Sea Dogs Notebook

GAGNE

A few hours after officially being traded to the Rimouski Oceanic, Kevin Gagne thanked the Sea Dogs organization and fans on Twitter.

I would like to thank the entire Saint John Sea Dogs organization for everything they have done for me during these past 4 1/2 years!!
— Kevin Gagne (@KevinGagne21) December 22, 2012

And also all the support from our fans! #firstclass
— Kevin Gagne (@KevinGagne21) December 22, 2012

The Rimouski newspaper L’Avantage has plenty of coverage of the trade.

SeaDogsTV posted this Gagne highlight video on YouTube.

HUBERDEAU

Team Canada needed a shootout to beat Sweden 2-1 in world junior pre-competition play yesterday in Finland. Jonathan Huberdeau was Canada’s first shooter in the shootout and scored a nifty goal as usual.

Huberdeau and Team Canada open up the World Junior Hockey Championships on Boxing Day against Germany.

BEAULIEU

Nathan Beaulieu is having a solid month with the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Bulldogs website had an article on Beaulieu earlier this week.

“It has been a good month for me so far,” Beaulieu said Thursday. “I felt like I got my game back a little bit. I was struggling early on, I think I was trying to do too much. But I have been keeping it simple and offensively things have been a lot better.”

The former Sea Dogs defenseman has a goals and nine assists in 26 American Hockey League games this year.

GALIEV

Hockey’s Future had an article about the Washington Capitals prospect system yesterday. Former Sea Dog Stanislav Galiev was mentioned.

“Stanislav Galiev has a great upside, but could take a little longer than (Filip) Forsberg to break into the Capitals roster,” writes Eric Scheib. “After some struggles early this season in Hershey (AHL), Galiev has been dominant in the ECHL with the Reading Royals. Galiev has the tools of an NHL forward, but just needs the time and experience of playing at the pro level.”

Galiev is back with the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears where he has an assist in 11 games this season. He had six goals and seven assists in 12 games with the Royals.

WEST

As Will MacLaren noted in his latest blog post, former Sea Dog Grant West was traded by the Maritime Junior Hockey League’s Campbellton Tigers to the Truro Bearcats. The Bearcats are currently the third best team in the MHL.

West, as many 20-year olds do in Junior A, has had some offensive success this year. He has 11 goals and 14 assists in 26 games. The Fredericton native had 17 points in 49 games with Saint John last season.

Part of the West trade saw Mike Richard traded to Campbellton. He was a 12^th round pick of Saint John back in 2009.

BURSEY

Saint John native and PEI Rocket forward Matt Bursey got a six-game suspension for abusing an official. Here’s video via HockeyFights.com:

Moncton’s Kyle Haas got a five-game suspension for that cross check.