Notebook: All QMJHL teams, arenas will require proof of full vaccination

FREDERICTON - If you want to watch QMJHL hockey this season, you'll need to be fully vaccinated.

With Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick all requiring some form of vaccination proof to enter non-essential businesses, that left the Charlottetown Islanders as the lone QMJHL team without any provincial mandate. This past week, the Islanders opted to join the rest of the league.

"While we will do our best to minimize the changes to our hockey season, games will not be operating the same as they have in the past," reads an Islanders statement. "We have adjusted our operational plan to maximize cleaning, sanitization, and safety for attendees, staff and volunteers. All staff, volunteers, and attendees must be fully vaccinated (plus 14 days after the second dose) to attend a game this season."

The Sea Dogs will open the regular season with a home-and-home against the Islanders. The team's will meet at Charlottetown's Eastlink Centre on Oct. 2.

MEMORIAL CUP DECISION SOON

Will this be the week the host of the 2022 Memorial Cup is finally announced? It's looking that way, but we'll see.

Mikael Lalancette has a great breakdown in le Soleil about the bidding process. A few tidbits:

• In 2019, there were reports that the Halifax Mooseheads had guaranteed the CHL $1 million in order to host the event. According the Lalancette, that guarantee has been removed to allow more teams/markets the chance to bid.
• Both the Sea Dogs and Remparts are planning on offering reasonable ticket prices, like the Mooseheads did in 2019.
• The arena situation is an interesting one. Obviously the Videotron Centre is a significant upgrade over TD Station - but TD's uptown location, in my probably very biased opinion, is much better than Videotron's, which fans would have to commute to each game.

CASEY MOVES TO THE AJHL
It appears Brandon Casey has made the move to the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

Casey appeared in the Grande Prairie Storm's regular season opener on Friday, recording an assist in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Drayton Valley Thunder.

The 19-year-old appeared in nine regular season games and three playoff contests with Saint John last season.

With Casey and Benjamin Roode both playing junior A this season, that would seem to put 17-year-old Hunter Gartley on the inside track of grabbing the seventh-defensemen spot on this year's roster. Gartley appeared in just two games last season due to an injury.

REAL HOCKEY IS COMING

We're getting close. Real close.

The QMJHL's nine-month long training camps (exaggeration... maybe) are finally nearing the finish line. The Sea Dogs will play their final pre-season game next Friday in Halifax. The QMJHL's pre-season schedule officially ends on Sunday, Aug. 26.

The league's regular season begins on Sept. 30 with the President Cup champion Victoriaville Tigres hosting the Shawinigan Cataractes. The Sea Dogs open the season the next night at TD Station, taking on the Charlottetown Islanders.

In conclusion: we're less than two weeks away from regular season hockey.

MACDONALD IMPRESSING

Sea Dogs forward Cam MacDonald is impressing early at Tampa Bay Lightning prospect camp.

“He’s one guy that I’m going to have to watch him and be able to give a fair assessment after this tournament,” Syracuse Crunch head coach Benoit Groulx, who is leading the prospect camp, told the Tampa Bay Times. “But right now, I just thought I saw him here and there making good plays. But so far so good, he’s got some good stuff.”

The Lighting will play games against the Nashville Predators, Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers at the Prospect Showcase event in Tampa.

QMJHL DRAFT DATE

The date for the 2022 QMJHL Entry Draft, according to Mikael Lalancette, will likely be...

Selon mes informations, le repêchage de la #LHJMQ aurait lieu trois semaines plus tôt, dans la semaine du 12 au 18 juin 2022. #lesoleil https://t.co/UgKJrkSPFb

— Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) September 16, 2021

That's a few weeks later than usual thanks to the season running later. That would be the week following the Memorial Cup, which is when the league's draft is typically held.

Hopefully the 2022 QMJHL Entry Draft will be an in-person event. The past two have been virtual due to the pandemic.

DROVER ON OCEANIC

Former Sea Dog and current Rimouski Oceanic Alex Drover on what to expect from his team this season.

A deep team filled with hard-working and gritty players is what @AlexDrover14 suggests we'll see in Rimouski this year! #Our18 | #UnitedAgain | @oceanicrimouski

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) September 16, 2021

FULLERTON JOINS TIGERS
One of the winningest goaltenders in New Brunswick sports history has joined the Campbellton Tigers coaching staff.

Former Sea Dogs goaltender Travis Fullerton has joined the Maritime Junior Hockey League squad as a goaltending coach. The Riverview native helped the Sea Dogs reach the 2008 QMJHL semifinals before joining the UNB Varsity Reds where he won three national championships with ridiculous numbers.

The 33-year-old has quite a bit of professional playing experience as well, suiting up in the ECHL, AHL, NAHL and EIHL.

NHL DRAFT CHANGES

The 2022 NHL Draft will be a bit different.

The NHL has announced that the event will be held July 7-8, 2022 in Montreal. That's a Thursday-Friday rather than the typical Friday-Saturday setup. Round 1 will be held on July 7 and Rounds 2-7 on July 8.

The change likely has to do with ESPN now owning the broadcast rights for the draft in the United States. ESPN broadcasts both the NFL and NBA first rounds mid-week.

OTHER THINGS

• Raw Charge has named former Sea Dogs forward Maxim Cajkovic the 16th best prospect in the Tampa Bay Lightning system.
• A couple noteworthy names on the Trois-Rivieres Lions' pre-camp roster: goaltenders Marc-Antoine Gelinas and Carmine-Anthony Pagliarulo.
• Even with COVID-19 numbers spiking, things are feeling pretty okay from a QMJHL standpoint, as Willy Palov writes in The Chronicle Herald.
• Visited the TD Station website the other day and boy, it's looking pretty sad over there. Hopefully things start to pick up in the event world around here soon.
• The QMJHL website's 2021-22 English creative features players from the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Charlottetown Islanders and Halifax Mooseheads. THE DISRESPECT.
• I mentioned this on Twitter, but it was great to see the CHL/CBC release call out Connor Bedard and Shane Wright. Give the people the players they want to see.
• Really curious to see what TSN has planned for its broadcasts. Have to think a lot of it will focus on world junior players and storylines.
• Was looking at Saint John's schedule again. Wild that the Sea Dogs will play the Wildcats just twice before Christmas and won't play in Moncton until Jan. 2.
• The Gatineau Olympiques played their final game at the historic Robert Guertin Centre on Saturday, defeating the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 8-1. Former Sea Dogs forward Leighton Carruthers scored Rouyn-Noranda's lone goal.