Dogs Will Meet Moose In 1st Round

The Saint John Sea Dogs will play the Halifax Mooseheads in the first-round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs.

The series was confirmed tonight with the Sherbrooke Phoenix beating the Val-d’Or Foreurs 4-3. With the win, the Phoenix clinched 15^th overall, meaning the Sea Dogs will finish 16^th and making them the lowest seed in this year’s post-season.

Halifax has had, statistically, one of the greatest regular seasons ever in the QMJHL. They can tie the league record for wins (58) with a victory tomorrow, a record the 2010-11 Sea Dogs are a part owners of. The Moose have sat atop the standings for most of the season and are ranked No. 1 in the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings. To say the Sea Dogs have a massive task ahead of them is an understatement.

The Sea Dogs have been the No. 1 seeded team over the past three seasons and, particularly the past two years, steamrolled through the first-round. Now, Saint John will get a view from the other side.

There are some positives about this series. The travel won’t be too bad, Moosehead fans aren’t as nuts as Baie-Comeau fans, and Saint John fans will get to see some of the best available talent for this year’s NHL Draft on Harbour Station ice a couple more times.

This will be the first playoff meeting between the two franchises. The Mooseheads are the only Maritime based team the Sea Dogs have never faced in the post-season.

The Mooseheads have already announced that the first two games of the series will be held on Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23 at the Halifax Metro Centre. A full schedule will be announced sometime this week, but games three and four will, based on past playoff series schedules, likely be held on Tuesday, March 26 and Wednesday, March 27 at Harbour Station.

The Sea Dogs, 23-43-1-0, play their final game of the regular season tomorrow afternoon in Charlottetown against the PEI Rocket.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation