In New Brunswick, it doesn't appear any capacity restrictions will be in place. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan declared an end to "bubble" seating on their Facebook page.
In Nova Scotia, meanwhile, both teams will at least begin pre-season action in empty arenas. The Halifax Mooseheads will play out of their practice facility in Dartmouth this month while the Cape Breton Eagles are holding their training camp in Glace Bay.
In Quebec, it appears most teams will allow a limited number of fans based on public health requirements. The Rimouski Oceanic, for example, will allow 2,093 fans into the Sun Life Financial Colisee for exhibition games.
The Gatineau Olympiques will begin pre-season play at their new practice rink, which is attached to the Slush Puppie Centre - unfortunately in front of no fans. Olympiques supporters did get some great news on Wednesday though - the team will play three pre-season contests inside the Robert Guertin Centre and allow 1,500 fans.
PATELLA TO THE BCHL
Sea Dogs prospect Davide Patella has committed to the BCHL's Merritt Centennials for the upcoming season.
A fourth-round pick of Saint John in the 2020 QMJHL Entry Draft, Patella has spent the past two seasons with the Laval-Montréal Rousseau Royal of the Quebec under-18 league - although he didn't appear in any regular season games last year due to the pandemic.
“We built a gym in the house so I could continue to work hard and train every day despite everything being closed, and I can’t wait to play in a new province and a league that has a great reputation for developing players,” Patella said on the Centennials' webiste.
Moving to the BCHL as a 17-year-old typically means a player has intentions of playing NCAA hockey. He was at least photographed in a Sea Dogs jersey last year.
BATEMAN BEHIND THE BENCH
Former Sea Dogs defenseman Adam Bateman has been named an assistant coach of the Sydney Mitsubishi Rush, reports the Cape Breton Post. The Rush will host the 2021 Telus Cup under-18 national championship in April.
The 26-year-old played two seasons with the Sea Dogs from 2014 to 2016, recording eight goals and 10 assists in 86 games. He joined the club after spending three seasons with the OHL's Windsor Spitfires.
Following his junior career, Bateman spent four seasons playing with the Saint Mary's Huskies.
WHL TO MANDATE VACCINES
The Western Hockey League announced this week that all "roster players, hockey operations staff and other team and WHL Office personnel along with officials must be fully vaccinated with a Health Canada approved COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to the start of the 2021-22 WHL Regular Season."
The WHL's release added that "in addition to players, the mandatory vaccination policy will apply to General Managers, Coaches, Head Scouts or Director of Player Personnel, Trainers, Equipment Managers, On-ice and Off-ice Consultants, On-ice Officials and ice level Off-ice Officials (penalty box attendants; timekeepers and scorekeepers) and any other individuals who interact directly and on a regular basis with players."
The move means all three CHL leagues will require mandatory vaccinations for players and staff.
It was a bit surprising that the WHL took this long to implement mandatory vaccines given how many jurisdictions it resides in, which creates a lot of complexities. Just last week on The Pipeline Show, commissioner Ron Robison said the league was still only considering making vaccines mandatory.
JOSEPH BRINGS THE CUP HOME
Tell me Mathieu Joseph is from Quebec without telling me Mathieu Jospeh is from Quebec.
Now that’s fine dining. 🏆🤌@MathJoseph7 pic.twitter.com/5qi2rbWSRS
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) August 15, 2021
SLUSH PUPPIE ALMOST READY
The new home of the Gatineau Olympiques, the Slush Puppie Centre, is nearing completion. The team will hold its training camp in the attached and completed practice rink.
Let’s get started ♠️❤️♠️ @OlympiquesGAT #centreslushpupie @LHJMQ @CHLHockey #cantwait pic.twitter.com/KNwU5Zvkhn
— Louis Robitaille (@LouisRobitaille) August 10, 2021
OTHER THINGSLes derniers préparatifs pour les portes ouvertes de samedi et dimanche prochain. En direct de la loge des actionnaires au Centre Slush Puppie. pic.twitter.com/FZHhVrwkNH
— Dan Brunet (@danbrunet13) August 17, 2021
- More details on the ammonia leak at Peter Murray Arena on Tuesday, which forced the Sea Dogs to move their scrimmages to the Quispamsis qplex.
- According to Elite Prospects, defenseman Vincent Despont will become just the third Swiss player to suit up for the Sea Dogs, joining goaltenders Noah Patenaude and Robert Mayer.
- The Hockey Writers considers Peter Reynolds the fourth best player not selected in this year's NHL Draft.
- Sea Dogs defenseman William Villeneuve was ranked 25th in Pension Plan Puppets' annual list of the 25 top prospects in the Toronto Maple Leafs system.
- WHL commissioner Ron Robison also mentioned in his interview with The Pipeline Show that the CHL is working on details for this year's Canada-Russia Series games and the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.
- This is great to see: 18-year-old goaltender Eve Gascon has been invited to attend Gatineau Olympiques training camp.
- It looks like the NBL Canada's run in New Brunswick - and maybe even Atlantic Canada - is over. The Moncton Magic announced last week that they have left the league.
- Defenseman Natan Grenier, Saint John's first pick in the 2021 QMJHL Entry Draft, received his jersey before coming to training camp.
The 19th overall pick in the 2021 @QMJHL draft is looking sharp in his new colours ⚪️🔵⚫️ #PSAHockey pic.twitter.com/d97B216tLA
— Project Sports Agency (@PSAHockey) August 12, 2021
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