SN Staff
The ultimate goal of every team is to win a championship.
There’s no doubting that, but if you can make a little history while you’re at
it, then all the better.
With a strong second half, the Saint John Sea Dogs are
poised to do something no team in the history of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League has done – win three straight regular season titles.
Saint John has a great chance of etching its name into
the record books as it has been at or near the top of the standings all season
– despite injuries to several key players – after winning back-to-back regular
season titles the past two seasons.
Most teams can have two good season in a typical junior
hockey player development cycle, but three is no easy feat
Consider this, how many teams in the QMJHL could you take
three of its NHL drafted players out of the lineup for an extended period of
time and still win on a consistent basis.
The answer is zero to none.
The fact that Saint John has been in the upper echelon of
the standings is a testament to the players they’ve developed and the coaching
being done by bench boss Gerard Gallant and associate coach Mike Kelly.
The men from the bright red mud have kept the Port City
squad firing on all cylinders and players are responding with career years.
Danick Gauthier’s goal–scoring prowess has been
phenomenal and Zack Phillips is showing that he’s an elite player in Canadian
Hockey League no matter who he lines up with or against.
As for the playoffs, a third-straight berth in the President’s Cup final is what the team is
aiming for and if they can win it all again, the Sea Dogs would be the seventh
team in QMJHL history to win back-to-back President’s Cup championships, but
the first from Atlantic Canada.
With the likes of Huberdeau, Galiev, Coyle and Tesink
coming back to the lineup its not hard to imagine some more hardware coming
this team’s way.
Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment