Sea Dogs Notebook

UP NEXT

The Sea Dogs are on the road again this weekend. First, they travel to Sydney to take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles tomorrow night at 7pm. Then on Sunday they travel to Bathurst to battle the Titan in an afternoon tilt.

Saint John, 10-11-0-0 on the season, is three points ahead of Cape Breton the QMJHL standings and two points back of Bathurst. This should be an interesting couple games.

The Dogs return home next weekend to take on the Screaming Eagles on Saturday, November 24 and the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday, November 25.

GALIEV

Well, that didn’t take long. 24 hours after being assigned to the ECHL’s Reading Royals, former Sea Dog Stanislav Galiev was back in Hershey for Bears practice today.

"The immediate thought was to get him to a mid-week game," Bears coach Mark French told PennLive.com. "With the proximity to Reading and them being at home, it made sense to put him in the lineup there and bring him back for practice. We haven't thought any further than that.”

Galiev had two shots in Reading’s 2-1 overtime victory over the Elmira Jackals last night. It’ll be interesting to see what happens from here.

“Wonder if Galiev would have stayed in Reading longer if Royals weren't about to travel to Cincy and Evansville,” tweeted Royals beat writer Jason Guarente. “ECHL could be good for him.”

Russian Machine Never Breaks also has an article on the Galiev assignment to ‘AA.’

The 20-year old has an assist in nine games with the AHL's Bears this season.

PINK

The QMJHL raised a lot of money for breast cancer research again this year.

"Our 18 teams did a remarkable job again this year to raise money and awarness towards the fight against breast cancer. I am very proud to announce that we have raised a record amount of $139,444,” said commissioner Gilles Courteau in a release.

"More than 400 pink jerseys worn by the players and developed by our official supplier, Reebok/CCM, and their partners in this endeavour, SP Apparel, was sold with the proceeds being distributed to local, regional or national organizations dedicated to the fight against breast cancer. I would like to congratulate our teams for their excellent work and thank our great fans for their generosity."

THOMAS

Former Sea Dogs captain Mike Thomas has been released by his Newfoundland senior league team.

“It wasn’t an easy phone call to make. I’ve only known him for two months, but I felt like I’ve known him a lifetime,” Conception Bay North Eastlink CeeBee Stars head coach Corey Crocker told The Telegram.

The reason for Thomas being cut?

“Mike was true to our team, a great team player, but our need right now is another defenceman,” said Crocker.

MIKE KELLY

North Bay is back, baby. The city, as long as everything is approved, will be home of the Ontario Hockey League’s Brampton Battalion next season. It will be the first time since 2002 that city was home of an OHL team. As it turns out, current Sea Dogs head coach and general manager Mike Kelly was the last head coach for the North Bay Centennials.

“I was really happy for the community,” said Kelly in an interview with BayToday.ca on Tuesday.

“The Battalion team that’s moving in - everyone in organization from front office and hockey side - will be pleasantly surprised the warmth they are shown by community."

North Bay has already surpassed their goal for season ticket sales. Good for them.

OKE

The Hockey Writers has a great write up on former Sea Dog Scott Oke and what the future may have in store for him.

“I believe Scott Oke will be drafted in this year’s draft and sooner rather than later – he is just too good, he just has too many of the qualities teams are looking for to pass up,” they write. “However, there are no certainties. Maybe, Rimouski alumna Sidney Crosby will put in a good word for him in Pittsburgh just like he helped convince Scott’s linemate, Frédérik Gauthier, to play for Rimouski rather than to go to Harvard. If he did, I think he would be doing a good thing both for Pittsburgh and for Scott. Scott doesn’t have to have too many more filthy games like last week-end before he won’t have to worry about the ‘if’ in getting drafted but the ‘where.’”

Seriously, read this. It even designates a song for Oke’s style of play.

Oke is having a solid year with the Rimouski Oceanic. He currently has 11 goals and 18 assists in 22 games. He was named first star in the Oceanic’s 5-4 win over the Quebec Remparts on Wednesday night.

J. BEAULIEU

Former Saint John head coach and general manager Jacques Beaulieu tells the Sarnia Observer that he felt he had a good shot at making Team Canada’s coaching staff prior to getting fired by the Sea Dogs in 2009.

“I thought I was fairly close when I was in the Quebec League. I thought I had a pretty good chance of maybe getting on that following year,” he told the newspaper. “I’ve got to work my way back into it in the Ontario Hockey League now, which, it’s not going to be easy, but it’s definitely something I want to do before I retire coaching.”

Beaulieu’s Sarnia Sting currently sit second overall in the OHL’s Western Conference with a 12-7-0-1 record.

HIGHLIGHTS

The Drummondville Voltigeurs decided to just randomly upload a ton of highlights of games to YouTube yesterday. They posted the Sea Dogs-Voltigeurs highlights from last Saturday. Some pretty goals were scored.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation