Sea Dogs Notebook

SIGN OF THE TIMES

@nickhoben tweeted this to us last week. What a pic.

STATS
If you’re a fan of numbers, you’ll probably enjoy Puck Worlds statistical outlook on the first quarter of the 2011-12 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League campaign.

Along with a look at the league standings, they take a look at some of the players who will likely be participating at the World Juniors in Alberta.

“Huberdeau is pretty spectacular right now,” writes Bruce Peter. “He's a world class playmaker that is also getting (and making) plenty of shots right now despite having so many options to pass to. And yeah, this Saint John team is loaded. Jurco should be a top player for the Slovakian WJC team, and if healthy Galiev could really help the Russians.”

PLUS/MINUS
The Saint John Sea Dogs are dominating the league’s plus/minus stats category.

Defenseman Charles-Olivier Roussel is a league best +22 in 13 games. Zack Phillips is tied for second with the Armada’s Nikita Kolesnikovs with a +21 rating. Jonathan Huberdeau, Danick Gauthier, Tomas Jurco Kevin Gagne, Ryan Tesinik, Stephen MacAulay, Spencer MacDonald and Scott Oke are also all top-20 in plus/minus.

POWER RANKINGS
TSN released their first QMJHL power rankings of the year today. Several Sea Dogs made the top-50.

1. Jonathan Huberdeau – 98.15
3. Zack Phillips – 92.41
7. Mathieu Corbeil – 86.90
9. Danick Gauthier – 85.91
16. Tomas Jurco – 82.72
22. Ryan Tesink – 79.30
50. Nathan Beaulieu – 72.69

Player rankings are based on statistical production and are intended to value the impact a player has on the game.

FIGHTING
The Sea Dogs were expected to lead several statistical categories this season – but fighting wasn’t necessarily one of them.

All the debate about fighting in hockey hasn’t slowed the Sea Dogs down at all as they sit second in the league with 25 scraps this year, according to HockeyFights.com. The Gordie Dwyer led PEI Rocket have a league high 32 fights.

Saint John had 37 fights last season and 32 in 2009-10.

Ian Saab leads the Sea Dogs with five fighting majors. Nathan Beaulieu has three.

SCHEMBRI SPORTS
Former Sea Dogs Chuckie Schembri’s new sports store, Schembri Sports, will hold their grand opening festivities on November 19, according to Twitter. A few Sea Dogs will be attending, as per their tweets.

Give them a follow on Twitter for all the info on the new store.

Because of injuries, Schembri played in 12 playoff games for Saint John during their 2010 President’s Cup playoff run. He recorded two goals and eight penalty minutes.

HUBERDEAU AUTOGRAPH
I got a copy of Frozen Pond’s (sports memorabilia shop in Toronto) 2011-12 magazine in the mail the other day. One thing really stood out.

The picture and puck are both worth more than Clarke MacArthur’s.