Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Notebook: Sea Dogs hitting the road

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
After playing 10 of their past 12 games at home, the Saint John Sea Dogs head back out on the road this week.

The Sea Dogs begin a three-game Quebec road trip Wednesday in Chicoutimi, taking on the Sagueneens at 8:30 p.m. They'll travel to Baie-Comeau to face Marshall Lessard and the Drakkar on Thursday at 8 p.m. before wrapping things up with a 5 p.m. contest in Rimouski on Saturday.

Saint John is 4-10-1-1 on the road this season. After this week's trip, the Sea Dogs will head to Quebec just one more time.

The Sea Dogs are back on TD Station ice on Wednesday, Jan. 18 when they host the Shawinigan Cataractes. It will be the Cataractes' first visit to Saint John since last June's Memorial Cup.

NEW ADDITIONS
The Sea Dogs have added two more players to their roster.

The club announced Tuesday the signings of defenseman Joseph Ianniello and forward Luka Benoit. Both players come from the Central Canadian Hockey League.

Ianniello, 18, recorded five goals and 20 assists in 28 games with the CCHL's Navan Grads this season. An eighth-round pick of the Barrie Colts in the 2020 OHL Draft, Ianniello recorded a goal and three assists in six games with Canada Red at the 2022 World Junior A Challenge.

According to a Sea Dogs news release, the Woodbridge, ON native previously had NCAA intentions.

Benoit, 17, had eight goals and eight assists in 27 games with the Nepean Raiders this season. The Ottawa native was selected seventh overall by the Ottawa 67's in the 2022 OHL U18 Priority Selection Draft.

“Joseph and Luka were standout players in their league” said Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie in a news release. “They fit our age group here and have earned this opportunity. We are very pleased that they decided to commit to Sea Dogs.”

TRACEY BACK WITH RED WINGS
18-year-old defenseman Jake Tracey was back with the Maritime Hockey League's Fredericton Red Wings this weekend.

Tracey played in 19 games with the Sea Dogs during the first half the season, recording two assists. He returned to the Red Wings lineup on Saturday in Miramichi where he registered an assist in Fredericton's 4-2 loss. He also appeared in the Red Wings' 4-3 shootout loss to the Edmundston Blizzard.

The Kingston, ON native played in 30 games with Fredericton last season.

BALLARD INFO
Here's some more info on Harrison Ballard, who the Sea Dogs recently signed as a free agent.


In recent years, Ballard has bounced around with the Don Mills Flyers, Mississauga Senators and York-Simcoe Express. This year, Ballard, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, was a standout with the Express in a year where most of the attention in the ETA surrounded Quinte and Whitby. Ballard is an athletic winger who is full of energy and plays a physical game that should help in his transition to playing against older, more experienced competition.

Ballard, who was committed to UMass at one time, ended up being an eighth-round pick of the Kingston Frontenacs in the 2020 OHL Draft.

YEAR IN REVIEW
The Sea Dogs have ranked their top-10 moments from the calendar year that was in a two-part series. Part 1 in word form is here and Part 2 is here.



BIG NIGHT FOR GRANT
Former Sea Dogs defenseman Alex Grant made some history in the KHL on Sunday.
Grant, 33, has seven goals and nine assists in 32 KHL games this season. He was also named the league's top defenseman last week.
WJC VID
A cool video of the world junior scenes in downtown Halifax from Eastlink's Mavs Gillis.


OTHER THINGS
  • Sea Dogs forward Pavel Simek was injured in Friday's game and did not play Sunday. Simek told broadcaster John Moore on 93 CFBC that he took an elbow to the face in the game. He could return this week.
  • Sea Dogs head coach Travis Crickard tells Kevin Barrett of Postmedia that there is a 90-95% chance that captain Charlie DesRoches plays at some point during Saint John's Quebec road trip.
  • Saltwire reports on the Sea Dogs acquiring Nathan Casey last week, giving the team another Newfoundland connection.
  • The QMJHL website has a feature on Nico Laforge, the team's scholastic player of the month for December.
  • 17-year-old forward Francis Woods, a third-round pick of Saint John in the 2021 QMJHL Entry Draft, has been reassigned to the QJHL's Gatineau Flames. Woods appeared in 34 games with the Val-d'Or Foreurs this season, recording one goal.
  • You can apply to be the QMJHL's new commissioner here.
  • Dylan Guenther, who scored the overtime winner for Canada in last Thursday's gold medal game, was unable to play for the Edmonton Oil Kings at last year's Memorial Cup in Saint John. The 19-year-old has appeared in 21 games with the Arizona Coyotes this season. His performance at the world juniors and in the NHL this year shows what a massive loss he was for the Oil Kings last June.
  • It seems unlikely that Guenther will play another game at the junior level, but the loaded Seattle Thunderbirds acquired his rights from the Oil Kings on Tuesday just in case.
  • Because of the world juniors, the Halifax Mooseheads played their first home game since Dec. 16 on Sunday. "Heave Away" was played in the third period - and the people loved it! The match was the first of five straight home games for Halifax.
  • Former Sea Dogs coach Paul Boutilier was interviewed in-house during the world junior gold medal game on Thursday. Boutilier helped Canada win world junior gold for the first time in 1982.
  • Huddle writes about the economic spinoffs the world juniors had in Halifax and Moncton and argues that the Maritimes should host more major winter-time events.
  • Leafs Nation has an article on former Sea Dogs defenseman William Villeneuve, who is in his first professional season with the AHL's Toronto Marlies.
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