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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
The Sea Dogs trail only the top-ranked Edmonton Oil Kings and the No. 2 Quebec Remparts in the pre-season rankings. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan (No. 7) and Shawinigan Cataractes (No. 9) were the only other ranked QMJHL teams.
Did your team make the list?
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) September 30, 2021
Introducing the @KiaCanada Top-10 Rankings: 2021-22 Preseason Edition
📝: https://t.co/50wg4GDOVr pic.twitter.com/tbk3NwuCJC
The Charlottetown Islanders, who the Sea Dogs will play twice this weekend, were an honourable mention.
The Sea Dogs began last season ranked eighth in the CHL (yes, there were actually pre-season rankings last year).
TOUGH OPENING
The Sea Dogs will not have an easy start to the season.
Most QMJHL followers have the Sea Dogs, Titan and Islanders finishing at the top of the Maritimes Division in some order. Then there is the Halifax Mooseheads followed by the rebuilding Cape Breton Eagles and Moncton Wildcats.
Saint John will start the season with five straight games against either the Islanders or Titan.
The Sea Dogs kick things off with a home-and-home with the Islanders and follow that up with a home-and-home against the Titan. They then visit Charlottetown on Thanksgiving Monday.
Saint John will play both Charlottetown and Bathurst four times each in October.
SEASON PREVIEW
CBC, now one of the CHL's official broadcasters, previews the upcoming season.
CBC's first CHL broadcast is on Saturday afternoon when the Regina Pats host the Prince Albert Raiders.
"The big question surrounding the team will be exactly what moves will be made between now and the trade deadline to tinker with the roster ahead of the event," writes Brad Coccimiglio about the Sea Dogs.
VIRTUAL DRAFT RETURNING
In sad/tragic news, the QMJHL has announced that its 2022 Entry Draft will be virtual once again.
On another note, the 2022 QMJHL Entry Draft will be held virtually once again this season and will take place on June 17 and 18, 2022. The league has scheduled the first round for Friday night while rounds 2-14 and the American Draft will occur on the next day. Our major partner, Fenplast, will be the presenting sponsor of the event for a third consecutive year.
It'll be the third year in a row the league has held a virtual draft rather than the mini-NHL production.
HIGH NUMBERS
Evgeny Sapelnikov will join a small group of Sea Dogs when he wears No. 95 this weekend.
The import forward will join Tomas Jurco (90), Nicholas Girouard (92) and Stanislav Galiev (97) as the only players to wear 90s numbers in Sea Dogs history.
The Sea Dogs will feature a few other "non-traditional" high numbers this season in Christopher Inniss (56), Charlie DesRoches (58), Cam MacDonald (61) and Olivier Picard (72).
Jonathan Huberdeau's No. 11, Mike Thomas' No. 17 and Alex Grant's No. 20 remain unused since their departures.
Jonathan Huberdeau's No. 11, Mike Thomas' No. 17 and Alex Grant's No. 20 remain unused since their departures.
THE BIG QUESTION
Sportsnet takes a look at one question for every QMJHL team heading into the regular season.
The Sea Dogs have a lot of assets to work with come the trade period.
"After years of inactivity, the famous Abby Horn returns to Islanders goal celebrations, sure to bring Islanders fans to their feet," reads an Islanders news release.
HORN RETURNS
The Sea Dogs will be the first visiting team in quite a few years to hear the fog horn blaring inside Charlottetown's Eastlink Centre.
According to the team, "the foghorn was a staple of the previously-named Charlottetown Civic Centre until the implementation of overhead replay cameras. At the time, the vibration caused by the Abby Horn would knock the replay cameras out of focus. It was determined at that time that the foghorn would be taken offline, replaced instead by a digital sound when the PEI Rocket would score."
OFF WE GO
The 2021-22 CHL season officially got underway on Thursday night with the President Cup champion Victoriaville Tigres hosting the Shawinigan Cataractes.
2021 President Cup Champs! @TigresVicto https://t.co/JfoigKztfo pic.twitter.com/K5WbwDC9Fz
— Denis Leblanc (@DenisL_1981) September 30, 2021
COVID STUFF
Mikael Lalancette reports that the entire league - with the exception of an assistant coach - is fully vaccinated heading into the season.
100% des joueurs, entraîneurs et membres du personnel des 18 équipes de la #LHJMQ sont double-vaccinés. Même chose pour le personnel administratif et les familles de pension. Il n'y a qu'une exception à travers la ligue, un entraîneur adjoint non-vacciné. #lesoleil
— Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) September 30, 2021
The 12 Quebec-based clubs will be permitted to return to 100% capacity on Oct. 8.
Lalancette also reports that the CHL is looking at options to replace this year's cancelled Canada/Russia Series.
Il n'y aura pas de Série Canada-Russie cette année. Les autorités de la LCH réfléchissent à une autre formule pour remplacer les six matchs qui servaient de préparation à Hockey Canada en vue du Mondial junior.
— Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) September 30, 2021
Toujours incertain pour le Match des meilleurs espoirs... #lesoleil
UNITED AGAIN
Neat!
OTHER THINGS2021-2022, United Again / Enfin Réunis#UnitedAgain | #EnfinRéunis pic.twitter.com/1xh7uFVyBJ
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) September 27, 2021
- Seven QMJHL beat writers in Quebec were surveyed for some predictions. They have Bathurst winning the Maritimes followed by Saint John and Charlottetown.
- CHL.ca takes a look at where every member of Saint John's 2011 Memorial Cup championship squad ended up in their hockey careers.
- Former Sea Dogs forward Nicholas Girouard will wear an 'A' on his Cape Breton Eagles jersey this season.
- CKPG Today caught up with former Sea Dogs head coach Josh Dixon, who is now an associate coach with the WHL's Prince George Cougars.
- The News & Observer has a story on former Sea Dogs defenseman Eric Gelinas, who is trying to crack the Carolina Hurricanes roster after several seasons of playing overseas.
- The Edmonton Oilers have assigned former Sea Dogs forward Ostap Safin to the AHL's Bakersfield Condors.
- The Titan have to be getting a little nervous about the possibility of Hendrix Lapierre making the Washington Capitals roster as a 19-year-old.
- Due to the pandemic, Hockey Canada has cancelled this fall's 2021 National Women’s Under-18 Championship, 2021 Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup and 2021 World Junior A Challenge.
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