Sea Dogs Notebook

FLORIDA

Reader Todd sent this picture to us. It’s from a February 15 Florida Panthers game at the Bank Atlantic Center. It reads, “Jonathan Huberdeau also recorded a hat trick last week in his own four point night.”

UP NEXT

Tomorrow night at 7pm, the Sea Dogs will host the Halifax Mooseheads at Harbour Station. It’s Toonie Tuesday, with youth upper-bowl tickets available for just $2 (plus $1 service charge) with the purchase of an adult ticket.

The Mooseheads are coming off a 6-5 win in Bathurst on Sunday afternoon. Halifax led 6-0 entering the third period and nearly collapsed entirely.

Halifax has been without future/current superstar Nathan MacKinnon the last couple of games because of a thumb injury. He is questionable for tomorrow’s game.

Saint John is 5-1-0-0 against Halifax this season. After Tuesday’s game, they will meet one more time this year in Halifax.

HOT TEAM

The Sea Dogs have been named the QMJHL’s ‘Hot Team’ by Sportsnet again this week.

“Although there was just one game on their schedule last week, the Sea Dogs stormed out to an early lead then coasted against Québec on Friday Night Hockey,” writes Patrick King in his ‘Who’s Hot, Who’s Not’ column. “It was Saint John's 11th consecutive victory, dating back to a rare loss to Shawinigan on Jan. 12. With the Sea Dogs playing so dominantly, one can't help but wonder if they'll lose again in the final 11 games this season.”

CORBEIL

According to the QMJHL website, Mathieu Corbeil is closing in on a significant league record. From the weekly interesting numbers post on the Q website Friday:

Mathieu Corbeil (SNB) - He has already registered 6 shutouts in 2011-12 and needs only one more to tie the League record of 7 which is held jointly by Sanza, Luongo, Russo and Poulin. On Wednesday night, he regained the top spot for the average of goals allowed (2.33) in front of Gabriel Girard (SHA | 2,37).

Corbeil has been playing very well of late, telling Sportsnet after Friday’s game that he has become more patient in the crease which has helped his game. Overall, the 20-year old Columbus Blue Jackets prospect has a record of 32-9-0-0, 2.29 GAA, and 0.914 SV%.

DUREPOS

The league website had a video featuring Sea Dogs defenseman Pierre Durepos this week. It can be viewed by clicking here.

COSENTINO

In Sam Cosentino’s latest column over at Sportsnet.ca, he shares his thoughts on the Sea Dogs and Remparts after broadcasting Friday’s game from Harbour Station.

“You can put aside any doubts about the play of goaltender Mathieu Corbeil,” writes Cosentino who finally spelled Saint John correctly in one of his columns. “Despite having the best overall numbers in the QMJHL, Corbeil is working on becoming more patient and letting the puck come to him. His rebound control is great and the tweaks to his game have made him arguably the best goalie in the league. Thank the coaching staff for getting him one start in the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup.”

Cosentino also compliments the play of Stanislav Galiev, Danick Gauthier, Jonathan Huberdeau, Pierre Durepos and Kevin Gagne.

BEAULIEU

The Quebec newspaper Le Soleil had an article on Nathan Beaulieu this week en francais. He talks about a bunch of stuff. Check it out here.

ATTENDANCE

One thing that hasn’t been talked about much this year has been the Sea Dogs’ attendance numbers. That’s probably because they’ve been pretty good all year. Saint John is currently averaging 4,342 fans per game, the third highest average in the league behind Quebec and Halifax. The Sea Dogs still have five home games remaining.

Saint John averaged 4,478 fans per game last season.

GOALS

Danick Gauthier is six goals away from tying Mike Hoffman’s franchise record of 46 in one season. Hoffman set the mark during the 2009-10 season in which he also won the league’s MVP award.

In the league goal scoring race, Gauthier is still trailing Bathurst’s Zack O’Brien. O’Brien, who has played two fewer games than the Sea Dogs’ 20-year old forward, has 47 goals on the year compared to Gauthier’s 40.

TOP PROSPECTS GAME

According to Metro Halifax this morning, the Mooseheads are expected to be awarded the 2013 Home Hardware NHL/CHL Top Prospects Game. It’s unknown when there will be an official announcement.

This is quite awesome for Atlantic Canadian hockey fans and especially awesome for Halifax fans. Mooseheads rookie and Cole Harbour native Nathan MacKinnon will no doubt be the centre of attention.

CJ

Lastly, here’s CJ with a video on Nathan Beaulieu.