Recap: Sea Dogs win 3-2

FINAL: Cape Breton 2, Saint John 3

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - In a night highlighted by debuts, it was the Saint John Sea Dogs' returning players providing the offense in a 3-2 season opening win over the Cape Breton Eagles.

Returnees Zachary Morin, Olivier Duhamel and William Yared all scored for the Sea Dogs in the home victory. Newcomer Olivers Murnieks posted two assists. Justin Robinson rebounded after allowing an early goal, making 29 saves in the win.

Jacob Hartlin and Hugo Charron scored the Eagles. Felix Hamel made 31 stops in the loss.

Cape Breton took a 1-0 lead just 1:50 in after a shot went off a couple posts and bounced off Robinson and in. But that was one of only a few blemishes for Saint John in the opening frame, carrying a 2-1 lead after one with shots 16-8 in favour of the Dogs.

Yared made it 3-1 at 10:53 of the second thanks to a nice feed from Dylan Rozzi. Charron made it a one-goal game again at 15:27.

The Eagles pressured at times in the third period but the Sea Dogs were able to keep things together. Maxime Sauthier took a hooking penalty with 40 seconds left but, despite being shorthanded, the Eagles were able to get a couple of good chances late but couldn't beat Robinson.

Both teams appeared to have some jitters at times and it was far from a perfect game defensively. We'll see what these two can do tomorrow for an encore.

LINEUP

Étheir - Murnieks - Morin

Fullerton - Joseph - Donovan

Groulx - Yared - Rozzi

Krayer - Dubé - Beveridge

Wasmer - Chartrand

Croteau - Duhamel

Zubek - Drabczynski

Robinson

Courchesne

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defensemen Everett Baldwin (Tampa Bay Lightning training camp) and Max Vilen (not yet arrived) along with forwards Alexis Gauthier (healthy) and Jacob Beaulieu (healthy).

DEBUTS: The following players made their QMJHL debuts in this game: Cameron Chartrand, Alexander Donovan, Oskar Drabczynski, Olivers Murnieks, Vincent Croteau, Alexis Joseph and Patryk Zubek. All did a solo lap at the beginning of warmup.

NOTES: As expected, the Sea Dogs sported the same uniform setup they wore during the pre-season: old jerseys (but with the CCM logos covered over) and socks with new pants, gloves and helmets. The team's new (and corrected) Under Armour jerseys are delayed... the Sea Dogs debuted a new goal horn – a real one, not a recorded version. It's the first time the team has had a real horn... team sponsors (which included former Sea Dogs defenseman Kevin Gagne, who now works at Moosehead) and owner Scott McCain took part in the ceremonial puck drop... Olivers Murnieks recorded his first QMJHL point, posting an assist on Zachary Morin's first period goal. He finished the night with two helpers and was named first star... every Sea Dog had at least one shot on goal... Olivier Duhamel had five shots... the teams went a combined 0/7 on the power play... this was Saint John's first season opening win since 2023... attendance was 3,664, a healthy increase from last year's home opener (3,191).

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Eagles meet again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at TD Station.