It's been 10 years...

10 years ago tonight, most of you who are reading this post were likely not sitting around the house looking for things to do.

On April 30, 2010, Game 1 of the President Cup final took place at Harbour Station and for the first time in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League history, the championship series featured two teams from outside Quebec.

The Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats were destined to meet in the league final since January of that year. Saint John had basically already won the regular season crown thanks to their 22-game winning streak in the first half (which ended in Moncton) while the Wildcats were clear winners at the trade deadline, making some significant upgrades.

The Sea Dogs had a relatively smooth trip through the first three rounds of the playoffs with their only real trouble coming in the semifinals against a pesky Victoriaville Tigres team (shoutout to Kevin Poulin). The Wildcats, due to the league's wonky playoff setup used back then, were handed an extremely tough route to the league final, having to face Cape Breton (finished 7th overall in the league standings), Rouyn-Noranda (6th) and Drummondville (2nd).

Even though Saint John had the better regular season record, very few picked the Sea Dogs to win the final. And those people were correct. Moncton's veteran group rolled through the first two games before dozing off in Game 3. Saint John tied the series thanks to Nick Petersen's overtime goal at the Moncton Coliseum in Game 4, but even with the series tied, it still felt like Moncton was more in control.

The Wildcats went on to a 5-1 win at Harbour Station in Game 5 and the clinched the series back at the Coliseum, winning 7-4.

Some random memories and thoughts from the series:

• It was nearly impossible to get tickets from most games - especially in Saint John (mostly because so many Moncton fans wanted to travel down. Yes, I'm admitting it).
• Let us not forget the controversy around the schedule for this series, which had to alternate cities after each game due to rink availability at the Moncton Coliseum.
• Brandon Gormley scored 14 seconds into Game 1. Danick Gauthier tied it up at 1:18. The Station was rocking that night.
• Game 2 featured perhaps the peak of the Sea Dogs/Wildcats rivalry when Gerard Gallant climbed the glass to fire a few word bombs at Danny Flynn. Truly a New Brunswick heritage moment.
• Anyone that lived through this series no doubt remembers how hot the Coliseum was. According to a 2010 CBC report, temperatures reached 30 C in the upper bowl.
• Nick Petersen's OT goal in Game 4 has to be among the biggest in Sea Dogs history.
• Probably the weirdest part about this series is that it wasn't... all that good. Only two of the four games were decided by two goals or less. In terms of entertainment, the Sea Dogs/Olympiques final in 2011 featured far more dramatic games - but it didn't have the hype or the rivalry, and that's really what made 2010 so much fun.
• It's weird looking back and thinking about the fact Mike Hoffman spent his 20-year-old season in junior.
• Some legends on that Sea Dogs roster you forget about sometimes: Chuckie Schembri, Will Johnston and Christian Morin.

Good times. This series remains the lone time the Sea Dogs and Wildcats have met in a playoff series, but hopefully that changes in the not so distant future.