Notebook: Nice Pucks Are Nice

Via Sea Dogs equipment manager David Kelly, here’s a look at Saint John’s pucks for the upcoming 10^th anniversary season.

OGP did a great job on the game pucks once again this year.. Cant wait to get this 10th season going! #GotTickets? pic.twitter.com/tcUPINuRwX
— DK (@SeaDogsDK) August 29, 2014

MUST-SEE PLAYERS

In his Friday column, the Chronicle Herald’s Willy Palov listed Sea Dogs defensemen Jakub Zboril, Luke Green, and Adam Bateman as must-see players in the QMJHL this season.

On Zboril, Palov writes “the Czech blueliner is coming off an outstanding summer season with his national team and is another player pegged as a possible first-rounder for the 2015 NHL draft.”

COMING UP

The Sea Dogs return to pre-season action next Friday at Harbour Station when they host the Charlottetown Islanders at 7:30 p.m. The two teams also meet next Saturday at Eastlink Centre to wrap up exhibition play.

Saint John is 2-1-0-1 in pre-season play so far this year while Charlottetown is 2-2-0-0.

Friday’s game will be the first of three straight between the Dogs and Isles. They also meet on September 12 in Charlottetown to open the regular season.

The Islanders feature former Sea Dogs Oliver Cooper and Will Thompson.

VOLUNTEERS

The Sea Dogs are looking for volunteers to join their game night operations staff.

If interested, resumes can be sent to Cole Fowler, Game Day and Community Coordinator, at:

cole.fowler@saintjohnseadogs.com
(506) 632-9269

Ward Reassigned; 26 Reamin At Camp

26 players remain at Saint John Sea Dogs training camp.

The team announced this morning that forward Kyle Ward has been reassigned from their training camp roster. Ward, 16, was a ninth-round pick of the Sea Dogs in this year’s QMJHL Entry Draft.

The Sackville native recorded 11 goals and 17 assists in 28 NB/PEI Major Midget AAA Hockey League games with the Moncton Flyers last season. He also had two goals in five games with Team Atlantic at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

There are now 26 players remaining on Saint John’s camp roster, consisting of three goaltenders, eight defensemen, and 15 forwards.

It appears the Dogs will cut at least one more forward, and it will presumably be between imports Juraj Siska and Nikita Li.

Lorne had a nice breakdown of Saint John’s possible roster yesterday on the blog.

Saint John’s next pre-season game is on September 5 at Harbour Station against the Charlottetown Islanders.

Notebook: Mapping the QMJHL

Via the website Icethetics, here’s a map of the QMJHL. Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d’Or are pretty much on another planet.

UP NEXT

The Sea Dogs have this weekend off from pre-season action but will return next weekend with a pair of games. Next Friday, Saint John hosts the Charlottetown Islanders at Harbour Station at 7:30 p.m. The two teams the meet at Eastlink Link the next night at 7:00 p.m.

Saint John is 2-1-0-1 in exhibition play and have outscored opponents 13-9.

The Sea Dogs begin the regular season on Friday, September 12 in Charlottetown.

TESSIER

Confirmed: Julien Tessier ( @JulTessier17 ) will be part of the roster for the Sea Dogs - Congrats and all the best this season!
— Kevin Chambers (@HPCanucklehead) August 27, 2014

Tessier was chosen by Saint John with the 15^th overall pick in this year’s QMJHL Entry Draft. The 16-year old forward has looked good in pre-season action, recording a goal and five shots in three games.

THE DRAFT

According to reports, next year’s QMJHL Entry Draft will be held in Sherbrooke. The Phoenix also hosted last year’s draft and was, apparently, quite successful.

UNION TALK

TSN’ Rick Westhead had a big time article on the possibility of a CHL players union becoming reality. He specifically mentioned former Sea Dog Nicholas Pard in his piece.

From the article:

Dias confirmed that some players in Quebec have been asked to sign union cards by Nicholas Pard, who played three seasons with the Saint John Sea Dogs in Quebec's major junior league. It is unclear how many players signed union cards. Pard is now playing pro hockey in Europe, Dias said.

Pard has spent the past three seasons in France.

Sea Dogs Reassign Nicholson

By Jamie Tozer and Lorne Webster

The Saint John Sea Dogs continue to trim down their training camp roster.

This afternoon the club announced that defenseman Gareth Nicholson has been reassigned from their camp roster. The Kentville, NS native was acquired in a trade from the Moncton Wildcats earlier this month.

Nicholson, 19, has spent the past two seasons in the QMJHL. He registered a goal and an assist in 39 games split between the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and Wildcats last season.

Nicholson was a second-round pick of the Dieppe Commandos in the 2012 MHL Draft.

Saint John’s training camp roster is now down to 27 players consisting of three goaltenders, eight defensemen, and 16 forwards. Many teams around the league have already finalized their rosters for opening night.

Station Nation’s Lorne Webster took a stab at predicting Saint John’s opening night roster. Here is his take:

Pezzetta, Gross Reassigned

Forwards Stefano Pezzetta and Drew Gross have been reassigned by the Sea Dogs, the team announced this morning.

Pezzetta, 19, leads the Sea Dogs in pre-season scoring with three goals and an assist in four games but was held pointless in both contests this past weekend. The Toronto native played in two games with the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack last season along with 25 OJHL games.

Gross, 18, was held pointless in three pre-season games. The Kitchener native recorded 13 goals and 24 points in 46 GOJHL games with the Stratford Cullitons last season.

There are now 28 players remaining at Sea Dogs training camp. The roster consists of three goaltenders, nine defensemen, and 16 forwards.

Saint John’s next pre-season game is on Friday, September 5 at Harbour Station against the Charlottetown Islanders.

Notebook: Truro Has A Nice Rink

What a beautiful building the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro is.

Outside, the building looks massive even from the highway. It seems just as big on the inside with a large arena, a large pool and slide, and other amenities most modern community centres feature these days. It was sort of a combination of the Dartmouth Sportsplex and Fredericton’s Grant*Harvey Centre.

The most unique part of the building is the amount of windows. There are windows everywhere. When sitting in the stands, you can actually see the pool through some glass doors behind one of the nets.

The Truro Daily News has a recap of the event.

LEADERS

Stefano Pezzetta, who was reassigned by the team today, was held pointless this weekend but still leads the Sea Dogs in pre-season scoring with four points. His three goals are a team high as well.

Samuel Dove-McFalls (two goals and one assist), Mathieu Joseph (one goal and two assists) and Sheehan Kirkwood (three assists) all sit second in team scoring with three points each.

Also of note, Sebastien Auger, Blade Mann-Dixon, and Christopher Smith have yet to allow a goal this pre-season.

RICHARD RETURNS

Former Sea Dogs forward Joey Richard returned to action this weekend with the Gatineau Olympiques. Prior to this weekend, the Dieppe native had not played January 4 due to a shoulder injury.

Richard scored and had two shots for the Olympiques on Saturday in Rouyn-Noranda. On Sunday against the Huskies, the right-winger was held pointless but did have two shots.

The Sea Dogs traded Richard to the Olympiques in May for a 2016 fourth-round pick.

More Players Released From Camp Roster

The Saint John Sea Dogs released eight players from their training camp roster this weekend.

Yesterday, before the Sea Dogs’ pre-season game against the Halifax Mooseheads, the team announced that forwards Chris Sarault and Francis Theriault had been released.

Sarault, a 17-year old who was drafted in the eighth round by Saint John in the 2013 QMJHL Entry Draft, played in Colorado last season. Theriault, 17, played with the MHL’s Campbellton Tigers last season and was a 13^th round pick of the Dogs in this year’s draft.

Today, the team announced six additional cuts. Goaltender Christopher Smith; defensemen Sheehan Kirkwood and Louis-Philip Fortin; and forwards Cody Grant, Declan Smith, and Ryan Kenny have all been released from the team’s training camp roster.

Smith was a fifth-round pick of the Dogs in the 2013 QMJHL Draft and played in one game with the club last season. Kirkwood was signed as a free agent and played in three games with the Dogs in 2013-14. Fortin was acquired from the Quebec Remparts in the Alexander McQuaid trade. Grant, Smith, and Kenny were all selected by Saint John in this year’s Entry Draft.

30 players remain on Saint John’s training camp roster – three goaltenders, nine defensemen, and 18 forwards.

The Sea Dogs do not return to pre-season action until September 5 when they host the Charlottetown Islanders.

RECAP: Dogs Lose 4-3 (SO)

FINAL: Saint John 3, Halifax 4 (SO)

TRURO, NS – A three-goal comeback by the Saint John Sea Dogs was spoiled by a lengthy shootout loss to the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday night at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro.

The Sea Dogs didn’t play horribly in the first half of the game but fell behind 3-0. Saint John got a power play goal late in the second to give them some life; and then in the third, Saint John really turned it on at times and scored a shorthanded and even strength marker to send the match to a shootout.

A lengthy, seven round shootout then ensued. Samuel Leblanc’s goal and a Kevin Resop save off of Adam Bateman proved to be the winning formula for the Moose.

Samuel Dove-McFalls, Matt Green, and Mathieu Joseph had regulation time goals for Saint John. Bobby Dugan got the start in net and made 16 saves on 19 shots. Chris Smith took over midway through the second and made seven stops.

Halifax had goals from Vincent Watt, Matt Murphy, and Kelly Bent. Zach Fucale got the start in net and made 18 saves. Kevin Resop took over near the halfway point of the game and made 16 stops on 19 shots.

Pre-Season Game Day 4 - at Halifax

A preview of tonight’s game between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Halifax Mooseheads…

When and where: Tonight at 7:00 p.m., Rath Eastlink Community Centre (Truro, NS)

TV/Radio: None

Records: The Sea Dogs sit second in the Maritimes Division and seventh overall in the QMJHL with a 2-1-0-0 record for four points. The Mooseheads are 1-1-0-1 for three points which places them fourth in the Maritimes and 11^th overall.

Last games: These two met last night at Harbour Station with the Sea Dogs edging the Mooseheads 1-0 in a shootout. Juraj Siska’s shootout marker was the only goal scored in the entire contest. Sebastien Auger made 26 saves for the shutout.

2013-14 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs went 1-7-0-0 against the Mooseheads last season while Halifax went 7-1-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: See above.

Random stat: Tonight, the Sea Dogs will be playing the Mooseheads for the third consecutive game. Mind blowing stuff, I know.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Mooseheads: Kelly Bent

SJ notes: Stefano Pezzetta leads the Sea Dogs in scoring with three goals and four points… Nathan Noel and Juraj Siska each have two goals… the Dogs are 0-1 on the road in pre-season play… Sebastien Auger played the entire game last night.

HFX notes: The Moose are led by Brandon Vuic who has a goal and an assist for two points… Kevin Resop and Christofer Langlais split goaltending duties for Halifax last night… the Moose are 1-0 on “home ice” this pre-season, beating the Sea Dogs 3-2 in Dartmouth last Saturday… the RECC is the usual home of the MHL’s Truro Bearcats.

Out of Town

Gatineau at Rouyn-Noranda - 3:00 PM EDT
Québec at Chicoutimi - 4:00 PM EDT
Baie-Comeau at Rimouski - 4:00 PM EDT
Acadie-Bathurst at Moncton - 7:00 PM ADT

Next game: The Sea Dogs resume pre-season play on September 5 at Harbour Station against the Charlottetown Islanders.

RECAP: Dogs Win 1-0 (SO)

FINAL: Halifax 0, Saint John 1 (SO)

By Lorne Webster | SN Staff

Sea Dogs recap  | QMJHL box score

SAINT JOHN, NB - In the third game of the 2014 exhibition season, the Saint John Sea Dogs beat the Halifax Mooseheads 1-0 in a shootout at Harbour Station.

Juraj Siska scored the only goal of the night in a shootout.

With each team dressing roughly six veterans each, the rookies and free agents were given a clear opportunity to prove to their coaches and managers that they are worthy of a roster spot to start the regular season.

The Sea Dogs controlled much of the play in the opening frame, out shooting the Moose 14-5. However, the teams went into the second period scoreless.

Early in the second period, a breakaway by Adam Marsh was stopped by Kevin Resop. Otherwise, the second was fairly even and relatively uneventful (besides several penalties) until a Moosehead shot in the final seconds rang off both posts behind Sebastien Auger but stayed out and the game remained scoreless. Shots were 12-5 for Halifax.

The third period was pretty much back and forth with many good scoring chances and several big body checks. Shots in the final frame were 13-7 Saint John.

The game then went directly to a shootout. Auger stopped all three shots he faced while Siska scored Saint John’s lone goal.

38 Remain At Sea Dogs Camp

SAINT JOHN – Via the Dog Bytes Newsletter, here’s an updated look at Saint John’s training camp roster heading into this weekend’ pre-season action.

Goalies 

Christopher Smith

Sebastien Auger

Blade Mann-Dixon

Bobby Dugan

Defencemen

Bailey Webster

Braydon Blight

Luke Green

Louis-Philip Fortin

Jack Van Boekel

Adam Bateman

Sheehan Kirkwood

Olivier LeBlanc

Thomas Chabot

Jakub Zboril

Gareth Nicholson

Forwards

Adam Marsh

Samuel Dove-McFalls

Nathan Noel

Stefano Pezzetta

Matt Green

Cody Grant

Kyle Ward

Taylor Fielding

Drew Gross

Declan Smith

Mathieu Joseph

Ryan Kenny

Daniel Del Paggio

Matthew Highmore

Spencer Smallman

Julien Tessier

Mark Tremaine

Juraj Siska

Nikita Li

Mitchell Dempsey

Marcus Cuomo

Chris Sarault

Francis Theriault