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Monday, October 16, 2017

18 Thoughts: Sea Dogs' offence has brought a mixed bag of results

SAINT JOHN - While the Saint John Sea Dogs have struggled to score this season, they have had some players meet and exceed expectations offensively.

Daniel Hardie, who scored 18 goals and 38 points in 45 games with a below .500 Rimouski Oceanic team last year, leads Saint John in scoring with five goals and 14 points in 11 games.

Import forward Ostap Safin has been living up to the hype, registering three goals and eight assists. Import defenceman Radim Salda has exceeded all expectations and has three goals and six assists. After some rough years and bad luck in the Import Draft, it's nice to see a couple guys come to Saint John and make an immediate impact.

Safin is fourth overall in QMJHL rookie scoring while Salda leads all rookie defencemen in points.

Captain Joe Veleno has found the back of the net just once this year, but has - somewhat quietly - recorded eight assists in 11 games. Not bad for a team that's averaging 2.16 goals per game (only Charlottetown is averaging fewer).

The big question: can these four keep this going all season? If not, who is going to step up?

As expected, Saint John's secondary scoring has been lacking - especially during this four game losing streak. After Veleno, Saint John's next leading scorer in Cedric Pare with four points.

Pare had a big game in Moncton on Sunday, which is hopefully a sign of things to come. Other guys have produced at times, but not consistently. But this was an expected problem heading into the season, and it's an issue that has no easy fix.

It's still early, though. There's plenty of time for the Sea Dogs to get their offence running smoother. We'll see.

Some other random thoughts...

1. Hardie has points in all but two Sea Dogs games this season. If Saint John opts for the rebuild route at the trade deadline, the 19-year-old could get a nice return.

2. A rarity seen on Sunday: Robbie Burt went from a healthy scratch on Saturday to playing on the Dogs' top line. He scored his first QMJHL goal in Sunday's loss.
3. If you've been wondering where the legendary Rivalry Cup is located, it's in a trophy case outside the Roar Store at the Moncton Coliseum.
4. Having watched a lot of hockey games in arenas with LED lighting over the past couple years, it's incredible how much better the ice looks compared to traditional lighting. Hopefully the rest of the league joins Centre 200 and some other rinks soon.

5. I never really noticed just how dark the Coliseum ice is until this weekend. It's not good.

6. Moncton's new arena is really coming along downtown. While the complaints about lack of parking are overblown, it is going to be a pretty major culture change for the fan base. Everything from where you go before the game, after the game and how you get there is going to change.

7. The Wildcats and Quebec Remparts are the only two undefeated home teams remaining.

8. Saint John had a season high 5,887 fans (announced) in attendance on Saturday. What is a sell out at Harbour Station these days? That's a great question. According to this year's league media guide, the Station's capacity is 5,990 with a total capacity of 6,190.

9. Sticking to everyone's favourite October topic - attendance - the Gatineau Olympiques are averaging a league low 1,564 fans per game after three home games. That's not good. Also, their arena is not good (sorry).

10. Meanwhile, down on the farm...
11. The best thing on the internet right now is the Rockford IceHogs players stats. Matthew Highmore leads the team in scoring with three goals and five points in three games while Tomas Jurco is second with a goal and three helpers.

12. Nathan Noel, also in the Chicago Blackhawks system, is still recovering from a knee injury suffered at training camp.

13. Former Sea Dogs forward Nico Blachman has left the Rimouski Oceanic, the club announced Monday.

14. The Sea Dogs have not given up on trying to get Shane Bowers to Saint John. His start with a loaded Boston University team - four goals in four games - is not going to help the Dogs.

15. You just knew Mathieu Joseph was going to be front and centre in the Syracuse Crunch's new music video.
16. Personally, I think this hit might have been staged by the company that bought ad space on the back of the boards. Who buys ad space there?
17. This video is hard to watch. A lengthy suspension is coming, no doubt.
18. Unlikely I keep this 18 thoughts thing going all season, but it's worth a shot.
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1 comment:

  1. Nick ShepardOctober 21, 2017 at 1:35 PM

    I love it ! It's like Elliotte Friedmans column on Sportsnet ��. I wish there were more types of features like this on this site

    ReplyDelete