Notebook: Dufour breaks Huberdeau record

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - William Dufour's four-goal performance Saturday pushed him into the goal scoring lead at the 2022 Memorial Cup.

Dufour ended round-robin play with six goals in three games. No other player had more than three.

Dufour is tied for the tournament's points lead with six (all goals). He's tied with the Shawinigan duo of Mavrik Bourque and Xavier Bourgault along with Hamilton's Logan Morrison. 

Morrison leads the tournament in assists with six. Saint John's Philippe Daoust has five.

Dufour has already broken Jonathan Huberdeau's team record for most goals in a single Memorial Cup and is one point away from matching the points record. Daoust has already broken the record for most assists in a single Memorial Cup by a Sea Dog.

Here's a look at Sea Dogs points leaders in previous tournaments:

2017: Points - Julien Gauthier (6); goals - Joe Veleno (3); assists - Gauthier (4)

2012: Points - Jonathan Huberdeau (7); goals - Huberdeau (5); assists - Nathan Beaulieu and Charlie Coyle (4)

2011: Points - Jonathan Huberdeau (6); goals - Tomas Jurco (4); assists - Michael Kirkpatrick and Zack Phillips (4)

SOLD OUT

Since Saturday night, the TD Station website has been showing that Wednesday's championship game is sold out.

Saturday's game between the Sea Dogs and Shawinigan Cataractes was the first of the tournament to be called a sell out. The announced attendance was 5,657.

Tickets are listed as limited for Monday's semifinal. Most of the seats remaining are in the upper bowl end zone.

CHL AWARDS

The Canadian Hockey League awards will be handed out Tuesday evening in a private event at the Saint John Marina.

Sea Dogs forward William Dufour is the QMJHL nominee for CHL Player of the Year. He's up against Logan Stankoven of the Kamloops Blazers and Wyatt Johnston of the Windsor Spitfires.

MUST-WIN GAMES

The Sea Dogs have had mixed results in must-win games at Memorial Cups in their history.

Saint John is 1-2 all-time with their lone win being the 2011 championship game. The Sea Dogs had a bye to the final that year.

The Sea Dogs fell in the semifinals in 2012 (7-4 loss to Shawinigan) and 2017 (6-3 loss to Erie).

SPEAKER SERIES

Fitting end to the Speaker Series after Dufour’s performance last night.

Jonathan Huberdeau (sent SJ to 2011 Memorial Cup final with OT goal) and Alexandre Beauregard (scored OT goal to send SJ to 2011 tourney). pic.twitter.com/BPCZp5o5UH

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) June 26, 2022

The Memorial Cup Speaker Series held its final session on Sunday with former Sea Dogs Jonathan Huberdeau and Alexandre Beauregard taking the stage. Both were asked to make a prediction for Wednesday's championship game: Beauregard picked 4-2 Sea Dogs and Huberdeau 3-1 Sea Dogs (the same score as the 2011 final).

The Speaker Series had some great crowds, especially on Saturday when Mathieu Jospeh, Boko Imama, Thomas Chabot, Nathan Beaulieu and Matthew Highmore all took part.

LADY MO

The Sea Dogs are embracing Gardiner MacDougall's post-game press conference from Saturday.

Lady Mo. #CityofChampions https://t.co/MhKJCHrmwh pic.twitter.com/a2qLk0UMfY

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) June 27, 2022

DRAFT = SOON

Reminder: the QMJHL Entry Draft is a week away. HockeyProspect.com has released its annual draft guide.

Look what arrived early…https://t.co/ispIABmJUB

— HockeyProspect.com (@ScoutingService) June 22, 2022

The QMJHL Entry Draft takes place virtually July 4-5.

The CHL Import Draft, meanwhile, takes place this Friday beginning at noon. The Sea Dogs have the 48th and 108th overall selections (although both will likely be higher with many teams opting to pass on their picks).

BEST POUTINE

The city's best poutine: it's apparently at East Coast Bistro.

Congratulations to East Coast Bistro who were voted as having the best poutine in Saint John by judges Boko Imana, Mathieu Joseph and Scott McCain as part of Friday's One For All district presented by @McCainFoods! #MemorialCup pic.twitter.com/Rd1DZC0Frc

— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) June 25, 2022

Scott McCain, Mathieu Joseph, and Boko Imama were our judges in the Poutine Battle for Francophone Day in the #OneforAll District!

After tasting several poutines from around the city, they decided that East Coast Bistro is the best in town! pic.twitter.com/PfCOEXdSHI

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) June 24, 2022

FIRST TIME

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A post shared by Karel St-Laurent (@karelstlaurent)

OTHER THINGS

• Really cool to see so many Sea Dogs alumni in town for this event - and really cool to see them supporting the current team from the Ice Bar during games. Very unique touch and something not a lot of franchises could pull off.
• Le Nouvelliste caught up with former Sea Dogs defenseman Charles-Olivier Roussel. 
• The Win Column has ranked Sea Dogs defenseman Yan Kuznetsov as the 10th best prospect in the Calgary Flames system.
• The Hamilton Spectator notes that the Bulldogs' Logan Morrison has a 26-game point streak heading into Monday's semifinal.
• Postmedia has a story on the Sea Dogs reaching the final after a long layoff.
• Craig Eagles has a story on the Sea Dogs' unusual route to the Memorial Cup final. "At the end of the day, will anyone ever really remember their decisions if the Sea Dogs hoist junior hockey’s holy grail on TD Station ice?"