A month to forget for Sea Dogs

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs began November one game over .500, sitting 11th overall in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and were coming off a two-game sweep of the Cape Breton Eagles.

A month later, the Sea Dogs are leaving November four games below .500, sitting second-last in the QMJHL and were swept on home (sort of) ice by the Eagles.

It was a brutal month for the Sea Dogs to say the least. Let's look at some numbers.

• Saint John went 3-8-0-0 during November, a disappointing record any month, but especially this one given that the team played eight of their 11 games on home ice (when you include the Fredericton game).
• The Sea Dogs are now 5-9-0-0 at home this season after going 2-6 at TD Station/Aitken Centre in November. 
• The Sea Dogs entered November with a respectable -2 goal differential. It's now at -15 after getting outscored 45-32 during the month. That's a goals per game average of 2.91 and a goals against per game average of 4.09. The last-place Baie-Comeau Drakkar are currently averaging 4.26 goals against per game.

If the QMJHL playoffs started today, the Sea Dogs would not be in them. They have the second fewest points (21) and second worst winning percentage (.420).

This team is struggling big time right now. The numbers show it. The eye test shows it.

The fan frustration with this team's recent results is nothing like I've seen since, well, ever. And it makes sense. A reminder that this franchise has not won a playoff series since 2017. A reminder that this franchise has delivered only a few months of success since 2017. The Sea Dogs have finished above .500 just twice since 2017 – and one of those seasons was the weird COVID year of 2020-21 when they finished one game over.

If there is any fan base in junior hockey that understands the highs and lows of the junior hockey cycle, it's Sea Dogs fans. When this fan base is losing patience, that says something. 

And the frustration is valid. On Dec. 1 last season, the Sea Dogs were 13-14-0-0. This year they are 10-14-1-0. Yes, it's tough to compare seasons because of strength of schedule, injuries, roster makeup, a million other things, etc. But it's very easy to see why it feels like this team is stuck in the mud.

And yeah, hosting the 2022 Memorial Cup and loading up for it makes this a more challenging rebuild. But it's rebuild year four with a roster fairly full of young but high end talent.

I don't think there's a single fan who expected the Sea Dogs to be a championship caliber team this season. I do think a lot of fans – perhaps even most fans – expected a team that was entertaining, stayed in the fight each game and showed consistently that things are heading in the right direction. And this team showed that at times earlier this season. This last month has been the exact opposite.

So that's all pretty depressing. But here's the thing – and this probably isn't what fans want to hear right now – but it is early. The Sea Dogs sit 17th overall right now. They also sit nine points out of the top half of the league with 39 games still to play. There is time to show fans that this season's Sea Dogs can make the turn and get things going in the right direction.