The Sea Dogs and Acadie-Bathurst Titan were scheduled to open the regular season last night at TD Station, but Hurricane Fiona ruined those plans. Instead, the provincial rivals will begin play this afternoon at the KC Irving Regional Centre. Puck drop is at 3 p.m.
These two teams had some great battles last season, but the rosters will look significantly different this afternoon. Both clubs have had quite a bit of roster turnover and will be taking a step back - how far back is the big question.
There will be plenty of new faces in Saint John's lineup. Only nine players who lifted the Memorial Cup in June are back with the club this season. Today's contest will be the beginning of a new era of Sea Dogs hockey.
The Sea Dogs and Titan met four times in the pre-season with Bathurst winning three of them.
TV/Radio/Stream: None/93 CFBC/CHL TV
2022-23 records: This is the first game of the regular season for both clubs.
2022 pre-season records: The Sea Dogs were 3-5-0-0 this pre-season while the Titan went 5-2-0-0.
2021-22 regular season records: The Sea Dogs finished with a record of 47-17-1-3 for 98 points (second Maritimes/third Eastern/third QMJHL) while the Titan went 40-22-3-3 for 86 points (third Maritimes/fourth Eastern/sixth QMJHL). Saint John was eliminated in the opening round of the QMJHL playoffs and went on to win the Memorial Cup as the host team. The Titan were eliminated in the second round.
Last games: The Titan defeated the Sea Dogs 4-2 last Sunday in Laméque, NB, the final pre-season game for both clubs. Nolan Forster scored a pair of goals for Bathurst while Noah Ryan and Dominik Godin also scored. Sam-Luca Thifault and Marshall Lessard scored for Saint John. Sergei Litvinov made 25 saves in the win. Ventsislav Shingarov made 28 stops in the loss.
2022 pre-season head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 1-3-0-0 against the Titan in the pre-season while Bathurst went 3-1-0-0 against Saint John.
Last meeting: See above.
2021-22 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs went 5-2-1-1 against the Titan last season while Bathurst went 4-4-0-1 against Saint John.
Ex-Sea Dogs on the Titan: Head coach and general manager Gordie Dwyer.
Titan to watch: Ben Allison had two goals and four assists in three pre-season games against Saint John.
Random stat: Brady Burns had two goals and six assists in nine games against the Titan last season.
Notes: Marshall Lessard, Cole Burbidge and Brady Burns each had a Sea Dogs high six points in the pre-season... Lessard and Burbidge led Saint John in pre-season goals with three each... Alexis Cournoyer had a Saint John high five assists... Ben Allison led Bathurst in pre-season points with eight and assists with five... Jacob Melanson had a Titan high five goals... Sea Dogs goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise did not play in any pre-season games, reportedly due to a minor injury... Sea Dogs forward Cam MacDonald is attending Tampa Bay Lightning training camp... Bathurst forwards Riley Kidney (Montreal Canadiens) and Melanson (Seattle Kraken) along with goaltender Jan Bednar (Detroit Red Wings) are attending NHL camps... the Sea Dogs have opened the regular season in Bathurst a number of times, most recently in 2020.
Out of town:
Rimouski at Baie-Comeau - 4:00 PM EDTNext game: The Sea Dogs travel to Charlottetown to face the rebuilding Islanders on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
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