Saint John Tops Final Rankings

The Saint John Sea Dogs will end the regular season where they started it – ranked No. 1 in the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings. The final rankings were released earlier today.

The Sea Dogs were ranked No. 1 in the CHL’s pre-season rankings way back on September 7. Saint John was the only team in the country to be ranked in every edition of the Top 10. They slipped all the way down to No. 6 at times due to injuries, NHL camps, and the World Juniors but always climbed back up.

Saint John was ranked No. 1 in the final four Top 10s this season.

The Dogs are coming off a 3-0 week. They defeated the Halifax Mooseheads 6-1 last Wednesday, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 4-0 on Friday, and the Eagles again by score of 7-4 on Saturday. The three wins clinched Saint John a third straight regular season title, 100-point season, and 50-win season.

Other Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams to crack this week’s rankings were the Shawinigan Cataractes at No. 5 and the Victoriaville Tigres at No. 10. The Quebec Remparts were an honourable mention.

The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10 teams are selected by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.

Here are the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings for week 26.

1. Saint John Sea Dogs (50-15-0-3)
2. Tri-City Americans (50-18-2-2)
3. London Knights (49-18-0-1)
4. Edmonton Oil Kings (50-15-3-4)
5. Shawinigan Cataractes (45-16-3-4)
6. Plymouth Whalers (47-18-2-1)
7. Portland Winterhawks (49-19-3-1)
8. Niagara IceDogs (47-18-0-3)
9. Kamloops Blazers (47-20-2-3)
10. Victoriaville Tigres (44-18-1-5) 

Honourable Mention:
Quebec Remparts (43-18-5-2)
Ottawa 67's (40-20-5-3)
Moose Jaw Warriors (45-19-6-2)

This is the second straight season that Saint John has topped the final edition of the rankings.