Both the Saint John and Bathurst regions remain orange while the Moncton area appears poised to join them in the coming days. Under current orange restrictions, teams are only permitted to practice. Health officials have said no region of the province will improve past the orange level any time soon which is obviously concerning for the Saint John Sea Dogs, Moncton Wildcats and Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
The QMJHL and the province are no doubt trying to find a solution for games to resume while in orange - but no agreement has been settled on yet.
“Given the presence of new COVID-19 variants in the province, and the speed at which they spread, it’s unlikely that restrictions for sports will be relaxed in the near future,” says Bruce Macfarlane, NB public health spokesperson.@Global_NB https://t.co/22dm0VrBe4
— Callum Smith (@smithc902) February 5, 2021
In that Global News story, Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie said that his club expects "seven figure" financial losses this season.
In Nova Scotia, public health officials will allow spectators to attend sporting events beginning next week. The Halifax Mooseheads, Cape Breton Eagles and Charlottetown Islanders all resumed game action last weekend.
THN RANKINGS
Five current or former Sea Dogs players cracked their respective NHL club's top 10 prospect list in The Hockey News Yearbook. They are as follows:
Boston Bruins: #7 Jakub Zboril
Calgary Flames: #10 Jeremie Poirier
Detroit Red Wings: #3 Joe Veleno
New York Rangers: #10 Julien Gauthier
Tamp Bay Lightning: #10 Maxim Cajkovic
Zboril and Gauthier have both started the year in the NHL.
PHILLIPS WINS CUP
Former Sea Dogs forward Zack Phillips helped JKH GKS Jastrzębie win the Poland Cup this week which, according to the internet, is Poland's national hockey championship.
Congrats to Zack Phillips on winning the Poland Cup 🏆. Zack had a shorthanded goal to lead JKH GKS Jastrzębie to a 3-2 win.@zackphillips7 @jkh_gks @HockeyNB @CHCanada https://t.co/bJTnod5O8x pic.twitter.com/l4cVzxSWCT
— Maritime Hockey (@HockeyMaritime) February 5, 2021
Phillips, 28, had 16 goals and 24 assists in 33 games in his first season in Poland. The Fredericton native spent parts of last season in the ECHL and in Slovakia.
Phillips spent three seasons with the Sea Dogs from 2009-2012, helping the club with two President Cups and a Memorial Cup.
WHL CLOSER TO RETURN
The Western Hockey League continues to get closer to a return.
On Jan. 28 the league announced that its Alberta based clubs would begin game play on Feb. 26. On Friday, the WHL delivered more promising news, announcing that its five-team US division would begin playing games on March 19.
The WHL is planning on holding a 24-game season.
There is hope that the league's BC division could play its season in one or two hub locations, but that has yet to be approved.
Q SCHEDULE CHANGES
With the Victoriaville Tigres unable to participate in or host one of the next protected environments due to positive cases of COVID-19, the league announced schedule changes for the fourth round of the events.
Quebec City will host seven teams (Baie-Comeau, Chicoutimi, Drummondville, Gatineau, Quebec City, Rimouski and Rouyn-Noranda) while Shawinigan will host four (Blainville-Boisbriand, Shawinigan, Val-d’Or and Sherbrooke). Games begin on Feb. 12 and end on Feb. 18.
The current protected environments end on Sunday.
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