Notebook: Patenaude, Despont invited to Swiss WJC camp

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONTREAL, Que. - Noah Patenaude and Vincent Despont will have an opportunity to represent their country at the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship.

The two Saint John Sea Dogs were named to Switzerland's 29-man camp roster last week. The camp is scheduled to begin Dec. 13 with the team departing for Canada two days later, according to a news release.

Of course, Patenaude's participation will likely be reliant on his health. The netminder was injured during Saturday's Sea Dogs game in Sherbrooke and he did not dress for Sunday's contest in Victoriaville.

Patenaude, who will turn 19 on Christmas Eve, appeared in one game for Switzerland at last year's world juniors. He's having a solid season with Saint John, posting a 7-4 record to go along with a 2.96 goals against average and a .914 save percentage.

Despont, in his first season with Saint John, has three assists in 25 games.

This year's world juniors take place Dec. 26 - Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer. Switzerland's first game is against Russia in Red Deer on Dec. 27.

SAPELNIKOV JOINS BELARUS

Forward Evgeny Sapelnikov, Saint John's only official import player until the signing of Yan Kuznetsov, has joined Belarus for the World Junior Hockey Division 1-A Championship, which takes place Dec. 12-18 in Denmark.

Sea Dogs forward Evgeny Sapelnikov will be representing Belarus at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Division 1-A Championships, which take place Dec. 12-18th.

Congratulations Evgeny! pic.twitter.com/eBoaPEfbuV

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) December 6, 2021

Sapelnikov missed this past weekend's Sea Dogs games due to joining the national team. A second-round pick of the Sea Dogs in this year's CHL Import Draft, Sapelnikov has five goals and three assists in 23 games.

Belarus opens the tournament against Denmark on Dec. 12.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
Sea Dogs defenseman Jeremie Poirier was named to the QMJHL's Team of the Week on Monday.

Poirier recorded two goals and four assists in four games this past week, helping the Sea Dogs collect three victories. He now sits third in QMJHL defensemen scoring with 27 points in 26 games. He is also tied for the lead in defensemen assists with 20.

Also making the Team of the Week was Kale McCallum, a former Sea Dogs defenseman now with the Val-d'Or Foreurs. McCallum had five assists in two games with the Foreurs last week.

POWER RANKINGS

The Sea Dogs came in at No. 8 in the latest RDS power rankings, released last week. They were ranked 10th previously.

The Sherbrooke Phoenix were ranked first followed by the Charlottetown Islanders and Shawinigan Cataractes.

After this weekend's action, the Sea Dogs sit sixth overall in the QMJHL standings with a record of 14-9-0-3 for 31 points. They are five points back of the league-leading Islanders and have played one more game.

UP NEXT

Speaking of the Islanders, they come to town on Saturday for a big showdown at TD Station. Charlottetown is 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 games and have moved ahead of Sherbrooke for top spot in the league.

After Saturday's contest, the Sea Dogs host the Val-d'Or Foreurs on Sunday afternoon. They close out the first half (yes, we're at that point already) the following weekend with home games against the Moncton Wildcats (Dec. 17) and Acadie-Bathurst Titan (Dec. 18).

CAMP PREDICTIONS 

Can Sea Dogs forward William Dufour crack Team Canada's world junior roster? Corey Pronman of The Athletic considers him to be "on the bubble" but projects the New York Islanders prospect to make the team.

"Dufour is a big winger with good skill and scoring ability who is on an upward development trend with positive remarks from scouts of late," writes Pronman.

The camp begins this week in Calgary.

RICHARD LEAVES ARMADA

Former Sea Dogs forward Connor Richard was not in the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada lineup on Friday as he opted to leave the team for personal reasons earlier in the week.

Départ de Connor Richard

L’organisation de l’Armada tient à souhaiter le meilleur des succès pour la suite à Connor Richard. Connor a décidé de retourner chez lui pour des raisons personnelles.

Thanks Connor and good luck!

📸: Sébastien Gervais#BleedBlack pic.twitter.com/q4kV1XHIpn

— ArmadaBLB (@ArmadaBLB) December 1, 2021

A Quispamsis native, Richard recorded two assists in nine games with the Armada this season.

The 19-year-old appeared in three games with Saint John during the 2018-19 season. He spent last year with the Moncton Wildcats.

Richard has joined the Maritime Junior Hockey League's Campbellton Tigers.

COVID PROBLEMS

COVID-19 is once again becoming a big problem with game postponements at nearly every level. Kitchener Rangers broadcaster Mike Farwell shares his thoughts on the situation.

New Brunswick's "Winter Action Plan" also seems to indicate that any region that dips into level two would have entertainment centres and recreation/sport centres back to a maximum capacity of 50%.

REMEMBER THAT?

Here's a highlight we haven't seen in some time.

With Memorial Cup tix on sale now, we are doing the @KiaCanada Top 10 differently this week. Celebrating the 10 best moments from the last 10 @CHLMemorialCup.

#10 - @JonnyHuby11 and a bouncing puck! pic.twitter.com/QSbWGyQYiv

— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) December 6, 2021