Notebook: New Dogs means new numbers

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There will be plenty of new numbers on the ice when the Saint John Sea Dogs return to action.

Eight players have been added to Saint John's active roster following the completion of the trade period. Here's a quick look at the numbers the new arrivals will be wearing.

#1 - Thomas Couture

#19 - Philippe Daoust

#21 - Nicholas Blagden

#27 - Connor Trenholm

#46 - Vincent Sevigny

#55 - Raivis Ansons

#63 - Marshall Lessard

#70 - Nikolas Hurtubise

Daoust takes the number of Yanic Crete who, after being placed on waivers, is returning to play in Ontario. Hurtubise will wear No. 70, which was worn by Jonathan Lemieux this year.

Sevigny's No. 46 has only been worn two other times: Andrew Howes and Nicolas Larocque-Marcoux, both of whom wore the number in 2008.

Lessard will become the first Sea Dog to ever wear No. 63.

NB MOVES INTO LEVEL 3

Obligatory mention about New Brunswick moving into Level 3 of its "winter plan."

Also newly modified is the Level 3 section on sports. pic.twitter.com/MbNtVNCmHO

— Jacques Poitras (@poitrasCBC) January 13, 2022

New Brunswick will stay in Level 3 for at least 16 days, the province announced Thursday. This will postpone an additional five Sea Dogs games. The QMJHL had planned/hoped to resume games next week. No official announcement has been made by the league yet.

LATVIAN HISTORY

According to Elite Prospects, Raivis Ansons will become the first Latvian to play for the Sea Dogs in team history.

Oddly enough, Ansons takes the import spot of Evgeny Sapelnikov, who was the first Belarusian player to suit up for the Sea Dogs.

Ansons has played for Latvia a number of times internationally. At this year's Division 1 A world juniors, the Pittsburgh Penguins prospect recorded four goals and nine points in five games.

MORE MESSAGES

A couple more messages from new Sea Dogs were shared on the team's social platforms this week.

New Sea Dogs forward Marshall Lessard is ready. 💪#CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/WBCYBHYGjC

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) January 11, 2022

New Sea Dogs goalie and President Cup Champion Nikolas Hurtubise is ready to play in the Port City! 💪 pic.twitter.com/flGfSdQdvS

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) January 10, 2022

MACINTOSH COMMITS TO YORK
Former Sea Dogs forward Aiden MacIntosh has committed to York University for the 2022-23 season.

COMMITMENT ANNOUNCEMENT ‼️

Excited to announce @aiden_macintosh as our 3rd commit of next seasons freshman class. Aiden hails from Moncton, NB and currently plays for the @OJHLGoldenHawks of the @OJHLOfficial. #HeartOfALion pic.twitter.com/eFlDCnDdva

— York University Men’s Hockey (@yorklionshockey) January 9, 2022

Craig Eagles has a feature on MacIntosh's road to the York program, which includes recovering from a scary eye injury.

The 20-year-old forward has been playing with the OJHL's Trenton Golden Hawks this season where he has 12 goals and 22 points in 25 games.

A fourth-round pick of the Sea Dogs in the 2017 QMJHL Entry Draft, the Moncton native spent parts of three seasons in Saint John. He recorded 11 goals and 23 points in 93 career QMJHL games.

BREEN HONOURED
Forward Lynden Breen, a fifth-round pick of Saint John in 2017, was named the Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday.

The #HockeyEast Player of the Week is Lynden Breen, who scored 2 goals and dished out 2 assists in a 4-2 win for @MaineIceHockey in Saturday’s win over Alaska Fairbanks. He scored the game-tying goal, and assisted the game-winner on his way to his first career 4 point game. pic.twitter.com/5lRGggcCoC

— Hockey East (@hockey_east) January 10, 2022

The 20-year-old has four goals and 12 points in 19 games with the Maine Black Bears this season.

2023 MEMORIAL CUP NEWS

We know the 2022 Memorial Cup tournament will be hosted in Saint John. But what about the 2023 event?

2023 will be the WHL's turn to host. The league hasn't held the event since 2018 in Regina thanks to 2020's cancelled tourney in Kelowna.

The Kamloops Blazers have confirmed they will be putting in a bid.

“It’s a major balancing act,” Blazers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston told Kamloops This Week about the upcoming WHL trade deadline. “We have a real good chance at getting the Memorial Cup. We’re bidding on it. We’re optimistic. So, when you look at 17-and 18-year-old players, which is generally the age group other teams covet, first of all we like our players in that age group and, most importantly, they really factor into things next year."

OHL SCHEDULE

The OHL continues to fight through COVID-19 related pauses and postponements. Some teams are going to have a busy schedule down the stretch.

9 of Guelph's last 10 games postponed. If they play Jan. 16 it will have been 29 days between games.

— Tony Saxon (@SaxonOnTheStorm) January 10, 2022

Random #OHL thought this Wednesday morning. The Barrie Colts have played a league-low 25 games. The North Bay Battalion have played a league-high 33. The regular season ends in 81 days. So you're playing between 35 and 43 games ... in the next 81 days. Yowza.

— Mike Farwell (@farwell_ohl) January 12, 2022

OTHER THINGS

• William Dufour has been named the No. 2 prospect in the New York Islanders prospect pool by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. Raivis Ansons was named the 14th best Pittsburgh Penguins prospect. Former Sea Dogs forward Maxim Cajkovic, now with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch, was ranked 14th in the Tampa Bay Lighting's pool of prospects. 
• The Ottawa Senators have confirmed that Philippe Daoust has been loaned to the Sea Dogs from AHL Belleville.
• The QMJHL website has a story on now former Sea Dogs forward Charles Savoie and some of the work he's done in the Saint John community.
• Random number fact: Cole Foston, who appeared in 14 games with Saint John earlier this season, was just the second Sea Dog to wear No. 47. Simon Despres is the other.
• The Maritime portion of the QMJHL Cup, scheduled for Feb. 3-6 in Dartmouth, has been cancelled by COVID. The last leg of the prospect event will take place April 27 - May 1 in Boisbriand.
• Jordan King, who appeared in eight games with the Sea Dogs during the 2015-16 season, has left the Lakehead University Thunderwolves to play pro in Germany, reports Ben Steiner. King was in his fourth year with Lakehead.
• 22-year-old New York Islanders pick Ben Mirageas, a ninth-round selection of the Sea Dogs in the 2015 QMJHL Entry Draft, has left the Providence College Friars. This was his fifth season with Friars.
• Providence College, led by Team USA world junior head coach Nate Leaman, also features defenseman Guillaume Richard, a fourth-round pick of the Sea Dogs in 2020. Richard has two goals and 10 points in 22 games as a freshman.
• 22-year-old forward Marc McLaughlin, a sixth-round pick of the Sea Dogs in the 2015 QMJHL Entry Draft, has been named to the United States men's hockey roster for the upcoming Olympic Games. McLaughlin is in his fourth season with Boston College and his second as the team's captain.
• The ECHL's Trois-Rivieres Lions have continued to sign LNAH players for COVID reasons. One recent signing: former Sea Dogs goaltender Marc-Antoine Gelinas. The 32-year-old was unfortunately placed on the Lions' COVID list a few days later. Gelinas has appeared in 10 games with the LNAH's Sorel-Tracy Eperviers this season. The netminder appeared in 27 games with Saint John during the first half of the 2009-10 season.
• AHL TV is free to watch this Saturday.
• The KHL will begin a one-week pause of its schedule on Saturday because of COVID outbreaks on several teams. Sea Dogs alumni to play in the KHL this season include Stanislav Galiev, Alex Grant, Tomas Jurco and Vladislav Kotkov.