The final weekend is here

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONCTON - It all comes down to this.

After a wild Wednesday night, the Saint John Sea Dogs and Quebec Remparts still sit in a tie for the QMJHL's 16th and final playoff spot with two games to play. Saint John owns the tiebreaker (regulation wins plus overtime wins) so Quebec must earn more points in order to pass.

Both teams will play Friday and Saturday. The Sea Dogs will face the Halifax Mooseheads in back-to-back home games while the Remparts will take on the Rimouski Oceanic in a home-and-home.

The Sea Dogs are 2-3-1-0 against the Mooseheads this season while the Remparts are 0-5-1-0 against the Oceanic.

As has been brought up previously, the wildcard in this whole situation is what the Mooseheads and Oceanic do. Will either team decide to sit out some regulars — especially on Saturday? That seems unlikely for the Oceanic given that they are in a battle for seeding, but we'll see how things play out.

Whoever grabs the the final playoff spot will have a major challenge in the first round. That team will crossover to the Western Conference and become the No. 8 seed where they'll face either the Drummondville Voltigeurs or Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

Some other stuff...

• This weekend, former Sea Dogs forward Peter Reynolds, one of the few players from Saint John's 2022 Memorial Cup championship team still playing in the QMJHL, will visit TD Station for the first time since being traded to the Mooseheads.
• Sportsnet's Jeff Marek reports that Gardiner MacDougall may be Team Canada's head coach at the upcoming IIHF Under-18 World Championship, which begins in late April in Finland.
• Joshua Roy was injured in Tuesday's Montreal Canadiens game and is out indefinitely. The former Sea Dogs forward has four goals and five assists in 23 NHL games this season.
• Former Gatineau Olympiques forward Zach Dean made his NHL debut on Thursday night for the St. Louis Blues.
• Mentioned Justin Hryckowian, an 11th-round pick of Saint John in the 2017 QMJHL Entry Draft, the other day. The Northeastern University captain has signed an entry-level deal with the Dallas Stars.

We have signed Justin Hryckowian to a two-year entry-level contract beginning in the 2024-25 season.

Welcome to #TexasHockey, Justin! 🤠

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) March 20, 2024