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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
The Titan dropped games one and two of their second round series against the Charlottetown Islanders by a combined score of 9-2. One of Bathurst's goals came courtesy of Charlottetown scoring on their own net during a delayed penalty call.
The Titan trailed their opening round series against the Halifax Mooseheads 2-0 before rattling off three straight wins to advance. But most would argue that the Islanders, 5-0 so far in these playoffs, are a superior opponent to the Mooseheads. This will be a tough task for a Titan team that seems to be feeling some fatigue after a rough stretch run.
The Rimouski Oceanic, meanwhile, continue to do Rimouski Oceanic things. After dropping the series opening 4-0 to the top-seeded Quebec Remparts, the Oceanic rebounded with a 4-1 victory. The next two games of the series will be in Rimouski.
The other series have the Sherbrooke Phoenix leading the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 2-0 and the Shawinigan Cataractes up 2-0 on the Gatineau Olympiques.
All four series resume Thursday.
ATHLETIC ARTICLE
By now you've probably checked out Scott Wheeler's excellent piece on the Sea Dogs' on- and off-ice Memorial Cup preparations. If you haven't read it, you should definitely do that.
A few of the tidbits from the piece that stood out:
- The Athletic confirmed what had been assumed (and I don't think ever publicly stated) what Saint John's plan was at the 2018 QMJHL Entry Draft: draft defensemen and smaller forwards who would a) be in their primes when hosting the Memorial Cup and b) not jump to the NHL early.
- The Sea Dogs have had Charlie Coyle call up NCAA committed players and pitch Saint John to them.
- The Athletic also reported that it was McCain who stopped the Sea Dogs from dealing two first round picks to the Moncton Wildcats for Brandon Gormley during the 2012 trade period. Wheeler writes that McCain now "believes the Sea Dogs would have won the Memorial Cup with Gormley and argues Gormley put the Cataractes, who made the trade when Saint John wouldn’t, over the edge."
LONG LAYOFF
The Sea Dogs will have 38 days between games. That's a lot - but, as Mikael Lalancette breaks down, that's a fairly average amount.
C'est 38 jours de congé que les Sea Dogs auront d'ici le début de la coupe Memorial.
— Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) May 13, 2022
C'est... beaucoup, mais c'est dans la moyenne.
Saskatoon, 2013, 50 jours
Windsor, 2017, 44 jours
Regina 2018, 45 jours
London 2014, 34 jours
Shawinigan 2012, 31 jours
Red Deer, 2016, 20 jours https://t.co/lLGZPpuVQM
Another random thought on this: there's likely never been a generation of players more experienced in handling lengthy breaks between games (thank you for your service, COVID). Plus, unlike many COVID breaks of the past, the Sea Dogs have a definite date (fingers crossed) of when they'll be returning to game action. Maybe it won't help at all, I don't know, but it's something to consider.
WINNING IS HARD
Winning both your league championship and the Memorial Cup as the host team? It ain't easy.
*Series clincher
^Double overtime
With Saint John losing to Rimouski last night, it's been 12 seasons since a Memorial Cup host team won a league title. That was the 2008 OHL Champion Kitchener Rangers.
— Victor Findlay (@Victor_Findlay) May 13, 2022
The last team to win both a league final and Memorial Cup as the host team was the 2005 London Knights.
COUTURE'S NEW MASK
It's here.
ZBORIL SIGNS EXTENSION
Former Sea Dogs defenseman Jakub Zboril has signed a two-year contract extension with the Boston Bruins. The deal has an annual cap hit of $1,137,500, according to the Bruins release.
The 25-year-old was off to a strong start in 2021-22 but appeared in just 10 games with the Bruins after suffering a season ending ACL injury in early December. He's appeared in 54 career NHL games over parts of three seasons.
🎥 Jakub Zboril reacts to his two-year contract extension and provides an update on his rehab from knee surgery: "I am [excited]. Especially after getting injured, seeing that the team still believes in me, that's a huge deal for me." pic.twitter.com/GuXOqQfaCH
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 16, 2022
Zboril spent three seasons with the Sea Dogs, helping the club win the President Cup in 2017.
TOP PLAYS
Not the result we were looking for, but here are five shining moments from round one in the Top Five Plays of the Week presented by TD! pic.twitter.com/JYDghYKXrY
— x - Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) May 16, 2022
OT NUMBERS
Last Thursday's devastating overtime loss to the Rimouski Oceanic was a rare playoff OT loss for the Sea Dogs. The team is now 15-7 all-time in playoff overtime games, which includes last season's provincial tournament thing.
| Year | Round, Game | Opponent | Score | Scorer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Round 2, Game 6 | at Bathurst | 5-4 W* | Payton Liske |
| 2009 | Round 1, Game 1 | at Cape Breton | 5-4 L | Joey Haddad |
| 2010 | Round 1, Game 4 | at PEI | 2-1 W | Tomas Jurco |
| 2010 | Round 4, Game 4 | at Moncton | 3-2 W | Nick Petersen |
| 2011 | Round 2, Game 4 | at Victoriaville | 5-4 W | Jonathan Huberdeau |
| 2011 | Round 3, Game 1 | vs Lewiston | 5-4 W | Stephen MacAulay |
| 2011 | Round 4, Game 4 | at Gatineau | 4-3 W^ | Ryan Tesink |
| 2011 | Round 4, Game 6 | at Gatineau | 3-2 W*^ | Alex Beauregard |
| 2012 | Round 3, Game 3 | at Chicoutimi | 5-4 L | Etienne Brodeur |
| 2012 | Round 3, Game 4 | at Chicoutimi | 3-2 W | Charlie Coyle |
| 2012 | Round 3, Game 5 | vs Chicoutimi | 4-3 W* | Stanislav Galiev |
| 2012 | Round 4, Game 1 | vs Rimouski | 3-2 W^ | Zack Phillips |
| 2016 | Round 1, Game 5 | vs Bathurst | 4-3 W* | Thomas Chabot |
| 2016 | Round 2, Game 2 | vs Cape Breton | 4-3 W | Joe Veleno |
| 2016 | Round 2, Game 5 | vs Cape Breton | 4-3 L | Giovanni Fiore |
| 2016 | Round 3, Game 1 | at Shawinigan | 6-5 W | Matthew Highmore |
| 2016 | Round 3, Game 4 | vs Shawinigan | 4-3 L | Danny Moynihan |
| 2017 | Round 2, Game 1 | vs Val-d'Or | 2-1 W | Samuel Dove-McFalls |
| 2017 | Round 3, Game 2 | vs Chicoutimi | 3-2 L^ | Nicolas Roy |
| 2021 | Round-robin | at Bathurst | 4-3 L | Jaxon Bellamy |
| 2021 | Round-robin | at Moncton | 6-5 W | Cam MacDonald |
| 2022 | Round 1, Game 5 | vs Rimouski | 4-3 L* | Alexander Gaudio |
^Double overtime
WJC TICKET TALK
Some more details surrounding tickets for the 2023 world juniors have been reported.
- As mentioned previously, you can sign up for the ticket priority draw now.
- According to a CTV Atlantic report, "preference will be given to Moncton Wildcats and Halifax Mooseheads season ticket holders." This is pretty standard and will presumably be used as a way to boost season ticket sales in both cities.
- The organizers confirmed to Global Maritimes that the two cities had been working on a bid for the past two years - but they expected to be bidding on a tournament to be held later this decade. The 2023 tournament was removed from Russia a few months ago.
- Organizers told Global that “we want to make sure that it is affordable and that it is Maritime-priced.”
ALAN DOYLE NEWS
Singing at the Hockey. Thanks for having me @IslandersHKY pic.twitter.com/gBuEjPFgtq
— Alan Doyle (@alanthomasdoyle) May 16, 2022
OTHER THINGS
- In the Victoriaville newspaper La Nouvelle Union, former Tigres Vincent Sevigny and Nikolas Hurtubise discuss Saint John's first round exit. Hurtubise also discusses the team's move to start Thomas Couture in all five playoff games.
- Le 7e Match has a very critical article on the Sea Dogs losing in the first round.
- Patrick Roy has been named the QMJHL's general manager of the year for the first time in his career. Charlottetown's Jim Hulton and Sherbrooke's Stephane Julien were also nominated.
- The AHL's Stockton Heat, who averaged just 1,713 fans per game this season, are reportedly relocating to the Calgary area in time for next season. This creates a couple big questions: where will they play and what does this mean for the WHL's Calgary Hitmen? The Flames, Heat and Hitmen are all owned by the same organization.
- Yan Kuznetsov and Ryan Francis began their seasons in Stockton. The Heat had the second best record in the AHL during the regular season (45-16-5-2). They begin the Pacific Division final against the Colorado Eagles on Monday.
- Missed this a long time ago, but former Sea Dogs goaltender Jonathan Lemieux will reportedly join the OUA's Concordia University Stingers next season.
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