Recap: Sea Dogs lose 6-3

FINAL: Saint John 3, Moncton 6

MONCTON - The Moncton Wildcats scored six unanswered goals in a 6-3 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Sunday at Avenir Centre.

The Sea Dogs scored three times in the opening 9:47 of the first period but it wasn't enough against one of the top teams in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

The Wildcats slowly took the game over in the second half of the opening frame and trailed 3-1 entering the second. In that second period, Moncton dominated most of it, scoring four times and outshooting Saint John 14-6.

Niko Tournas scored twice for Moncton while Kuzma Voronin, Tommy Bleyl, Caleb Desnoyers and Preston Lounsbury added singles. Jacoby Weiner made 21 saves in the win.

This was a key win for the Wildcats as they continue to battle with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens for top spot in the QMJHL standings. The team that finishes first overall will likely face Saint John in the opening round of the playoffs.

Zachary Morin, Alexis Joseph and Nolann Héroux scored for Saint John. Arseni Radkov made 42 stops in the loss.

Notebook: Joseph signs with Kings

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MONCTON - Mathieu Joseph is now a member of the Los Angeles Kings.

Joseph, who had his contract with the St. Louis Blues terminated earlier in the week, signed "a one-year contract through the remainder of the 2025-26 season" with the Kings, the team announced Friday.

Mathieu Joseph, whose contract with STL was terminated today, signs with LA for one year at a pro-rated $900K

Played for DJ Smith in Ottawa

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 6, 2026

Joseph was scratched for the Kings' Saturday night game against the Montreal Canadiens.

The 29-year-old posted two goals and nine assists in 39 games with St. Louis this season. He was recently put on waivers and assigned to the American Hockey League where he recorded a goal in two games with the Springfield Thunderbirds.

This was Joseph's second season with the Blues. He's an NHL veteran at this point, playing in 459 games with the Blues, Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning. He won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning.

Joseph appeared in 201 games with the Sea Dogs over four seasons, helping the team win the President Cup in 2017.

BURNS JOINS STAFF

The Sea Dogs announced Sunday that long-time Acadia Axemen head coach Darren Burns has joined the team as a "senior advisor, hockey operations and assistant coach."

“Darren brings decades of hockey experience to the team,” said Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie in a news release. “He has been a coach, an NHL scout, and he knows our organization well as the father of Memorial Cup champion and franchise leading scorer Brady Burns. He is passionate and will add a lot to our group.”

Burns is the father of former Sea Dogs forward Brady Burns, who currently plays at Acadia. Burns has recruited a number of Sea Dogs to Acadia over the years.

The Axemen confirmed on Facebook that Burns will return as Acadia's head coach in the fall.

COMING UP

The Sea Dogs have just six regular season games remaining – including one this Sunday against the Moncton Wildcats at Avenir Centre.

This will be the eighth and final meeting of the regular season between Saint John and Moncton – although they could meet in the opening round of the QMJHL playoffs.

The Sea Dogs are 1-6-0-0 against the Wildcats this season with their only win coming back on Oct. 4 at Avenir Centre.

Following Sunday's game, the Sea Dogs will play their final home games of the regular season March 13-14 against the Halifax Mooseheads. They'll then play three road games to close out the season: March 15 at Charlottetown and March 20-21 at Cape Breton.

Game Day 59: at Moncton

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONCTON - The Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats meet one final time in regular season play today.

The Sea Dogs have won three of their past four games, which includes a big 5-3 upset win over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Wednesday. 

The Wildcats, meanwhile, are 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 games as they continue to try and keep pace with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens for first-place in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League standings. The Wildcats enter play today one-point back of the Sags. Both teams have six games remaining.

The Sea Dogs, who clinched a playoff spot on Saturday night, are likely to play whichever teams finishes first overall. Today's game could be a playoff preview.

Game time at Avenir Centre is 3 p.m.

Stream/TV/Radio: FloHockey/None/None

Records: The Sea Dogs are 22-31-5-0 for 49 points (eighth Eastern/15th QMJHL) while the Wildcats are 44-10-2-2 for 92 points (second Eastern/second QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-3 home win over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Wednesday. Dylan Rozzi scored twice for Saint John while singles came from Olivier Groulx, Everett Baldwin and Angelo Fullerton. Arseni Rakov made 41 stops in the win. The Wildcats are coming off a 4-1 home win over the Armada on Friday. Niko Tournas, Alex Mercier, Kuzma Voronin and Preston Lounsbury all scored for Moncton. Rudy Guimond made 23 saves in the win.

Sea Dogs clinch playoff spot

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONCTON - The Saint John Sea Dogs are returning to the post-season.

For the first time since the 2023-24 season, the Sea Dogs will play in the Gilles-Courteau Trophy playoffs. The team's spot was secured on Saturday night.

The Sea Dogs currently sit 15th overall in the QMJHL standings with a 22-31-5-0 record for 49 points and can no longer be caught by either the 17th-place Rimouski Oceanic or the 18th-place Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

The Sea Dogs could still move up or down in the overall standings but are likely to finish eighth in the Eastern Conference, meaning they'll play whichever team finishes first – either the Chicoutimi Sagueneens or Moncton Wildcats.

No matter the opponent, the Sea Dogs will begin the playoffs on the road and will be major underdogs. That series is likely to begin the weekend of March 27-28.

Saint John has not won a playoff series since 2017. They've qualified for the playoffs four times since then but have not advanced past the opening round.

Yared commits to Penn State

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

William Yared has committed to the NCAA's Penn State University Lions, the Saint John Sea Dogs confirmed Saturday.

The 18-year-old is in his second season with the Sea Dogs and has 10 goals and 15 assists in 46 games. He posted 30 points in 58 games a year ago.

It was not announced what season his commitment is expected to begin.

#SJSeaDogs forward William Yared has committed to play Division 1 hockey at Penn State University following the completion of his QMJHL career.

Congratulations, Will!#GoDogsGo pic.twitter.com/W7WIh9hmoU

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) March 7, 2026

Penn State, who play in the Big Ten conference, have been in the news a lot over the past year after they landed Gavin McKenna. The school hasn't been a big landing spot for QMJHL players yet. The team's roster only includes one former QMJHLer in goaltender Josh Fleming while their current list of commitments doesn't have any.

Yared joins a lengthy list of current Sea Dogs players who are committed to NCAA programs.

2026-27 Commits 

Alexander Donovan - Denver (NCHC) 

Zachary Morin - Boston University (Hockey East) 

Everett Baldwin - Providence (Hockey East) 

Julien Wasmer - Maine (Hockey East)

Carl-Otto Magnusson - Connecticut (Hockey East)

Arseni Radkov - Massachusetts (Hockey East)

Olivier Duhamel - Clarkson (ECAC)

2027-28 Commits 

Cameron Chartrand - Boston College (Hockey East) 

Olivers Murnieks - Boston College (Hockey East)

Oskar Drabczynski - Harvard (ECAC)

The timing of these commitments could always change, so some of the players who are currently listed as leaving this off-season could stick around longer. We'll have to wait and see how things play out.

Wildcats defeat Armada; NCAA conference playoffs begin

Daniel St. Louis/Moncton Wildcats

MONCTON - The Moncton Wildcats picked up a key win on Friday night at Avenir Centre.

Moncton scored three times in the final 5:16 to defeat the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 4-1. The win moves the Wildcats into first-place in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League standings – for now at least. They have a one-point lead over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens but the Sags have played one less game.

While still not official, the Saint John Sea Dogs will very likely play whoever finishes first overall in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Wildcats host the Sea Dogs on Sunday. The Sagueneens, meanwhile, host the Charlottetown Islanders on Saturday and the Victoriaville Tigres on Sunday.

The Armada, who are in a race with the Drummondville Voltigeurs for top spot in the Western Conference and third overall in the league, head home having lost three of four games on the Maritime portion of their road trip. They lost in Charlottetown, Saint John and Moncton but did win in Halifax, a game that saw both Elliot Dubé and Jacob Beaulieu score.

A few other news and notes from Friday night...

• In that Armada/Wildcats game, Moncton's Kuzma Voronin was given a game misconduct late in the third period after throwing his stick into the crowd during a goal celebration.
• The Rimouski Oceanic lost their 20th straight game, falling 9-2 to the Sherbrooke Phoenix. They only have six games remaining, so even if they lose out, they will not reach the league record of 27 straight losses.
• Former Sea Dogs forward Charles Savoie had an assist and three shots in Lindenwood's 5-4 win over Long Island in the United Collegiate Hockey Cup on Thursday. Lindenwood will play Alaska on Saturday in the championship game.
• Matteo Mann and Colorado College fell 5-2 to Western Michigan in the opening game of their best-of-three NCHC quarterfinal playoff series. Game 2 is Saturday.
• Noah Reinhart scored as Michigan Tech defeated Bowling Green 5-3 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three CCHA quarterfinal playoff series. Game 2 is Saturday.

  Noah Reinhart on the power-play! Huskies lead 3-2 in the 2nd period. #mtuhky #FollowTheHuskies pic.twitter.com/u82bIx9eTi

  — Michigan Tech Hockey (@mtuhky) March 7, 2026

• Charles-Edward Gravel made 65 saves as Mercyhurst fell 4-3 in triple overtime to Bentley in Game 1 of the best-of-three AHA quarterfinal playoff series. Shots were 68-26 in favour of Bentley, who are the top seed in the AHA. Game 2 is Saturday.