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Monday, November 15, 2021

Notebook: Another Quebec road trip ahead

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs head back to Quebec this week.

The team begins the three-games-in-four-nights stretch on Wednesday in Gatineau before heading north to face the Val-d'Or Foreurs on Friday and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Saturday.

The Sea Dogs went 2-1 on their first Quebec road trip a couple weeks ago - a solid performance given the quality of teams they were facing. This week will be the first time the Sea Dogs have faced any team from West Division which consists of Blainville-Boisbriand, Gatineau, Val-d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda.

The Olympiques, an extremely talented team but still on the young side, lead the West with an 8-4-2-2 record. The Huskies sit second at 8-6-0-3 while the Foreurs, last year's President Cup finalists, sit last with a 7-8-1-0 record.

Wednesday's contest in Gatineau will be Saint John's first visit to the new Slush Puppie Centre. The Olympiques are 5-1-1-1 so far in their new home.

LEADERS
William Dufour enters play this week with 15 goals in 17 games, placing him in a tie with Shawinigan's Xavier Bourgault for the league lead.

Bourgault currently sits in a tie with former Sea Dogs forward Joshua Roy for the league scoring lead with 30 points. Dufour sits fourth with 27 points.

In defensemen scoring, Jeremie Poirier currently sits fifth with 17 points.

WILD WEEKEND
A few random notes from around the league this weekend:
  • Chicoutimi rolled into New Brunswick and left with three regulation wins - despite being largely outshot in every game. They beat the Wildcats 6-4 (outshot 31-19); Sea Dogs 4-2 (outshot 46-25); and Titan 5-2 (outshot 35-27).
  • I watched goaltender Kevyn Brassard play a couple weeks ago in Grand Falls where the Rapids scored six times on the Miramichi Timberwolves netminder. Brassard joined the Sags this weekend and won both of his starts.
  • On the flip side are the Shawinigan Cataractes who, despite having some key players return from injury, lost all three games of their New Brunswick road trip. The are now 6-4 in their last 10 games.
  • Xavier Bourgault is on another level right now, recording five goals during Shawinigan's road trip. That included a third period hat trick on Saturday when the Cataractes nearly erased a 5-0 deficit before falling 6-4 to the Titan.
  • The Titan got a much needed boost injected into their lineup last week with Bennett MacArthur returning from injury and Hendrix Lapierre rejoining the team after starting the season with the Washington Capitals. MacArthur posted three goals and two assists in three games while Lapierre had three assists in two games.
  • The Titan are just 2-7-0-1 in their last 10 games.
  • The Quebec Remparts lost 5-0 to the last-place Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday.

HOLIDAY PACKS
They are back.
FIGHT NUMBERS
According to HockeyFights.com, the Sea Dogs and Halifax Mooseheads currently lead the QMJHL in fights this season with seven each.

The Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Cape Breton Eagles and Charlottetown Islanders all sit in a tie for third with five fights each.

Saint John's Riley Bezeau leads the league in fights with four. Halifax's Zachary Beauregard is the only other QMJHL player credited with more than one fight this season (he has two), according to HockeyFights.com.

DROVER'S HOT START
Former Sea Dogs forward Alex Drover is averaging over a point-per-game with the Rimouski Oceanic this season. He currently has eight goals and 10 assists in 17 games.
Craig Eagles wrote about Drover's start and how he believes the Oceanic have been able to get the 19-year-old to consistently produce. 

NEW SENIOR LEAGUE
A new senior hockey league began its first season this past weekend.

The Southern Senior Hockey League consists of four teams: Casey's Canucks (Quispamsis), River Valley Rock (Grand Bay-Westfield), Saint John Flames and Game Time Irishmen (St. Stephen). The opening game saw the Canucks defeat the Irishmen 4-3 in St. Stephen on Saturday night.

"Our league will operate under Hockey New Brunswick and will take a new approach to its structure," reads the league's website. "The league will focus on local players, not imports, and use a revenue-sharing system to build community teams. Our goal is to have local teams with local players to thrill the local crowds and more."

Skimming through the rosters there are a few notable QMJHL names, including former Sea Dogs forward Andrew Langan of the Flames.

Also of note, the league's website lists TD Station as the Flames' home arena.

CBU JERSEYS
The Cape Breton Eagles wore Capers green and orange as the team hosted Cape Breton University Night this past Friday. 3,160 fans attended the game.
OTHER THINGS
  • Vegas Golden Knights prospect Zach Dean is expected to make his season debut with the Olympiques on Wednesday against Saint John, reports JF Plante.
  • COVID-19 is, sadly, starting to make its way back into the CHL. On Monday the WHL announced that the Spokane Chiefs can resume activities after being paused since Nov. 10 due to a couple of positive tests. The OHL's Sudbury Wolves, meanwhile, had to bump back down to 50% capacity due to public health restrictions in that area.
  • The Sea Dogs, this season's Memorial Cup hosts, are off to a much smoother start than the Acadia Axemen, this season's University Cup hosts. The Axemen sit sixth in the seven-team AUS with a 4-9-0-0 record. The team has been hit hard by injuries, dressing just 14 skaters in a 6-1 loss to UNB on Friday.
  • Former Sea Dogs and current UNB Reds forward Nicolas Guay currently sits fourth in AUS scoring with 16 points (eight goals and eight assists) in 12 games.
  • The Summerside Western Capitals are ranked second in the CJHL Top 20 again this week with a 14-1-0-1 record. They picked up a couple close wins in Edmundston over the weekend. Former Sea Dogs forward Josh MacDonald had three goals and an assist in Summerside's 5-3 win on Sunday. MacDonald leads the MHL in scoring with 29 points.
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