Huberdeau Named Sea Dogs Captain

Last year’s team MVP is this year’s captain.

The Saint John Sea Dogs announced today that Jonathan Huberdeau has been named captain of the club for the 2011-12 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League campaign. Huberdeau takes over for Mike Thomas who graduated to the pro-ranks this year.

“Jonathan is going to be a great leader for our club,” said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant in a team release. “He’s done a lot for our team and we think he’s going to lead us forward.”

Huberdeau recorded 43 goals and 62 assists in 67 contests last year. He added another 16 goals and 14 assists in 19 post-season games and three markers and three helpers at the Memorial Cup.

The 18-year old was named the Most Valuable Player of last year’s Sea Dogs team, the QMJHL Playoffs, and the Memorial Cup. Over the summer, the Florida Panthers selected the forward with the third overall pick in the National Hockey League Entry Draft.

19-year old defenseman Kevin Gagne has worn the ‘C’ on his sweater for 11 of Saint John’s 12 games this season. With Huberdeau now sporting the ‘C’, Gagne will be a full-time assistant captain.

Vincent Lambert, Kevin Coughlin, Charles Bergeron, Dave MacDonald, Alex Grant, David Stich, Thomas, Mike Hoffman, Michael Kirkpatrick, Gagne and Danick Gauthier have all worn the ‘C’ at least once over the club’s history.

The other two assistant captaincies will rotate between four players: 20-year-old forward Danick Gauthier, 19-year-old forward Stephen MacAulay, and 19-year-old defensemen Nathan Beaulieu and Pierre Durepos. 

Gauthier was team captain in the club’s season opener.

With so many players returning from last year’s Memorial Cup Championship team, the Sea Dogs coaching staff had plenty of options.

“We’ve got five very good assistant captains that are going to be a big part of our leadership group. Obviously we left out some very good players and very good leaders but we all know we can’t have nine or 10 assistant captains,” Gallant said. “We’ve got some real good leadership in our room.”

Stanislav Galiev, Aidan Kelly, Scott Oke, Jason Cameron, Jason Seed and the departed Alexandre Beauregard have also worn an ‘A’ at some point this season.


Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation