Recap: Sea Dogs win 5-4

FINAL: Saint John 5, Moncton 4

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

FREDERICTON - Olivier Groulx's power play goal was the difference as the Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the Moncton Wildcats 5-4 in pre-season play on Friday night at the Aitken Centre.

Groulx finished off a nice passing play, ripping the puck up on high on Wildcats goaltender Jacoby Weiner to give Saint John a 5-4 advantage with 4:21 to play. Moncton pressed at times in the final minutes but Saint John was able to hang on.

Along with Groulx, Alexis Joseph, Alexander Donovan, Brock Lyons and Dylan Rozzi also scored in what was an entertaining pre-season tilt. Jase MacPherson made 33 stops in the win.

Moncton had goals from Niko Tournas, Charlie Benigno, Elliott Mullen and Jiko Laitinen. Yegor Rybkin played the first half of the game, allowing three goals on 23 shots. Weiner allowed two goals on 11 shots in the second half.

After playing to a 1-1 tie after 20 minutes, the two teams combined for six goals in the second period. Moncton grabbed a 2-1 lead early on only for Donovan and Lyons to score 50 seconds apart to give Saint John a 3-2 advantage.

After the Wildcats tied it up again, Rozzi scored at 15:42 to put Saint John ahead again – only for Laitinen to score the equalizer less than three minutes later.

In the third, Groulx netted the lone goal on a power play. Saint John went 2/3 on the man advantage while Moncton went 0/2.

LINEUP

Sahajpal - Groulx - Donovan

Morin - Joseph - Glance

Rozzi - Cancik - Lyons

Tozer - Gauthier - Pronovost

Charbonneau - Mense

Drabczynski - Damphousse

Croteau - Dunlap

Anderson

MacPherson

Pitcher

DOUBLE DUTY: Players to play in both this game and Wednesday's contest in St. Stephen were Kaidan Sahajpal, Dylan Rozzi, Matyas Cancik, Brock Lyons, Elliot Tozer, Alexis Gauthier, Felix Pronovost, Thomas Charbonneau, Joe Mense, Vincent Croteau, Jesse Dunlap and Brodie Anderson.

NOTES: Several returnees made their 2026 pre-season debuts, including Olivier Groulx, Alexander Donovan, Zachary Morin, Alexis Joseph, Oskar Drabczynski and Vincent Damphousse... American forward Jamie Glance made his QMJHL pre-season debut. He posted one assist, two shots, one hit and a -2 rating... Moncton's new goaltender – 6'6" Russian Yegor Rybkin – made his QMJHL pre-season debut... Groulx had a goal and two assists... Donovan and Brock Lyons each had a goal and an assist... Kaidan Sahajpal had five shots... Alexis Gauthier had three hits... tough night in the facoff dot for a few Sea Dogs. Groulx went 5/15 while Joseph and Matyas Cancik both finished 4/12... Gardiner MacDougall was behind the Wildcats bench in his old home. He did not coach Wednesday's game in St. Stephen... Saint John's top power play unit consisted of Groulx, Donovan, Joseph, Glance and Bo Damphousse – which is certainly a combo we could see in the regular season... Joseph took a stick to the mouth/face as the game ended and needed some attention. He left the ice pressing a towel on his mouth... this is the final meeting between the Sea Dogs and Wildcats until Saint John's regular season home opener on Sept. 25... pretty warm inside the Aitken Centre and the ice got a little foggy at times... attendance was 1,523.

Jamie Glance set to make his QMJHL pre-season debut. Playing on a line with Alexis Joseph and Zachary Morin. https://t.co/MNEkxPRM4p pic.twitter.com/Fm5Nz4MbdN

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) August 28, 2026

REPLAY: You can rewatch the game via the Wildcats' YouTube channel.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Woodstock on Sunday to host the Rimouski Oceanic at 4 p.m.