Thursday, September 28, 2023

Notebook: Sea Dogs host Eagles in back-to-back this weekend

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
SAINT JOHN - A couple of familiar faces will be on the ice at TD Station this weekend.

Former Saint John Sea Dogs forwards Cam MacDonald and Cole Burbidge will presumably be in the Cape Breton Eagles lineup on Friday and Saturday. MacDonald was released from his tryout with the Arizona Coyotes earlier this week.

MacDonald, who helped the Sea Dogs win the Memorial Cup in 2022, made his TD Station return last season when he was a member of the Gatineau Olympiques. Burbidge, who was traded to Cape Breton in August, will be playing his first game against Saint John.

Burbidge had an impressive first QMJHL season with the Sea Dogs last year, recording 19 goals and 50 points in 68 games. Like most players on the Eagles, he's been held pointless through the first two games of this season.

Cape Breton had a rough opening weekend, dropping back-to-back home games to the Moncton Wildcats and getting outscored 13-1 in the process. 

Both Friday and Saturday games are 7 p.m. starts.

THEME NIGHTS
The Sea Dogs have announced their first few theme nights of the season.

As was indicated on the TD Station boards, the Sea Dogs will welcome Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall on Oct. 21 and on Nov. 13, the Sea Dogs will host a Taylor Swift Tribute. Note that the Nov. 13 game is on a Monday (a holiday for many) at 2 p.m.

The team also announced on social media Wednesday that the club's Nov. 3 game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan will be the annual Hockey Fights Cancer Game with performances by The Artificially Hip.

NEW POD EPISODE
This week on The Hockey News on the Q podcast, Will MacLaren and I discuss the QMJHL's opening weekend, the league's new award, number retirements, the Sea Dogs/Titan "fight" and more.
"HITMAN" DROPS PUCK
In case you missed it, here's Bret "The Hitman" Hart dropping the puck before Saturday's home opener.


MAESTRO WEARS DOGS JERSEY
Maestro Fresh Wes had a busy Saturday night.

Along with debuting his Backbone Sliders concession at TD Station, Maestro also hit the stage at the AREA 506 Container Village during Saturday's Classified concert — and sported a Sea Dogs jersey (scroll to slide seven below).


NEW AWARD
The QMJHL announced the creation of the Patrick Roy Trophy on Sunday, which will be awarded to the league's Goaltender of the Year.


Among the key criteria to win the Goaltender of the Year award, the player must have participated in at least 40% of the minutes played by his team. He must also stand out in the following categories: goals-against-average, save percentage, shutouts and winning percentage. Additionally, he must significantly impact his squad’s overall performance throughout the regular season.

The Jacques Plante Trophy will continue to be awarded to the goaltender with the best GAA.

LAWRENCE'S WEEKEND
Josh Lawrence had another big weekend in Switzerland.

The former Sea Dogs forward recorded two goals and two assists in EHC Winterthur's 4-2 win over Basel in Swiss League action, giving him nine points (five goals and four assists) in just four games. He currently leads the club in scoring.
SHINGAROV JOINS GOLDEN HAWKS
Former Sea Dogs goaltender Ventsislav Shingarov has popped up on the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks roster for the 2023-24 season.

Shingarov, 20, was not invited to Sea Dogs training camp. In 50 games with Saint John last season, Shingarov posted a 17-24-5 record to go along with a 4.35 goals against average and a .878 save percentage. He went 1-4 in the team's first round playoff series loss to the Gatineau Olympiques.

The Golden Hawks website has Shingarov studying economics. 

Former Sea Dogs forward Luke Wilson played nine games with the Golden Hawks last season but is not listed on the team's roster for 2023-24.

SENIOR LEAGUE EXPANSION
The Southern Senior Hockey League, which has featured quite a few Sea Dogs alumni over the past couple seasons, has expanded to five teams for 2023-24.

The teams this season will be the Game Time Irishmen (St. Stephen), River Valley Rock (Grand Bay-Westfield), Saint John Senior Flames (TD Station), Tri-County Express (Fredericton Junction) and Grand Lake Sturgeons (Minto).

The league schedule dropped on Wednesday. The regular season begins Oct. 20.

OTHER THINGS
  • McKeen's Hockey considers Sea Dogs forward Eriks Mateiko an early candidate to be selected in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft.
  • Most of the Sea Dogs' promotional videos and photos were done in the team's third jersey... so presumably those will return this season.
  • The Hockey Writers recaps Saint John's home opener.
  • Former Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant is still interested in working in the NHL, reports The Athletic (paywall).
  • TVA has a quick story on Sea Dogs defenseman Tristan Dassylva scoring his first QMJHL goal last weekend.
  • Craig Eagles writes about Sea Dogs defenseman Matthew MacLean overcoming an ACL injury in 2021.
  • 19-year-old defenseman Emanuelson Charbonneau is joining the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Charbonneau, a third-round pick of the Armada in the 2020 QMJHL Entry Draft, has spent the past three seasons in the BCHL and was committed to the NCAA's Omaha Mavericks.
  • Some massive college hockey news this week: American Cole Eiserman, a top prospect for the 2024 NHL Draft, de-committed from the University of Minnesota and is now expected to attend Boston University next year. The Moncton Wildcats own his QMJHL rights.
  • In tragic news, it sounds like the Georges-Vezina Centre's days are numbered. The city of Saguenay is now planning to build a new rink for the Sagueneens instead of renovating the arena that was built in 1949. It's worth visiting if you haven't been.
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