Sea Dogs travel to Quebec this week

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs' first trip of the season into Quebec won't be an easy one — or a short one.

The Sea Dogs begin the three-game voyage in the Montreal area on Thursday night, visiting the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. The team heads north on the weekend, visiting the Val-d'Or Foreurs on Saturday and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Sunday.

The Sea Dogs will face a bit of everything on the trip: a rebuilding Armada squad, a surprising Foreurs team and the highly touted Huskies who are expected to contend for a league title.

Val-d'Or, surprisingly, sits first in the Western Conference with a 5-1-0-1 record — which includes a 4-0-0-0 mark on home ice. The Foreurs have defeated the Huskies three times already.

Rouyn-Noranda (3-2-1-2) sits fifth in the Western Conference while the Armada (4-4-0-0) are sixth.

The Sea Dogs (2-2-1-1) enter the trip seventh in the Eastern Conference. They are 2-0-0-0 on the road so far this young season with both of those victories coming in Bathurst.

A few other notes...

• The Foreurs currently have two of the top scoring defensemen in the QMJHL: Tomas Cibulka is first (nine points in seven games) and Evan Depatie is fourth (six points in seven games).
• Saint John is 0-2-1-0 when scoring first this season.
• Saint John's power play has been struggling and currently sits 17th at just 10%. The team's penalty kill has been good though and currently sits fourth at 91.3%.
• The Sea Dogs are allowing a league high 36.82 shots against per game. The Foreurs are allowing the second most (35.69).
• The Halifax Mooseheads are starting to get rolling. They've now won five straight games. Mathis Rousseau has been excellent in net.
• The Cape Breton Eagles are on a similar trip to Saint John's this week, visiting Gatineau, Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d'Or.
• The Sea Dogs are back on home ice on Saturday, Oct. 21 when they host the Moncton Wildcats.