Notebook: Sea Dogs ranked 8th in CHL

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs will open the 2020-21 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season as the eighth ranked team in the country.

The CHL released its pre-season top 10 on Wednesday. The release is a bit of a head scratcher given that the other two major junior leagues may not begin play for another two months - or possibly even longer.

Presenting the 2020-21 Pre-Season #KiaCHLTop10 Rankings:@PhoenixSherbroo open at one ☝️

1-SHE, 2-EDM, 3-OSH, 4-VDO, 5-LDN, 6-KAM, 7-SAG, 8-SNB, 9-POR, 10-CHI.

Honours: BDN, PA, SHA, SOO, WSR

Weekly editions to resume when each of @TheWHL, @OHLHockey and @QMJHL are in action. pic.twitter.com/QK07wgYCWH

— CanadianHockeyLeague (@CHLHockey) September 30, 2020

The Sherbrooke Phoenix (first), Val-d'Or Foreurs (fourth) and Chicoutimi Sagueneens (10th) were the other QMJHL teams to crack the list. The Shawinigan Cataractes were an honourable mention.

WEBCAST DETAILS

The off-season was an emotional rollercoaster for the QMJHL's webcasts.

After many highs and lows, the QMJHL will kick off its regular season with the same provider, Neulion, on the same platform, QMJHL Live, that it has used for the past several years. There are expected to be some quality improvements, but we will find out beginning tonight.

Only two pricing options are available this season: a single game for $7.99 or a monthly all-access pass for $39.99. Season ticket members were sent a discount code for 50% off the monthly pass.

For anyone interested in purchasing the Neulion monthly streaming package to watch #QMJHL #LHJMQ hockey. 🥅🏒

Details ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/tVeHLgagT8

— Denis Leblanc (@DenisL_1981) September 26, 2020

It's unclear if the OHL and WHL will be using Neulion again this season.

SEASON OPENER

Tonight will be Saint John's 16th season opener and, not surprisingly, the latest start to any season. 

It's the third time the club will begin a campaign in Bathurst (Saint John is 2-0 in those games). The 2009 opener at the KC Irving Regional Centre was one of the more memorable in Dogs history thanks to Jonathan Huberdeau scoring the shootout winner in his QMJHL debut.

The Sea Dogs are 7-6-2 all-time in season openers. Below are the results.

Sept. 16, 2005: St. John's 3, Saint John 2
Sept. 15, 2006: Rimouski 2, Saint John 3 (OT)
Sept. 13, 2007: Saint John 1, Lewiston 4
Sept. 12, 2008: Saint John 3, Bathurst 2 (OT)
Sept. 11, 2009: Saint John 4, Bathurst 3 (SO)
Sept. 10, 2010: PEI 4, Saint John 6
Sept. 8, 2011: Moncton 3, Saint John 1
Sept. 20, 2012: Bathurst 3, Saint John 1
Sept. 13, 2013: Saint John 5, Moncton 3
Sept. 12, 2014: Saint John 2, Charlottetown 3 (SO)
Sept. 12, 2015: Halifax 2, Saint John 5
Sept. 23, 2016: Saint John 2, Charlottetown 6
Sept. 21, 2017: Halifax 4, Saint John 1
Sept. 21, 2018: Halifax 5, Saint John 4 (OT)
Sept. 20: 2019: Halifax 3, Saint John 4

Oct. 2, 2020: Saint John, Bathurst - TBD

NEW RULES

The QMJHL approved new penalties and suspensions for fighting this past week.

According to a league press release, "all players involved in a fight will now be assessed a misconduct penalty (duration of ten minutes) which will be added to the major penalty (five minutes), except if a player involved is considered an instigator or an aggressor. An automatic one-game suspension will be assessed after the third fight, and for any additional fight." More details can be found here. 

Jordan Spadafore (six fights) and Matt Gould (three) were the only Sea Dogs with three or more fights last season, according to HockeyFights.com. The days of Brett Gallant fighting 30 teams in a single season are long gone.

It's believed the league had to agree to adopt these new rules in order to receive economic assistance from the Quebec government.

SEA DOGS ON EASTLINK

For those with Eastlink cable, the Sea Dogs will be broadcast a couple times over the next month or so.

Our first 7 games:
Sat Oct 3: @CBEHockey at @HFXMooseheads
Fri Oct 9: @monctonwildcats at Halifax
Fri Oct 16: @IslandersHKY at Halifax
Sat Oct 17: @SJSeaDogs at Halifax
Thu Oct 29: Moncton at Halifax
Fri Nov 6: Charlottetown at Halifax
Sat Nov 7: Saint John at Halifax

— Kevin Northup (@EastlinkKevin) September 30, 2020

DASILVA RELEASED

Former Sea Dogs goaltender Tommy DaSilva will not be in action when the Titan host Saint John on Friday night.

The Titan announced in a press release on Thursday that DaSilva has been released. The 19-year old posted a 1-3 record in the pre-season to go along with a 7.11 goals against average and a .832 save percentage.

DaSilva has struggled in his QMJHL career, recording a 1-15 record with a 6.44 GAA and .840 SV% over parts of three seasons. He did play on some bad defensive teams, though.

The Titan have signed 19-year-old netminder Christian Sbaraglia from the OHL and traded for 18-year-old Chad Arsenault from the Charlottetown Islanders. Rookie import Jan Bednar is expected to be their No. 1 goaltender when he is able to travel to Canada.