Sea Dogs Notebook

TICKETS

Tickets to Games 1 and 2 of the President’s Cup final go on sale tomorrow morning at 10am at the Harbour Station box office. Game 1 is on Friday at 8pm and Game 2 is Saturday night at 7pm.

SLAMMERS WIN

The Woodstock Slammers are Fred Page Cup Champions and will now play in the RBC Cup.

The Slammers, Maritime Junior A Hockey League champions, defeated the Nepean Raiders 3-2 at the Kanata Recreation Centre in Kanata, Ontario to earn a berth in the national championship. They’ll join the Soo Thunderbirds, Portage Terriers, Penticton Vees, and the host Humboldt Broncos at the RBC Cup.

The Slammers feature Sea Dogs prospect Mackenzie Brown, training camp attendee Philip Fife, and former Sea Dog Andrew Langan.

Woodstock’s first game is this Saturday against the Broncos.

DYNASTIES

Good stuff from Patrick King over at Sportsnet.ca last week. He has a column discussing two possible dynasties possibly colliding at the Memorial Cup. Possibly.

“It's still a hard trophy to win once, let alone twice,” writes King. “The Sea Dogs and Oil Kings, however, are seemingly on a collision course which could determine not just one dynasty, but two.”

"Our perspective doesn't deal with dynasties -- it doesn't deal with repeating right now," said Mike Kelly. "Our perspective is dealing with today."

ANTHEM AFTERMATH

TrinityToday.ca responds to last week’s bizarre Peter McGuire column about how players should stand still during the singing of the national anthem.

This notation made that the players should be like statues during this time is simply ridiculous. To use an analogy, it would be like asking kids to relax, stand, and not show their feelings on Christmas morning. To suggest that the Sea Dogs show “respect” by standing still during the national anthem is the silliest thing I have read in some time. I thank the sports reporter for the laugh.

This is almost as odd as McGuire’s column last year when he suggested Jacob DeSerres show some more life when he hit the ice during the pre-game introductions.

DESPRES

Former Sea Dog Simon Despres will be taking some the experience he gained playing with Pittsburgh in the NHL playoffs and applying it to Wilkes-Barre’s run in the AHL post-season.

"I just take it like it was a good experience for me," Despres told the Citizen’s Voice. "I'll be more confident down here and I'll try to do my best to help the team."

The Baby Pens beat the Hershey Bears in five games in the first round. They’ll face the St. John’s IceCaps in round two. That best-of-seven series begins tomorrow night at Mile One.

BOURRET

It looks like former Sea Dog Gabriel Bourret is on the move again. According to Jean-Francois Plante of the Gatineau newspaper Le Droit, Bourret will be part of the package that will be traded to the Olympiques at the draft to complete the Pageau, Ouellet, and Gagnon deals.

The Sea Dogs traded Bourret to Chicoutimi at last year’s draft.

This year’s draft should be entertaining with some blockbuster deals being completing, all the Sherbrooke stuff, and the regular entry draft taking place.

WELCOME BACK

Saint John will face Rimouski in the President’s Cup final. It’s the fourth time the Oceanic have made it to the league’s final and the first since 2005.

Rimouski lost in the 1998 final, won it all – including the Memorial Cup – in 2000, and won the President’s Cup again in 2005. Sidney Crosby and the Oceanic lost to the London Knights in the Memorial Cup final in ’05.

Rimouski hosted the 2009 Memorial Cup but did not even make the league final that year.

COSENTINO

Sam Cosentino is coming back to town on Friday. In his latest column on Sportsnet.ca, he takes a look at the Rimouski Oceanic’s playoff run. Also, the Sherbrooke Phoenix are part of the CHL Network now.