The Sea Dogs are coming off a fairly successful Quebec road trip, going 2-1 with their lone loss coming against the league leading Sherbrooke Phoenix. The team has been playing noticeably better over the past few weeks - even before the Josh Dixon firing - and are 6-4 in their last 10 games.
Saint John sits at 14-17-1-0 with three games remaining before the Christmas break, meaning the team could even up it's win-loss record this week. While nothing has come easy for this Sea Dogs team, winning all three games this week is not an impossible task.
On Wednesday, the Sea Dogs host the No. 3 team in the QMJHL, the Moncton Wildcats. The 'Cats have hit their first road bump of the season recently, going 6-4 in their last 10 games and are coming off back-to-back losses in Quebec last weekend. The bigger story heading into Wednesday's game is who won't be in Moncton's lineup. Captain Jakob Pelletier will miss the game (and Canada's world junior camp) with an upper body injury; No. 1 goaltender Olivier Rodrigue is away at Team Canada camp; star rookie Zachary L'Heureux is injured; and Alexander Khovanov may be away prepping with Russia's world junior team (I haven't seen this official anywhere). On top of that, head coach John Torchetti's status remains unknown with what the team is calling "personal reasons."
This will be, shockingly, just Saint John's third game against the Wildcats this year, with the clubs splitting the season series so far.
On Friday, the Sea Dogs travel to Bathurst to face the last-place Titan. Saint John is 4-0 against Bathurst this season - but they aren't a team you can sleep on. The Titan have just four wins in 30 games but are 3-7 in their last 10.
Saint John will conclude first half play with a Saturday home game against the Halifax Mooseheads. The Moose have struggled to dress a regular lineup all year and that trend will continue. Along with Jared McIsaac (Team Canada camp), Benoit-Olivier Groulx (Team Canada camp), Raphael Lavoie (Team Canada camp), Senna Peeters (IIHF U20 Division 1 World Championship) and Marcel Barinka (World Junior A Challenge) away playing internationally, defenseman Justin Barron is out indefinitely with a blood clot. These are rough times in Moose Country.
All of this is the long way of saying: the Sea Dogs will finish the first half with three games they are capable of winning. This team has struggled to win games of this nature at times this year, and if they want to inch their way up the standings, winning games like the next three are what it's going to take.
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