Sea Dogs Notebook

BIG GAME

There’s a fairly huge game being played tomorrow at Harbour Station. We recommend you attend.

Patrick King of Sportsnet has named Thursday’s contest between Saint John and Shawinigan the QMJHL “game of the week.”

“This game means so much more to both teams than the two points could ever mean in the standings,” writes King. “The hosting rights for this year's MasterCard Memorial Cup came down to these two teams and many in Saint John still feel slighted by the hosting committee's decision. Only two points separate both teams heading into the week for first place in league standings. Expect a heated, playoff-like game and atmosphere at Harbour Station.”

This is the last time the Cataractes will travel to Saint John in the regular season. The Sea Dogs play in Shawinigan twice over the remainder of the season.

MORE ON THE GAME

Steve Turcotte of Le Nouvellsite has more Cataractes/SeaDogs stuff en francais. He still has the Sea Dogs as the team to beat in the league.

Sportsnet also has an article on tomorrow’s game with some quotes from Martin Mondou. According to Patrick King, Mondou denies assembling his team specifically to challenge Saint John.

"The Sea Dogs are really a team that was built from their offence and now our team was really built from our defence and our goalie, so we're really two different teams," he said.

It’s going to be a wild stretch run with these two playing each other three more times.

SCHOLASTIC AWARD

Mathieu Corbeil has been named the Sea Dogs’ scholastic player of the month for December.

This initiative’s goal, which was developed by the QMJHL and its member clubs, is to recognize student athletes’ performances both on the ice and at school. The players are selected for their school results, their implication, the school-hockey conciliation, their team spirit and their on-ice performances.

The full list of winners can be found here.

GOAL SCORING LEAD

Zach O’Brien is starting to peel away from the pack in the league’s goal-scoring lead. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan sniper now has a league high 37 goals in 44 games. Saint John’s Danick Gauthier sits second with 33. He is in a tie with Bathurst’s Matthew Bissonnette for second but has played two fewer games.

KEVIN GAGNE

How ‘bout Kevin Gagne over the past few weeks? The defenseman has five goals and five assists over his past 10 games. He now has eight goals and 16 helpers in 45 total games this year.

JURCO

Open Ice Hockey has a story on Tomas Jurco and how he now longer wants to be known just for his trick shots.

“I want to be known as a good hockey player, not just the guy with the stick and puck,” said Jurco.

Here’s some video from the interview which took place at the world juniors.

DESPRES HURT

The Pittsburgh Penguins called up Simon Despres for last night’s game against Ottawa. Now he’ll be out of action for a few weeks. Fromthe Pens website:

However, Bylsma said rookie defenseman Simon Despres, who was recalled to play in Tuesday's game against Ottawa, suffered a sprained knee and will be out two to four weeks. He played only three minutes during the 5-1 loss to the Senators and was ruled to have a lower-body injury during the second period.

In 14 games with Pittsburgh, Despres has a goal and three assists.

HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA

The Sea Dogs are in Charlottetown to play the PEI Rocket on Saturday, February 11. CBC will be hosting their annual Hockey Day in Canada stuff on the Island that day. It sounds like some highlights of that game will be aired on Hockey Night in Canada.

"CBC will be shooting from here and bringing components of that game into the national broadcast," said Wayne Long (not the Wayne Long), Charlottetown's events development officer, to The Guardian.

The Guardian has more details on the festivities.

STEVEN ANTHONY

Steven Anthony. Remember him? He’s currently playing with the East Coast Hockey League’s Kalamazoo Wings. The Sturgis Journal had a story on him last week.

“I’ve tried to improve and make adjustments to my game to be a smarter player and not run around the ice like you sometimes do in the juniors,” said Anthony.

The Halifax native has seven goals and nine assists in 24 games in the ECHL this season.

WHAT?

We like Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino, and it can’t be an easy job covering 59 teams. But his trade deadline column featured a really, really bizarre paragraph today.

The Saint John Sea Dogs didn't need much, but the addition of Jordan Moore on the back should solidify their top six. Addition without penalty in the form of Charlie Coyle, and the toughness provided by Maxime Villemaire should have the Dogs in the hunt to defend their MasterCard Memorial Cup title.

Jordan Moore as a top-six defenseman, solidifying their defense? Oh my…

CJ

Lastly, here’s friend-of-the-blog CJ taking about Zack Phillips and the Sea Dogs.

And here’s CJ comparing Saint John’s “Big 4” to the Windsor Spitfires’ “Big 4” from a couple of years back. Really solid vid.