Notebook: Final Quebec trip set to start

For the final time this regular season, the Saint John Sea Dogs have bussed outside the Maritimes.

The team began its final Quebec road trip after Sunday's 6-2 win over the Rimouski Oceanic at TD Station. They'll visit Baie-Comeau, Chicoutimi and Rimouski this week.

The new-look Sea Dogs are coming off strong back-to-back home wins. They'll look to continue that momentum on this road trip.

Saint John sits ahead of all three of their road trip opponents in the standings. The Sea Dogs are 3-1-0-0 against teams from the East Division this season.

Following this road trip, the Sea Dogs will have a week to prepare for their next contest, a Friday, Feb. 18 match in Halifax against the Mooseheads.

DEBUTS

Several former Sea Dogs debuted with their new teams this weekend.

• Goaltender Jonathan Lemieux made 41 stops and was named third star in Moncton's 4-3 shootout win over Rimouski on Saturday.
• Forward Evgeny Sapelnikov had two goals and an assist in his first two games with the Drakkar. Both of his goals came in Baie-Comeau's 5-2 victory over the Mooseheads on Sunday, a game that saw Sapelnikov named first star.
• Defenseman Christopher Inniss did not play for the Sagueneens over the weekend, serving a two-game suspension he received in Saint John's final game before the Christmas break.
• Cape Breton had the weekend off, meaning Charles Savoie and Carter McCluskey have yet to suit up for their new club. The Eagles are in action Friday in Boisbriand.

THE SHUTOUT

Nikolas Hurtubise's shutout on Friday against the Armada: memorable in more than a few ways.

#QMJHL #LHJMQ BLB/SNB: @SJSeaDogs get their run to the Memorial Cup off to a spectacular start as Nikolas Hurtubise redirects 17, tied for the third fewest in a shutout in franchise history. Team's first goaltender to debut with a shutout since Jacob DeSerres, 10/16/10.

— Geoffrey Brandow (@GeoffreyBrandow) February 5, 2022

BEZAEU FIGHT

Via HockeyFights.com, here's Riley Bezeau's fifth fight of the season from Friday's game.

Bezeau, who served an automatic one-game suspension on Sunday for accumulating major penalties, continues to lead the league in fights.

ALL-STAR

Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist in the Atlantic Division's 8-5 loss to the Central Division in Saturday's NHL All-Star Game.

Up close from Jonathan Huberdeau (@JonnyHuby11). 👇

🇺🇸: @ABCNetwork
🇨🇦: @Sportsnet ➡️ https://t.co/EuBswsMwTL pic.twitter.com/mWdRHnakWQ

— NHL (@NHL) February 5, 2022

The Miami Herald and NHL.com have nice stories on Huberdeau's slow but steady rise to NHL stardom.

Next year's All-Star Weekend will be hosted by Huberdeau and the Florida Panthers.

Former Sea Dogs assistant equipment manager Nathan Belliveau, now with the New Jersey Devils, also worked the All-Star Game.

KHL SEASON OVER?

In a surprising move, the KHL has announced plans to call off the remainder of its regular season after the Olympics. The change still needs some approvals in order to be official.

Citing COVID concerns, reports The Associated Press, the league will go straight into its post-season once players return from Beijing. The top eight teams in each conference, based on points percentage, will qualify for the playoffs.

Four former Sea Dogs have played in the KHL this season: Stanislav Galiev (Dynamo Moscow), Alex Grant (Jokerit), Tomas Jurco (Barys Nur-Sultan) and Vladislav Kotkov (CSKA Moscow).

NEW BOARD

At long last, the centre ice scoreboard has been installed at the new Slush Puppie Centre in Gatineau. Sadly it made its debut in an empty rink on Sunday.

Oh que tu es beau! 🤩 Content d’être de retour pour mon premier match des @OlympiquesGAT en presque deux mois! #GoOlGo pic.twitter.com/08eIPXbUU8

— Alex Marchand | SensDJ (@SensDJ) February 6, 2022

OTHER THINGS

• The CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game is officially back on. The event will be held March 23 in Kitchener (in front of an expected capacity crowd), the CHL announced Monday.
• Something kind of odd: Sunday's Victoriaville game in Quebec City was the Tigres' first game at Videotron Centre since winning the President Cup in the building last year.
• Another something kind of odd: the Sea Dogs still have not played a game in Moncton this season. Their last visit to the Avenir Centre was May 2, 2021 for a "playoff" game.
• Joe Veleno, who was recently sent back down to the AHL, was ranked fifth in Scott Wheeler's Detroit Red Wings prospect pool ranking.
• The men's hockey tournament begins Wednesday at the Olympic Games. Four Sea Dogs alumni will take part: Alex Grant (Canada), Tomas Jurco (Slovakia), Chris DiDomenico (Canada - reserve) and Stanislav Galiev (Russia - reserve). During Monday's Canada/USA scrimmage in Beijing, Grant was dressed as Canada's seventh defensemen.
• The Maritime Junior Hockey League finally returned to action on Sunday and saw an upset with the Campbellton Tigers defeating the No. 2 nationally ranked Summerside Western Capitals 4-1. It was just the third regulation loss of the season for Summerside.