some corresponding moves may need to be made to fill those gaps.

Following the last round of cuts, Saint John still has 10 defensemen on their roster.