Thursday, March 19, 2026

Notebook: Fullerton's impressive season

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
Angelo Fullerton is ending his junior career on a high note.

The 20-year-old forward has scored nine goals in his past nine games to give him 25 of the season, which is currently the Saint John Sea Dogs team lead. He's also posted 18 assists in the 59 games he has appeared in.

Fullerton spent the previous three seasons with the Cape Breton Eagles, who he and the Sea Dogs will visit for a pair of games this weekend. His previous career high for points in a season was 16. His previous high for goals was nine.

The Quispamsis native has more goals and points this season than his previous three seasons combined.

He's offensive contributions have likely exceeded expectations. Fullerton attended Sea Dogs training camp on a loan from the Eagles and was later acquired for a sixth-round pick.

Fullerton and fellow overagers Julien Wasmer and Maxime Côté were honoured before Saint John's final regular season home game this past Saturday.

ATTENDANCE IS IN
Saint John's final attendance figures are in – and they're positive.

Saint John will finish the regular season with an average attendance of 3,273 fans per game, a significant increase over last season's average of 2,811. This is Saint John's best attendance figure since the 2019-20 season when the team averaged 3,345 fans per game.

The Sea Dogs currently own the sixth best average attendance in the QMJHL. They haven't finished higher than fifth since the 2021-22 season.

Saint John had two big home crowds to end the season. Announced attendance for last Friday's game was 5,093 while Saturday's was 6,150 – which was a sell out. The Saturday crowd was the largest since the 2017-18 season (6,165).

The team is inching closer to those pre-pandemic totals, which is good news.

HOME WOES
One of the reasons why the Sea Dogs spent much of the season in the league's basement was because of their struggles on home ice.

The Sea Dogs will end the regular season with a home record of 11-19-2-0. Last season they went 12-20-0-0.

Entering the final weekend, Saint John's 24 points on home ice is tied for the fourth fewest in the QMJHL.

On the road, Saint John is 11-16-3-0.

DUFOUR BACK TO AHL
Former Sea Dogs forward William Dufour is back in the AHL.

After appearing in 18 games with the ECHL's Fort Wayne Komets, Dufour signed a professional tryout with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins on March 13. He's since appeared in two games with the Detroit Red Wings affiliate, scoring once.
Dufour previously appeared in six AHL games this season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The 24-year-old was posting impressive numbers with the Komets, recording seven goals and 12 assists in 18 contests.

It's been an eventful season for Dufour who started the year in the KHL and then appeared in some LNAH games before heading to the AHL.

OTHER THINGS
  • The Sea Dogs carry a four-game losing streak into Friday's game in Sydney. They are 2-5 under Brian Casey.
  • Some clarity around Arseni Radkov's fighting suspension: it wasn't a judgement suspension. It's a league rule that goaltenders are automatically suspended five games for fighting. Radkov will be eligible to play again this season, but not until Game 2 of the playoffs.
  • Radkov's St. Patrick's Day themed jersey from that fight is up for auction. The current bid is $676.
  • Everett Baldwin enters the final weekend of the season in a tie with Charlottetown's Marcus Kearsey for the most goals scored by a defenseman this season with 15.
  • Something to keep an eye on: the Sea Dogs franchise record for goals by a rookie is 26 (Tomas Jurco and Ostap Safin). Alexis Joseph currently has 24 while Alexander Donovan has 23.
  • There were two penalty shots in last Saturday's Sea Dogs/Mooseheads game with Alexander Donovan and Liam Kilfoil both shooting. Kilfoil's marker was just the ninth penalty shot goal scored in the QMJHL this season. There have been 41 attempts.
  • It sounding more and more like we're going to see an increase in inter-league play between QMJHL and OHL teams.
  • This came out of nowhere.
  • Former Sea Dogs forward Ben Cross of the Chaleur Lightning was named to the Maritime Hockey League's North Division all-star team.
  • The AHL's Calgary Wranglers rocked Saint John Flames jerseys this weekend, commemorating the 2001 Calder Cup championship.
  • Speaking of the AHL, and as previously reported by several outlets, the Bridgeport Islanders will relocate to Hamilton for next season. Bridgeport has regularly been near the bottom of AHL attendance for a number of years. A number of Sea Dogs have played for Bridgeport over the years, including Matthew Highmore currently. 
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