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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
The Sea Dogs finished opening weekend with a 0-1-1-0 record thanks to an 4-3 overtime loss in Bathurst and a 6-5 home loss to Charlottetown. The team's last winless opening weekend was in 2017-18 when Saint John dropped their first four games of the season (they won three straight after that).
So... what does this mean? Nothing. It means pretty much nothing. It's always nice to get off to a strong start, but losing back-to-back games is going to happen during a season. The Sea Dogs got off a 2-0 start last season and then lost three straight. We know how last season went.
The Sea Dogs also started 0-2 in 2016-17 and 2011-12, seasons that saw them rebound well enough to win the President Cup (although they did start those seasons without some key regulars due to NHL camps).
UP NEXT
The Sea Dogs and Titan will have a rematch this Friday at TD Station. On Saturday, the Dogs welcome the Moncton Wildcats to town. Both of those games begin at 7 p.m.
The following weekend, the Sea Dogs are in Moncton on Friday, Oct. 16 and then travel to Halifax to face the Mooseheads on Saturday, Oct. 17.
The Sea Dogs will continue to play games on back-to-back nights until mid-November.
THE FIGHT
Here's the third period fight from Saturday's game featuring Nathan Drapeau and Drew Elliott.
A RARE NHL COACH
An interesting - and somewhat surprising - tidbit from Stephane Leroux's Sea Dogs preview on the RDS website: Greg Gilbert is just the fifth former NHL head coach to become a head coach in the QMJHL.
Gilbert was head coach of the Calgary Flames for parts of three seasons from 2000-01 to 2002-03.
One of those other five coaches is of course Gerard Gallant, who coached the Columbus Blue Jackets prior to joining the Sea Dogs.
DOGS ALUMNI ARE PLAYING
While the QMJHL is pretty much the only major hockey league currently playing its regular season in North America, there are some Sea Dogs alumni playing in other parts of the world.
In the KHL, Stanislav Galiev has seven goals and five assists in 12 games with Ak Bars Kazan. Alex Grant, meanwhile, has an assist in five games with Jokerit.
Filip Prikryl, David Stick and Radim Salda have all begun their seasons in the Czech Republic while Chris DiDomenico and Alexi Dostoinov are in Switzerland; Zack Phillips and Jason Seed are in Poland; Joona Lehmus and Oliver Felixson are in Finland; Eric Gelinas is in Sweden; and Juraj Siska is in Slovakia.
North American pro leagues are still aiming for an early December start, but that is looking more unlikely by the day. U Sports is expected to make an announcement regarding its winter sports season in the next couple weeks.
INTERVIEW A ROOKIE
Get to know the squad as grizzled vet Liam Leonard interviews rookie @LeightonCarrut3 #QMJHL pic.twitter.com/GuYc90H3t3
— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) October 4, 2020
TRADE PERIOD
The QMJHL's holiday trading period will take place Dec. 21 to Jan. 6, according to the league's media guide that was released last week. Obviously, there's a chance that could be adjusted if COVID pushes the season too far off the rails.
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