Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Notebook: Hurtubise honoured

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
Saint John Sea Dogs goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise has been honoured for his play last week.

Hurtubise was named to the QMJHL's Team of the Week on Monday after posting a 2-0 record to go along with a .933 save percentage and 2.00 goals against average. The netminder helped the Sea Dogs pick up a couple big wins over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Charlottetown Islanders.

Since joining the Sea Dogs, Hurtubise is 6-2 with a 2.72 GAA and .904 save percentage.

Hurtubise leads all QMJHL goaltenders in minutes played and is third in saves.

Thomas Couture, meanwhile, posted his first career QMJHL shutout on Saturday, helping the Sea Dogs defeat the Moncton Wildcats 5-0. Couture is now 7-2 with the Sea Dogs to go along with a 1.96 GAA and .923 save percentage.

Couture is, somewhat surprisingly, third in the league in wins this season with 18 split between the Sea Dogs and Wildcats.

COUTURE'S NEW GEAR
Thomas Couture's Sea Dogs branded gear arrived last week.
COMING UP
After a hectic stretch filled with mid-week games, the Sea Dogs have the week off to prepare for two tilts this weekend.

The Sea Dogs have another big game against the Charlottetown Islanders set for this Friday, this time at TD Station. The two teams met last Friday at Eastlink Centre where Saint John earned a solid 2-1 victory.

The Islanders, who play Thursday at home against the Moncton Wildcats, have a seven-point lead on the Sea Dogs and have played two fewer games. Friday's match will be the final regular season meeting between the two in Saint John.

On Saturday the Sea Dogs host the Wildcats at 7 p.m. In two meetings in the second half, the Sea Dogs have outscored the Wildcats 13-1. The two will also face each other on March 22 (in Moncton) and March 25 (in Saint John).

ICE BAR TO REOPEN
With COVID-19 restrictions essentially gone in New Brunswick, the Ice Bar will reopen at TD Station this weekend. The Wildcats have had their Ice Bar at Avenir Centre back in operation for a few weeks.
DESPONT FIGHT
Via HockeyFight.com, here's another look at the fight between Vincent Despont and Maxim Barbashev during last Saturday's game in Moncton. This was Despont's first career QMJHL fight in the regular season.


The Sea Dogs have the second most fights in the QMJHL this season with 14. Only the Halifax Mooseheads (15) had more entering Tuesday action.

Riley Bezeau continues to lead the league in fights with five.

CHL TEAM OF THE (LAST) WEEK
Catching up on some news here... two Sea Dogs forwards were named to the CHL's Team of the Week last week.

Both Josh Lawrence and William Dufour earned the weekly honours. Lawrence had four goals and six assists in three games while Dufour had five goals and four assists.

Former Sea Dogs defenseman Kale McCallum, now with the Val-d'Or Foreurs, also made the team.

WOODS SCORES FIRST QMJHL GOAL
16-year-old forward Francis Woods, a third-round pick of the Sea Dogs in the 2021 QMJHL Entry Draft, scored his first Q goal on March 6.



Woods, who was traded to Val-d'Or in the Marshall Lessard deal at the deadline, has a goal in three games with the Foreurs.

TITAN THIRD JERSEYS
The Acadie-Bathurst Titan sported their new third jerseys this past weekend.
According to the team, "absent on the new jerseys is the Titan wordmark under the logo. This redesign of our logo is aimed to make the jersey look more dynamic; however, we are not changing our official logo. Refreshed logos show a team is evolving and changing to keep up with the modern world. Experts say removing the wordmark may help a brand achieve an iconic status where they can be identified by the visual symbols."

OTHER THINGS
  • The Sea Dogs were an honourable mention in last weeks' CHL Top 10 rankings. The Charlottetown Islanders were ranked second, the Shawinigan Cataractes eighth and the Quebec Remparts ninth. The WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings were first.
  • The Calgary Sun has a story on Flames prospect Jeremie Poirier breaking Thomas Chabot's franchise record for defensemen scoring.
  • Former Sea Dogs forward Samuel Dove-McFalls, currently captain of the UNB Reds, was named an AUS second team all-star.
  • Kobe Burt, who played in one game with the Sea Dogs last season, was named one of the MHL's Players of the Week. Burt had a goal and two assists in three games with the South Shore Lumberjacks last week.
  • Zachary Alchorn, who played in 16 games with the Sea Dogs last season, was named one of the MHL's Players of the Week last week. The 20-year-old forward has 15 goals and 11 assists in 22 games with the Fredericton Red Wings this season.
  • 22-year-old forward Marc McLaughlin, a sixth-round pick of the Sea Dogs in the 2015 QMJHL Entry Draft, has signed an entry-level deal with the Boston Bruins. McLaughlin, who played with Team USA at the Olympics, has spent the past four seasons at Boston College.
  • The Halifax Mooseheads and import forward Senna Peeters have mutually agreed to part ways, the team announced last week. Peeters, who will return home to Europe, had two goals in four games against Saint John this season.
  • The Gatineau Olympiques recalled Eve Gascon last Thursday. She was the team's backup goaltender in a 7-6 overtime loss to the Val-d'Or Foreurs on Saturday.
  • The 17 Ontario based OHL teams will receive $3 million from the provincial government that will be used towards player scholarships.
  • Gregg Drinnan writes about the drop in attendance across much of the WHL. Those clubs haven't faced as many capacity limitations as teams in the QMJHL have this year.
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