Sea Dogs surprising early

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs recorded their sixth win of the season on Sunday, improving their record to 6-3-0-0.

The team didn't win their sixth game of the season until Nov. 12 last year. It took them until Nov. 24 the season before that.

It's safe to say the Sea Dogs have been a pleasant surprise early this season. It's too early to declare the worst parts of the rebuild over, but this is a positive start that, if it keeps up, could make for some interesting decisions come trade deadline time.

While Saint John sitting sixth overall in the QMJHL standings is a surprise to most, there have been a few notable individual surprises as well.

• Nate Tivey, who's career high for points in a season is 27, leads the team and all QMJHL defensemen in scoring with 15 points (three goals and 12 assists) in eight games. He's recorded a point in six of the eight games he's appeared in and has had two four-point games already.
• Tivey is currently on pace for 126 points this season. I'll make a bold prediction and say he won't reach that number. But the club record for points by a defenseman in a single season is 58, which was set by William Villeneuve in 2019-20. That record is certainly within reach.
• Saint John has a history of players unexpectedly exploding offensively in their overage season. Danick Gauthier posted 47 goals and 86 points in 2011-12 (his previous career highs were 13 goals and 30 points) while Boko Imama registered 41 goals and 55 points in 2016-17 (his previous career highs were 13 goals and 28 points).
• How about Ben Cross? The 19-year-old forward was claimed off waivers by the Sea Dogs and now finds himself on Saint John's top line with Tyler Peddle and Eriks Mateiko. Cross has two goals and five assists in nine games.
• Elliot Dubé sits fourth in QMJHL rookie scoring with eight points in nine games. Dubé's four goals is the third most amongst rookies.
• Dylan Rozzi sits ninth in rookie scoring (five points in nine games) while William Yared is 12th (four points in nine games).
• Charles-Edward Gravel is less of a surprise – but he's certainly meeting high expectations. The overage netminder has the league's third best goals against average of 2.27 and the third best save percentage of .930.
• Random: Travis Crickard is one win away from tying Ross Yates for the fourth most wins by a head coach in team history with 49.

Saint John will be put to the test this week, visiting the CHL top-ranked Moncton Wildcats on Thursday before facing the Eastern Conference leading Acadie-Bathurst Titan in a home-and-home on the weekend.