New Dogs, new numbers

Jeff Parsons/Newfoundland Regiment

There were a couple of notable numbers on the ice for the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday.

The most obvious was Oliver Ozogany, who became the first player in Sea Dogs history to wear No. 98. It's the highest number ever worn by a Sea Dog, surpassing Stanislav Galiev who wore No. 97 throughout his junior career.

The other notable number was Jamie Glance's No. 17. Glance became just the third player to wear the number and the first to sport it since Mike Thomas, who wore 17 for his five seasons in Saint John. Thomas, who is now a player mentor with the Sea Dogs, ended his junior career by captaining Saint John to the 2011 Memorial Cup championship.

Jean-Philippe Roy-Vallières, who played 29 games with Saint John in 2005-06, is the other Sea Dog to wear No. 17.

With 17 back in use, the only numbers that appear to be unofficially retired are Jonathan Huberdeau's No. 11 and Alex Grant's No. 20. Oskar Drabczynski did wear 20 for two games last season, presumably due to the Under Armour jersey supply situation.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers worn by the other new Sea Dogs.

12 - Ryan Howard: most famously worn by Brady Burns, who had it for 306 games.

18 - Lawrence Williams: well worn over the years, but not by many defensemen. Notables to wear it include Danick Gauthier (253 games), Spencer Smallman (337), Josh Lawrence (230) and Vince Elie (107). Vincent Croteau wore No. 18 for 43 games last season.

21 - Matyas Cancik: most notably worn by Kevin Gagne (314), Mathieu Joseph (199) and Pavel Simek (138). Matthew Krayer most recently wore it.

27 - Thomas Charbonneau: notably worn by Oliver Cooper (204), Matt Green (204) and Benjamin Amyot (108). More recently, it was worn for a few games by Natan Éthier (one), Justin Gendron (three) and Jesse Dunlap (one).

72 - Julien Lanthier: just the third player to wear the number following Oliver Picard (67) and Nicolas Bilodeau (207).

76 - Brandon Delarosbil: Matteo Mann is the only other player to wear No. 76. Mann wore it for 102 games.

92 - Olivier Lemieux: just the third player to wear No. 92 following Nicholas Girouard (37) and Alexis Cournoyer (72).

These numbers are back in action on Saturday night when the Sea Dogs play the second of back-to-back games against the Newfoundland Regiment in St. John's. Game time is 6:30 p.m. Atlantic.