Game Day 48: vs Regiment

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs and Newfoundland Regiment are about to get quite familiar.

The two will play three straight games against each other with the first meeting taking place tonight at 7 p.m. at TD Station. The next two games will take place in St. John's later this week.

Saint John has struggled mightily against Newfoundland this season, currently sporting a 0-4-1-0 against their old provincial rivals. That includes three straight losses at TD Station, all of which have taken place since New Year's Eve.

These points are valuable for both teams. Newfoundland is in a fight for playoff positioning in the middle of the standings while Saint John is just trying to stay in the race for the final couple spots.

Stream/TV/Radio: FloHockey/None/Sea Dogs Audio Network

Records: The Sea Dogs are 17-26-4-0 for 38 points (eighth Eastern/15th QMJHL) while the Regiment are 28-19-1-1 for 56 points (third Eastern/seventh QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Moncton Wildcats last night at TD Station. Alexander Donovan and Bo Damphousse scored for Saint John. Rafaël Courchesne made 31 saves in the win. The Regiment are coming off a 5-2 win in Charlottetown last night. Marek Danicek scored twice for Newfoundland while singles came from Alexis Michaud, Liam Arsenault and Dawson Sharkey. Louis-Antoine Denault made 24 saves in the win.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-2

FINAL: Saint John 2, Moncton 5

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs were no match for the first-place Moncton Wildcats on Friday at TD Station.

The Wildcats won an eighth straight game and nearly registered a third consecutive shutout, defeating the Sea Dogs 5-2. Moncton was in control all night long, leading 5-0 late in the third period. Alexander Donovan and Bo Damphousse scored with less than 90 seconds remaining.

St. Andrews native Gabe Smith scored twice for Moncton while singles came from Evan Depatie, Teddy Mutryn and Kuzma Voronin. Captain Caleb Desnoyers recorded three assists.

Backup netminder Jacoby Weiner made 31 saves and nearly recorded a second straight shutout. He showed some frustration when Donovan scored at 18:56 of the third.

Rafaël Courchesne made 31 stops in the loss.

The Sea Dogs, coming off a 2-0 loss to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday in Fredericton, were nearly shutout for a second straight game. The team's power play, which was so good throughout January, is 0/7 over the past two games.

Saint John fell to 1-6-0-0 against the Wildcats this season. They have one regular season meeting remaining.

Game Day 47: vs Wildcats

Daniel St. Louis/Moncton Wildcats

SAINT JOHN - A difficult task awaits the Saint John Sea Dogs tonight.

The Sea Dogs will host the Moncton Wildcats at 7 p.m. at TD Station. Moncton sits first overall in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League standings and have won seven straight games. On top of that, they have not allowed a goal in their past two games.

Saint John, meanwhile, is coming off a disappointing 2-0 loss to the last-place Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday in Fredericton. The team is no doubt looking to put that performance behind them with a strong outing tonight – but that will be a difficult task.

The Sea Dogs are 1-5-0-0 against the Wildcats this season with their lone win coming way back in October. They have kept a few of the other games close, so we'll see what happens in this one.

Stream/TV/Radio: FloHockey/None/Sea Dogs Audio Network

Records: The Sea Dogs are 17-25-4-0 for 38 points (eighth Eastern/15th QMJHL) while the Wildcats are 35-8-2-1 for 73 points (1st Eastern/1st QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday at the Aitken Centre. Arseni Radkov made 29 saves in the loss. The Wildcats are coming off a 3-0 home win over the Newfoundland Regiment on Sunday. Grayden Robertson-Palmer, Teddy Mutryn and Liam Bursaw scored for Moncton. Rudy Guimond made 38 saves in the win.

Notebook: Fredericton games conclude

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Capital City Series ended in disappointment for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs played their third and final regular season game at Fredericton's Aitken Centre on Sunday, falling 2-0 to the last-place Baie-Comeau Drakkar. The loss gives the Sea Dogs a losing record in Fredericton, finishing 1-2-0-0.

The Sea Dogs defeated the Gatineau Olympiques 5-1 on Jan. 8 and fell 5-2 to the Cape Breton Eagles on Nov. 30.

Attendance for the series saw mixed results. These numbers are bit higher than what the eye test would say.

Sunday, Nov. 30: 3,103

Thursday, Jan. 8: 1,845

Sunday, Feb. 1: 2,345

The series didn't seem to get much hype online from UNB while reaction from Saint John fans wasn't, understandably, overly positive. We'll see what the organization thinks, but it doesn't feel like there is a huge desire to do this series again. But we'll see.

WRESTLING NIGHT

The Sea Dogs announced the return of Wresting Night this week. 

From the team:

Hockey and professional wrestling collide as the Saint John Sea Dogs present Wrestling Night presented by Papadopsmiles Orthodontics on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 7:00 p.m.

On the ice, the Sea Dogs will celebrate a wrestling icon by wearing special Stone Cold Steve Austin-themed jerseys as they battle the Charlottetown Islanders at TD Station. Game-worn jerseys will be auctioned online at sjseadogs.link/auctions.

Wrestling Night will feature appearances from two legendary wrestlers. “The Man Beast” Rhyno, a former ECW World Heavyweight Champion, WCW United States Champion and WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champion, will be in attendance, along with “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters, a former WWE and TNA standout known for his iconic Masterlock Challenge.

Plus, two live wrestling matches will take place inside the Moosehead Light Ice Bar, with one match during each intermission. Rhyno will face “The Muscle Beast” Wesley Pipes for the AIWF Canadian Heavyweight Championship, while Masters will square off against “The Ace of the Maritimes” Dick Durning for the Superstars of Wrestling Heavyweight Championship.

The Sea Dogs are 1-5-0-0 when wearing specialty jerseys this season.

Are we heading towards a Sea Dogs/Wildcats playoff series?

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Are we poised for an all-New Brunswick matchup in the opening round of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League playoffs?

The Moncton Wildcats, thanks to a seven-game winning streak, have taken over top spot in the Eastern Conference (and the league) while the Sea Dogs, mostly thanks to the Rimouski Oceanic's nine-game losing skid, now sit eighth in the conference.

That's the long way of saying: if the playoffs started today, the Sea Dogs and Wildcats would meet in the opening round.

Saint John would be major underdogs in the series – but that will be the case no matter who they face. A series against the Wildcats would at least offer some intrigue most other opponents wouldn't and hopefully develop more of a rivalry between the two.

Despite being in the league together for over 20 years, the two have never been able to development much of a rivalry beyond geography. The lone playoff matchup between the two  (I'm not counting the 2021 provincial tournament thing) came in the QMJHL final in 2010 – and that was pretty much the only season both have been competitive at the same time.

The Sea Dogs are 1-5-0-0 against the Wildcats this season with their lone win coming way back in October. The two meet again on Friday at TD Station.

Here's what the QMJHL playoffs would look like if they started today.

Eastern Conference

1) Moncton vs 8) Saint John

2) Chicoutimi vs 7) Halifax

3) Cape Breton vs 6) Quebec

4) Newfoundland vs 5) Charlottetown

Western Conference

1) Blainville-Boisbriand vs 8) Rimouski

2) Drummondville vs 7) Victoriaville

3) Shawinigan vs 6) Sherbrooke

4) Rouyn-Noranda vs 5) Val-d'Or

Some fun matchups here, including rivalry series between Moncton/Saint John, Drummondville/Victoriaville and Rouyn-Noranda/Val-d'Or. Newfoundland/Charlottetown would likely be nasty.

The Gatineau Olympiques and Baie-Comeau Drakkar would be the two teams to miss the playoffs. The Rimouski Oceanic would move to the Western Conference side and become the eighth seed.

A reminder that teams will be reseeded based on the overall league standings in the second round.

Flames trade Poirier to Stars

Calgary Wranglers

Jeremie Poirier has a new home.

The Calgary Flames traded the former Saint John Sea Dogs defenseman to the Dallas Stars on Monday in exchange for defenseman Gavin White.

Poirier, who has spent all of this season with the AHL's Calgary Wranglers, was assigned to the AHL's Texas Stars by Dallas.

We have acquired defenseman Jeremie Poirier from the Calgary Flames in exchange for defenseman Gavin White.

Poirier will be assigned to the @TexasStars.

Welcome to #TexasHockey, Jeremie! pic.twitter.com/epijuEBoPb

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) February 2, 2026

The 23-year-old was a third-round pick of the Flames in the 2020 NHL Draft. He has spent his entire professional career with the Wranglers, recording 18 goals and 84 assists in 198 games over four seasons. The offensive d-man has yet to appear in an NHL game.

This season, Poirier has a goal and five assists 35 games.

Texas currently sits 11th in the 17-team Western Conference with a 20-19-3-1 record. The Stars host the Manitoba Moose on Friday.

Poirier spent four seasons with the Sea Dogs, recording 51 goals and 117 assists in 225 career QMJHL games. He appeared in just 11 playoff games during that span but did help Saint John win the 2022 Memorial Cup on home ice.

Poirier is one of several members of Saint John's 2022 championship team currently playing in the AHL. The others are Philippe Daoust (Belleville Senators), William Villeneuve (Toronto Marlies), Raivis Ansons (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins), Riley Bezeau (Cleveland Monsters) and Vincent Sevigny (Syracuse Crunch).