It's September

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

September is here – which means regular season hockey is near.

The Saint John Sea Dogs will open up the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League season on Friday, Sept. 18 when they visit the Newfoundland Regiment at 6:30 p.m. Atlantic. They'll also face the Regiment the following night.

The Sea Dogs will play their first home game of the season on Friday, Sept. 25 when they host the Moncton Wildcats. The next day – note the 4 p.m. puck drop – they'll host the Cape Breton Eagles.

A few other early season scheduling notes:

• The Sea Dogs were 0-6-2-0 against the Regiment last season, which included going 0-4 at Mary Brown's Centre. They've not won in St. John's since the Fog Devils days.
• There's going to be a lot of talk about how good the competition will be amongst the Atlantic-based teams this season. The Sea Dogs will see all five of them within the first eight games of the season.
• Saint John will play eight of their first 11 games at TD Station. That includes a stretch of six straight home games in October.
• In case you were wondering, the opening week of the QMJHL season is sponsored by Nissan.

The Sea Dogs still have two pre-season games remaining before putting their focus on the regular season. The team will host the Halifax Mooseheads on Friday night at TD Station and visit the Moose next Friday, Sept. 11 at Dartmouth's RBC Centre.

Tickets for Friday's game are general admission.