Sea Dogs excited to play in final

Vincent Ethier/CHL

SAINT JOHN - It's easy to tell that Gardiner MacDougall has had a significant influence on the Saint John Sea Dogs in his short time as head coach.

Ahead of the 2022 Memorial Cup championship game - MacDougall's final match with the club - players continued to speak about the "better every day" motto that the veteran head coach brought to the Sea Dogs.

"I'm very excited," said captain Vincent Sevigny ahead of the Sea Dogs' showdown with the Hamilton Bulldogs. "I think all the boys are excited to play that game. We're happy to be there at this moment and we'll do anything to win that game.

"In each practice we try to be better every day. It's our mindset. Same thing for today. That game, we'll try to get better and to win it."

Pre-game thoughts from @SJSeaDogs head coach Gardiner MacDougall, as well as William Dufour and Vincent Sevigny, ahead of tonight's #MemorialCup final! pic.twitter.com/5a6b68c1GL

— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) June 29, 2022

Sevigny no doubt wants to lead the Sea Dogs to a better result than their last "winner-take-all" game on home ice. Sevigny was a -4 in the team's 4-3 overtime loss to the Rimouski Oceanic back on May 12, a loss that eliminated the Memorial Cup hosts from the President Cup playoffs.

William Dufour has already posted better numbers at the Memorial Cup (six goals in three games) than the first-round of the playoffs (two goals and two assists). He's likely the leading candidate for tournament MVP if Saint John is victorious tonight.

Dufour and the Sea Dogs will look to have a much better first period tonight compared to Saturday. Saint John fell behind 3-0 to the Shawinigan Cataractes before coming back to win 5-3.

"We just want to be better every day and that's what we're going to to do," said Dufour. "We're going to improve from that, we're going to learn from that and we're going to be ready tonight."

Speaking of getting better every day, the Bulldogs have been doing just that at the Memorial Cup. The Sea Dogs defeated the Bulldogs 5-3 in the tournament opener last Monday but have improved in every game since then.

Hamilton is loaded up front with the likes of Mason McTavish, Logan Morrison and a cast of others. Saint John's defensive play - which has been the team's achilles heel so many times over the past five years - will need to bring their best game tonight.

The Bulldogs are looking to win their first Memorial Cup title while the Sea Dogs are looking for their second.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. at TD Station.