Sea Dogs Notebook

PHILLIPS NAMED FIRST STAR

The QMJHL named Sea Dogs forward Zack Phillips the first star for November yesterday.

“In 13 games, the Saint John Sea Dogs forward tallied five goals and 18 assists while posting a +13 rating,” states the league’s website. “Phillips established a new team record by recording at least one point in 20 consecutive games. With a total of 48 points, he trails league-leader Zach O’Brien by only four points. Phillips registered 16 of his 23 points during the Sea Dogs’ eight road games. Phillips has been a key offensive producer in the absences of Stanislav Galiev and Jonathan Huberdeau.”

Quebec Remparts forward Mikhail Grigorenko, who netted a hat trick against Saint John a couple of weeks ago, was named second star. Moncton Wildcats goaltender Roman Will, who suffered a 2-1 overtime loss to Saint John on Tuesday, was the third star.

MOVEMBER

The Sea Dogs announced their Movember results yesterday.

According to a Sea Dogs release, “the team solicited donations throughout the month, amassing nearly $2,000 towards the cause. Sea Dogs Chairman and CEO Scott McCain matched that amount Thursday, bringing the total to nearly $4,000.”

Stephen MacAulay raised $490, the most on the team. In a social media poll issued by the Dogs, fans voted Spencer MacDonald as the best moustache grower while Mathieu Corbeil was named the worst.

RAISING THE ROOF

The Sea Dogs also announced yesterday they “helped promote another community cause this week, making a donation to the Raising the Roof campaign to fight youth homelessness.

“The team purchased red toques for players, coaches and staff, and posed for photos wearing the distinctive headwear, which is being sold to raise money for the Saint John Youth House project.”

Toques can be purchased at the Human Development Council on the 3rd floor of the City Market, or go to http://www.raisingtheroof.org/ to order online.

Here is a SeaDogsTV video about the campaign.

THE Q AND TEAM CANADA

Today, Willy Palov of the Chronicle Herald took a look at which QMJHL players invited to Team Canada’s selection camp later this month have a legit chance at making the squad. Like most, he considers Jonathan Huberdeau and Brandon Gormley the only locks to make the team.

Palov has an interesting take on Phillips’ odds of making the squad.

Phillips’ chemistry with Huberdeau could help his cause but it will only buy him a modest edge over some of the other skilled players from Ontario and out West. But Phillips is often underrated for his own ability and I fully expect him to match skill with the other campers. It seems to me that Team Canada wants those two players on the team and will only leave them off the final roster if they perform below expectations at camp.

His column also has a video explaining his picks. 

WJC ROSTER PREDICTIONS

The Pipeline Show made their Team Canada roster predictions earlier this week.

Dean Millard chose all three Sea Dogs – defenseman Nathan Beaulieu and forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Zack Phillips – to make the squad. Guy Flaming chose just Huberdeau to crack the squad.

MORRISON

Brock Morrison has had his Maritime Junior Hockey League rights traded. According the MHL’s Twitter, Morrison was traded to the Summerside Western Capitals in exchange for Matt Myers and future considerations.

Morrison, who has been playing with Saint John for the past two weeks, has two goals and an assist in 11 games with the Dogs this year.

TSN RANKINGS

Several Sea Dogs made TSN’s QMJHL player rankings againthis week. They were:

1. Zack Phillips – 92.16
5. Tomas Jurco – 86.95
8. Danick Gauthier – 86.33
9. Mathieu Corbeil – 86.27
21. Ryan Tesink – 79.76
25. Charles-Olivier Roussel – 78.07
32. Nathan Beaulieu – 75.93

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

DESPRES

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has some more stuff on Simon Despres’ NHL debut last night. How long Despres will stay up with the Pens has yet to be determined.

"We'll see how the next couple of games go, probably, see about our injuries and go from there," general manager Ray Shero said Thursday. 

"With the four injuries we have on defense, with [Brian] Strait and [Ben] Lovejoy being out long term, and now with [Zbynek] Michalek and [Kris] Letang being out -- we're not sure how long they'll be out for -- our depth is being tested. 

"We want to get an idea of what we have, in terms of [Robert] Bortuzzo, [Alexandre] Picard and now, Despres. We'll give these guys opportunities and then, as we move forward, we can have a better idea and give them some experience and go from there."

The Penguins are in Carolina on Saturday to face the Hurricanes.

IRVING ADS

These ads have been popping up on the QMJHL website for a little while now.

TURK

The QMJHL website has an article on Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant. The article has some interesting info on the possibility of Gallant someday coaching Canada’s world junior team.

“I haven’t thought about it (lately),’’ the bench boss said. “I applied for it two years ago and nothing came out of that and I didn’t apply last year. To me, it’s not a goal of my mine. If I change my thinking a year or two down the road, we’ll see. But it’s not a big goal of mine right now.’’

Of note, Team Canada will not have any QMJHL coaches on their staff this year.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation