Thursday, October 29, 2026

Notebook: MacPherson joins MHL's Tigers

Noah Murray/Charlottetown Islanders
Jase MacPherson has found a new home.

The Maritime Junior Hockey League's Campbellton Tigers announced the addition of MacPherson on the weekend. He was the team's backup on Sunday in Campbellton's 4-1 victory over the Grand Falls Rapids.

MacPherson has not seen any game action this season with the exception of pre-season play with the Saint John Sea Dogs. The 17-year-old was a second-round pick of Saint John in the 2025 QMJHL Entry Draft.

MacPherson spent last season with the under-18 Kensington Wild where he went 11-9 in the regular season with a 3.77 goals against average and a .885 save percentage. He had a great playoffs, going 4-1 with a 2.57 GAA and .936 SV%.

Along with his games with the Wild last season, MacPherson appeared in one game with both the Sea Dogs and MHL's Summerside Western Capitals.

Campbellton's next game is Friday against the Rapids.

DONOVAN'S HAT TRICK
Here's a look at the three goals Alexander Donovan scored in Saint John's 7-5 win in Drummondville on Sunday. It was his first career QMJHL hat trick.


Donovan, who hadn't scored since Oct. 12, continues to lead the Sea Dogs in goals with nine.

SPECIAL TEAMS TALK
Saint John's power play and penalty kill got off to a great start this season – but they have both struggled during this recent five-game stretch.

The Sea Dogs have given up a power play goal in each of their past five games and have scored just once on the man advantage over that same time period.

Oct. 17: 4-1 loss vs Cape Breton
PP: 0/4    PK: 3/4

Oct. 18: 3-1 loss vs Val-d'Or
PP: 1/5    PK: 4/5

Oct. 23: 7-3 loss at Gatineau
PP: 0/2    PK: 4/5

Oct. 24: 3-1 win at Blainville-Boisbriand
PP: 0/2    PK: 3/4

Oct. 25: 7-5 win at Drummondville
PP: 0/3    PK: 2/3

Before this stretch started, Saint John had the league's second best power play (37.9%) and third best penalty kill (86.7%). Those numbers have slid to the QMJHL's fourth best power play (26.7%) and seventh best penalty kill (82.4%).

DOGS ON TVA SPORTS
Saint John's Dec. 9 home game against the Newfoundland Regiment will be broadcast by TVA Sports.

The QMJHL announced last week that TVA Sports will be broadcasting select games – mostly on Wednesday nights – throughout the season. 

The Dec. 9 game in Saint John and Nov. 11 game in Moncton are the only two games TVA Sports will broadcast from Atlantic Canada.

No Sea Dogs road games will be broadcast.

The full broadcast schedule can be found here.

DOGS FALL OUT OF TOP 10
The Sea Dogs have fallen out of the CHL Top-10 in back-to-back weeks.

The Sea Dogs were ranked fifth in the Oct. 13 rankings but have been outside of the rankings since.

In this week's rankings, the WHL's Spokane Chiefs were ranked first following by the QMJHL's Val-d'Or Foreurs and OHL's Guelph Storm.

The Quebec Remparts were fifth while the Victoriaville Tigres were eighth.
The Foreurs, who have won eight straight, sit atop the QMJHL standings with a 12-1-1-0 record.

QUEBEC CITY EVENTS
We're really going to see just how much Quebec City loves hockey (and can spend on tickets) over the next couple years.

After being awarded the 2028 Memorial Cup last week, Quebec City is set to host four major sporting events between this February and January 2029.

Feb. - March 2027: Canada Winter Games
Nov. 2027: IIHF Women's World Championship
May  2028: Memorial Cup
Dec. 2028 - Jan. 2029: IIHF World Junior Championship

This list doesn't include the upcoming CHL USA Prospects Challenge, potential NHL exhibition games and PWHL Takeover Tour matches.

ARMADA LOSE A WIN
A couple weeks ago, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada were forced to forfeit a win after the league ruled the team played a non-qualified affiliate player.


On October 12, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada played against the Victoriaville Tigres with a non-qualified affiliated player, Mathieu Généreux. Although the player is considered affiliated within the meaning of the regulations, the documents required for Généreux to take part in the game were not sent to the QMJHL before the start of the game. As such, the player in question was not qualified to participate in the game against the Tigres.

The QMJHL, after a thorough review of the regulations, concluded that Section 10 of Regulation R-5 therefore came into play: A player that is non-qualified is not recognized by the QMJHL and thus results in the win and the acquired points in the standings being deducted and given to the opponent. 

As a result, the QMJHL concluded that the Tigres’s complaint is founded and therefore one win is awarded to the Victoriaville Tigres and one loss is attributed to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. 

All player statistics will remain official, including those of the players and goaltenders.

These situations don't happen too often – but they do every now and then. The Sea Dogs were involved in a similar incident during the 2011-12 season when they were forced to forfeit a win after playing Maxime Villemaire without the proper paperwork having been filed.

OTHER THINGS
  • Another member of the Sea Dogs took part in this week's QMJHL Prospects Game.
  • Scott Wheeler of The Athletic writes about the statement made by Alexis Joseph at the QMJHL Prospects Game.
  • Thomas Charbonneau now leads Saint John defensemen in goals with four in 14 games. He's already doubled his goal total from a year ago when he posted two goals in 48 games with the Quebec Remparts.
  • The Sea Dogs recalled forward Nathan Riendeau for Sunday's game, who made his QMJHL debut in Saint John's 7-5 win. Riendeau, a second-round pick of the Dogs, joins defenseman Lawrence Williams as the only members of Saint John's 2026 draft class to appear in a QMJHL game so far this season.
  • Seal.
  • A notable omission from NHL Central Scouting's preliminary rankings: former Sea Dogs forward Nolann Héroux. The small but speedy forward has seven goals and 10 assists in 14 games with the Val-d'Or Foreurs this season.
  • What a start to the season for former Sea Dogs forward Angelo Fullerton. The Quispamsis native has seven goals and two assists in his first four games with the UNB Reds. Fullerton is tied for the AUS lead in goals and is third in points. UNB is off to a 5-0-1-0 start.
  • Russian Machine Never Breaks has a story on former Sea Dogs forward Eriks Mateiko and the injury he suffered last season.
  • The Foreurs debuted new third jerseys this past weekend.
  • The Halifax Mooseheads fired associate coach Josh Hepditch last week. According to a Mooseheads news release, Hepditch "was primarily responsible for coaching the club’s defencemen and overseeing the power play unit." Halifax entered play last weekend with the third worst power play in the QMJHL (14.6%).
  • The Cape Breton Post writes on delays to Centre 200 renovations, which QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini calls disappointing. 
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)