Thursday, February 1, 2024

Notebook: Draft moves into primetime

It's happening: the first round of the QMJHL Entry Draft will be held Friday in primetime.

The QMJHL confirmed the news on Tuesday when it announced that TVA Sports and Eastlink will both be broadcasting the first round, which will take place Friday, June 7 at Moncton's Avenir Centre.
The remaining rounds will take place Saturday.

The QMJHL Entry Draft has traditionally been a one day event with all rounds taking place on a Saturday. But the first round is a big show put on by the league, a show that is much more of a Friday night vibe than a Saturday morning.

COMING UP
The Sea Dogs are on the road once again this weekend — but this time much closer to home.

The Sea Dogs travel to Bathurst on Friday to face the Titan at 7 p.m. Then on Sunday, the Dogs make the quick trip to Moncton to take on the Wildcats at 4 p.m.

Saint John went 1-2-0-0 on their three-game Quebec road trip last weekend, posting an upset win over the Victoriaville Tigres.

The Sea Dogs are on the road the following weekend as well, visiting Halifax and Charlottetown. They don't play at TD Station until Feb. 15.

YOUTH OLYMPICS RESULTS
Sea Dogs head coach Travis Crickard and Team Canada finished fourth at this year's Youth Winter Olympic Games in South Korea.

Canada won both of their preliminary round games before falling to the United States in a shootout in the semifinals. The team then fell 5-4 in a shootout to Finland in the bronze medal game, letting an early 3-0 lead slip away.

Crickard was an assistant coach with Team Canada.

The Canadian squad featured a few top prospects for this year's QMJHL Entry Draft, most notably Fredericton native Tynan Lawrence. The brother of Josh, Lawrence had two goals and two assists at the event. Aiden O'Donnell of Cole Harbour, another top prospect, had a goal and three assists.

TRENHOLM TO SMU
Former Sea Dogs forward Connor Trenholm has committed to the Saint Mary's Huskies for the 2024-25 season.

Trenholm is currently playing his overage season with the Moncton Wildcats where he has seven goals and 16 assists in 42 games.

The Cole Harbour native spent parts of two seasons with the Sea Dogs, helping the team win the Memorial Cup in 2022. He'll be studying commerce at SMU.

"The addition of Connor to our lineup next year will add depth down the middle," said Huskies head coach Tyler Naugler in a news release. "Connor is another 200-foot player with exceptional leadership qualities, and is a responsible defensive minded player who I feel has an untapped offensive upside to his game."

MIC'D UP
Former Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant wore a microphone during last week's CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in Moncton.
STEELHEADS ON THE MOVE
The Mississauga Steelheads will be relocating 10 minutes up the road to Brampton, the team officially announced Wednesday.
This has been rumoured for a bit. It's believed the Steelheads will be getting a much more financially friendly lease agreement with Brampton's CAA Centre. While it will help the Steelheads' financial situation, there's doubt it will help attendance much given it's essentially the same market — one that has never worked out well for the OHL.

The Sea Dogs won the 2011 Memorial Cup in Mississauga, defeating the then named Mississauga St. Michael's Majors in the final.

Brampton hasn't had an OHL team since the Battalion moved to North Bay in 2013.

OTHER THINGS
  • In Scott Wheeler's latest NHL Draft rankings at The Athletic, Sea Dogs forward Eriks Mateiko comes in at No. 60.
  • Also at The Athletic, William Dufour comes in at No. 3 in the New York Islanders prospect rankings.
  • Some good news: former Sea Dogs defenseman Jeremie Poirier is back skating. Poirier has been out of the Calgary Wranglers lineup since the fall after getting cut by a skate.
  • It sounds like Maxim Cajkovic will start his tenure with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the ECHL. Cajkovic has been moving up and down between the AHL and ECHL the past couple seasons.
  • It appears Brett Gallant's AHL days are behind him. Gallant, one of the few members of the Sea Dogs' 2005-06 inaugural team still playing high level hockey, played his first game with LNAH's Laval Petroliers on Jan. 26. The 35-year-old enforcer has been playing pro hockey since 2009-10 and appeared in 35 games with the AHL's Cleveland Monsters last season.
  • It was a weird saga, but Serge Beausoleil is officially the head coach of the Gatineau Olympiques. Benoit Desrosiers is expected to join Patrick Roy's New York Islanders.
  • The five AJHL teams that announced they were departing for the BCHL next season have done so ahead of schedule. The BCHL announced Thursday those teams will play the remainder of this season as part of the "outlaw" league. The BCHL left Hockey Canada last year.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2024 at 5:02 PM

    Any news on the western junior hockey league issue?

    ReplyDelete

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