Notebook: Sea Dogs opening new shop

SAINT JOHN - A new retail shop is in the works for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

It was announced Friday that the team will soon be opening a Sea Dogs Styles location at the new waterfront Area 506 Container Village.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by AREA 506 (@area506fest)

The area will be home to Bash on the Bay events during the 2022 Memorial Cup.

The Sea Dogs are looking to hire a retail sales representative to work at the location.

NOMINATED

Three Sea Dogs were nominated for league awards this week.

Team captain Vincent Sevigny was nominated for the QMJHL's best defensive defenseman award. Charlottetown's Noah Laaouan won the award.

Toronto Maple Leafs prospect William Villeneuve was nominated for the league's top defenseman award. Charlottetown's Lukas Cormier took home the honour.

Lastly, forward Nicholas Blagden was nominated for the QMJHL's Humanitarian of the Year award for his involvement in raising awareness around mental health issues. Charlottetown's Brett Budgell won the award.

MORE ON MACDOUGALL

A few more notes on the Gardiner MacDougall hire:

• MacDougall and team president and general manager Trevor Georgie were on CBC Radio's Information Morning Thursday.
• The UNB Reds have commented on MacDougall joining the Sea Dogs temporarily. "The Reds and the University of New Brunswick wish Coach MacDougall, the Sea Dogs and Sea Dogs’ fans all the best during the upcoming Canadian Hockey League championship tournament," reads the Reds website. Associate coach Rob Hennigar will run the Reds in MacDougall's absence.
• Bill Hunt has a column on the MacDougall news in the Daily Gleaner (paywall) and asks a few critical questions on the unexpected hiring.
• In the Sea Dogs' Tuesday press release that made the MacDougall hiring official, Georgie said that the team "identified a small group of winning coaches with experience having won tournaments. There are no active coaches in Canada that have prepared teams for and won more tournaments than Gardiner." On the Monday edition of Sportsnet's 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman said that he "heard they took some big swings at some other coaches." Jeff Marek added that "there were some names out there."

First round hasn't been easiest for hosts

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

BRUNSWICK, ME - Should we have seen the struggles coming for the Saint John Sea Dogs in their playoff opener? History tells us... maybe?

As brought up on the Wildcast Podcast last week (you should listen to that!), the first round hasn't been the easiest for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey's League's Memorial Cup hosting teams in recent years. The past two host teams - the Halifax Mooseheads in 2019 and the Quebec Remparts in 2015 - needed seven games to win their first round series. Both clubs also dropped their playoff opener.

Here's a quick breakdown of how Memorial Cup hosting teams from the QMJHL have performed in the first round since 2000.

2019: The host Halifax Mooseheads (49-15-2-2) needed seven games to defeat the Quebec Remparts (27-28-7-6) in the first round. The Remparts won the first two games of that series. The Mooseheads went on to lose in the President Cup final to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

2015: The host Quebec Remparts (40-25-1-2) needed seven games to defeat the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (31-31-3-3) in the first round. The Screaming Eagles won the first game of that series. The Remparts went on to lose in the President Cup final to the Rimouski Oceanic.

2012: The host Shawinigan Cataractes (45-16-3-4) swept their first round series against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (24-36-4-4). The Cataractes were eliminated in the second round by the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.

Notebook: Who will be in Saint John?

Embed from Getty Images

Could the Saint John Sea Dogs face some familiar franchises this June?

It's certainly possible that one or more teams the Sea Dogs have faced at previous Memorial Cups could make their way to Saint John in a few months. In the OHL, the Mississauga Steelheads (formerly the St. Michael's Majors (2011)) and London Knights (2012) currently sit atop the standings based on winning percentage.

	Team	GP	Record (Points)	Win %
1	Mississauga Steelheads	35	23-8-1-3 (50)	.714
2	London Knights	32	21-10-1-0 (43)	.672
3	Kingston Frontenacs	32	20-9-3-0 (43)	.672
4	Barrie Colts	30	18-9-3-0 (39)	.650
5	Guelph Storm	32	19-10-2-1 (41)	.641

The Windsor Spitfires (2017) currently have the eighth based winning percentage. The Owen Sound Attack (2011) and Erie Otters (2017) are long shots to win the OHL championship.

In the WHL, the Winnipeg Ice (formerly the Kootenay Ice (2011)) have the best winning percentage while the Edmonton Oil Kings are third (2012) and Seattle Thunderbirds fifth (2017).

	Team	GP	Record (Points)	Win %
1	Winnipeg Ice	37	29-6-2-0 (60)	.811
2	Everett Silvertips	38	27-7-2-2 (58)	.763
3	Edmonton Oil Kings	39	27-9-2-1 (57)	.731
4	Kamloops Blazers	36	24-11-1-0 (49)	.681
5	Seattle Thunderbirds	35	21-10-4-0 (46)	.657

The one other QMJHL team the Sea Dogs have faced in Memorial Cup play, the Shawinigan Cataractes (2012), have a legitimate shot of making it as well. The Cataractes currently have the fifth best winning percentage.

Notebook: Patenaude, Despont invited to Swiss WJC camp

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONTREAL, Que. - Noah Patenaude and Vincent Despont will have an opportunity to represent their country at the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship.

The two Saint John Sea Dogs were named to Switzerland's 29-man camp roster last week. The camp is scheduled to begin Dec. 13 with the team departing for Canada two days later, according to a news release.

Of course, Patenaude's participation will likely be reliant on his health. The netminder was injured during Saturday's Sea Dogs game in Sherbrooke and he did not dress for Sunday's contest in Victoriaville.

Patenaude, who will turn 19 on Christmas Eve, appeared in one game for Switzerland at last year's world juniors. He's having a solid season with Saint John, posting a 7-4 record to go along with a 2.96 goals against average and a .914 save percentage.

Despont, in his first season with Saint John, has three assists in 25 games.

This year's world juniors take place Dec. 26 - Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer. Switzerland's first game is against Russia in Red Deer on Dec. 27.

SAPELNIKOV JOINS BELARUS

Forward Evgeny Sapelnikov, Saint John's only official import player until the signing of Yan Kuznetsov, has joined Belarus for the World Junior Hockey Division 1-A Championship, which takes place Dec. 12-18 in Denmark.

Sea Dogs forward Evgeny Sapelnikov will be representing Belarus at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Division 1-A Championships, which take place Dec. 12-18th.

Congratulations Evgeny! pic.twitter.com/eBoaPEfbuV

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) December 6, 2021

Sapelnikov missed this past weekend's Sea Dogs games due to joining the national team. A second-round pick of the Sea Dogs in this year's CHL Import Draft, Sapelnikov has five goals and three assists in 23 games.

Belarus opens the tournament against Denmark on Dec. 12.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
Sea Dogs defenseman Jeremie Poirier was named to the QMJHL's Team of the Week on Monday.

Poirier recorded two goals and four assists in four games this past week, helping the Sea Dogs collect three victories. He now sits third in QMJHL defensemen scoring with 27 points in 26 games. He is also tied for the lead in defensemen assists with 20.

Also making the Team of the Week was Kale McCallum, a former Sea Dogs defenseman now with the Val-d'Or Foreurs. McCallum had five assists in two games with the Foreurs last week.

Top 10 Sea Dogs Memorial Cup Moments: #6 - Shawinigan rivalry reaches Memorial Cup

(Ed. Note: In honour of 2022 Memorial Cup tickets going on sale to the general public on Dec. 6, we're counting down the top 10 Sea Dogs moments in Memorial Cup history.)

#6 - Shawinigan rivalry reaches Memorial Cup

A rivalry built off the ice became very much an on-ice rivalry during the 2011-12 season.

The Saint John Sea Dogs and Shawinigan Cataractes became instantly linked for the 2011-12 campaign after the 2012 Memorial Cup hosting rights were awarded to Shawinigan. The two teams met four times during the regular season and things got heated on a few occasions.

The two split the season series and seemed destined for an epic playoff series - but Shawinigan was eliminated in the second-round, creating plenty of anticipation for the Sea Dogs/Cataractes game to close out the round-robin of the Memorial Cup.

The Sea Dogs had their best game of the tournament, winning 4-1 and earning a spot in the semifinal. But the score was overshadowed by the nastiness of the game, which resulted in both clubs being fined $2,500 for “conduct prejudicial to the welfare of the game and the tournament.”

More on the 2022 Memorial Cup bid

The biggest and most obvious question facing Saint John's 2022 Memorial Cup bid: does the original "We Want The Cup" video still hold up 10+ years later?

It's actually pretty okay.

April 7, 2011 was when the 2012 Memorial Cup selection committee awarded the tournament to Shawinigan. After several months of hype and campaigning, it was a heartbreaking day for the Sea Dogs and the city.

The selection committee visited Saint John on Feb. 9, 2011. It was a full day of events, which included Kevin Gagne speaking at a school and a reception at the Imperial Theatre. Here's how the teams were reportedly judged for the 2012 tournament (which may be different than how Saint John and Quebec will be judged this year):

1. Logistics - Accreditation plan, hotels, etc.

2. Hockey operations - Will the team be competitive?

3. Host facility - Does it have large enough seating capacity, enough luxury suites, big enough dressing rooms, a state-of-the-art score clock?

4. Strength of the organizing committee

5. CHL Events - Are there adequate facilities to host such events as the awards banquet and golf tournament?

6. Sales and marketing - Is there enough corporate sponsorship?

7. Finance - How will a team foot the bill?

It feels like Saint John is more of the underdog than the favourite this time around - but 2012 showed us that nothing is certain or guaranteed. The major knock on the Remparts will be the fact that they've hosted the event twice in somewhat recent history: 2015 and 2003.

Notebook: Remparts will bid to host 2022 Memorial Cup tournament

The Quebec Remparts confirmed Thursday that the club will bid to host the 2022 Memorial Cup.

QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau recently confirmed that his league will host next year's tournament. The event has not been held since 2019 due to the pandemic.

This version of the Remparts franchise will celebrate its 25th anniversary this coming season. The team is well built to contend for the 2022 title and they obviously have the facility to host the event.

Details on the bidding process have not been released, reports le Journal de Quebec.

The Remparts previously hosted the event at Colisee Pepsi in 2003 and 2015.

It's not clear if any other QMJHL team plans to bid on the tournament. The pandemic may have thrown a wrench into the Saint John Sea Dogs' plans. 

"We certainly have interest in hosting but given all that has gone on in the last 12 months, the landscape has changed considerably," said Sea Dogs President and General Manager Trevor Georgie in an interview a couple weeks ago.

Le Journal de Quebec also reports that the tournament will begin on June 2, 2022, which is a week or two later than usual.

Q PLAYOFFS CONTINUE

The second round of the QMJHL playoffs begin Friday in Quebec.

Next stop: Shawinigan. pic.twitter.com/ef8b8yIUyU

— Charlottetown Islanders (@IslandersHKY) May 6, 2021

Only a few former Sea Dogs remain in the post-season and they'll clash in this round. Alex Drover, Creed Jones and the Rimouski Oceanic will be major underdogs when they face Maxim Cajkovic and the powerhouse Val-d'Or Foreurs.

Former Sea Dogs Joshua Roy (Sherbrooke), Isiah Campbell (Shawinigan) and Connor Richard (Moncton) were all eliminated in the previous round.

The other series will see Quebec face rival Chicoutimi; Blainville-Boisbriand take on Victoriaville; and Bathurst battle Charlottetown. The six remaining Quebec-based clubs will play in Quebec City while Bathurst and Charlottetown will play in Shawinigan.

Bad Times For Dillon Donnelly

As we’ve learned over the past year, things are never boring with the Shawinigan Cataractes.

The latest drama involves damaging the replica Memorial Cup. Cataractes defenseman Dillon Donnelly admitted yesterday on Twitter that he is to blame for the damage.

“Breaking the Memorial Cup was an accident,” tweeted the Colorado Avalanche prospect. “I picked it up lost my balance and dropped it, there was no intention to break it, I'm sorry.”

According to Le Nouvelliste’s Steve Turcotte, Donnelly will have to pay to have the trophy fixed, write an apology to the three Canadian Hockey League commissioners and his teammates, and has been suspended by the team until September 3. Yikes.

The most unfortunate part of this saga is that several members of the championship team will not be able to have their day with the Cup. The Canadian Press reports that it is off to Toronto for repairs.

As Buzzing The Net points out, Vincent Arseneau voiced his displeasure about the damage on his Facebook page. Arseneau was scheduled to have the Memorial Cup on August 6.

What a mess.

Le Nouvelliste - Des excuses et des tensions

Buzzing The Net - Memorial Cup “savage” Dillon Donnelly suspended by Cataractes

Canadian Press - Shawinigan Cataractes Dillon Donnelly admits he damaged Memorial Cup by accident

The Cataractes Had An Eventful Summer

The Shawinigan Cataractes badly damaged a replica of the Memorial Cup over the summer, forcing Quebec Major Junior Hockey League commissioner Gilles Courteau to issue a statement.

"The Memorial Cup was donated in 1919 to honour Canada's war fallen," said Courteau. "It is unfortunate and deplorable to see it in such a state. The damages that were caused will be billed to the team."

The Canadian Hockey League says that this is a replica. According to The Canadian Press, “winning teams that want to have the trophy over the off-season must take out $50,000 in insurance against damages.”

Like the Sea Dogs did last year, the Cataractes have been giving the trophy to each player on the team for 24 hours. The Memorial Cup also got banged up touring with the Dogs last year and probably has many, many other times but the media has just never picked up on it like this.

A lot of people are really overreacting to this. The Cup broke. It will be fixed. It will probably be break again. We highly doubt players intentionally tried to bust this thing.

According to the CP, the trophy won’t make a public appearance until September 21 when the Cataractes hold their home opener. Saying that the 2012 Memorial Cup has been eventful, bizarre, and controversial would be an understatement.

Links:

Sportnet.ca: CATARACTES BADLY DAMAGE THE MEMORIAL CUP

Buzzing The Net: Memorial Cup replica badly damaged during Shawinigan Cataractes’ celebrations (UPDATED)

L’Echo de Shawinigan: La Coupe Memorial sévèrement endommagée

Photo via L'Echo de Shawinigan

Sea Dogs Notebook

MOVING OUT

The Sea Dogs cleaned out their lockers yesterday, said their goodbyes, and headed home for the summer. News 88.9 has an article on it.

CTV Atlantic has an article as well and some video.

"It's been a great three years and I'm really happy I came over and had a great time in Saint John," said Tomas Jurco. "We played three years in the finals. It had been a great experience for me and I think it is going to help me a lot."

Photo above was tweeted by Mathieu Corbeil.

PAINT THE TOWN BLUE

The Sea Dogs announced the winners of the Advocate Printing Paint the Town Blue contest today.

PANTHERS

Several Florida Panthers prospects had solid years. Among them was Jonathan Huberdeau as Hockey’s Future notes.

“Jonathan Huberdeau's offensive ourput in the playoffs may not be quite up to his usual standards, but his 21 points in 15 playoff games has helped drive his team to a QMJHL championship and into the Memorial Cup semi-finals,” writes Ken McKenna. “Huberdeau has also dished out a few questionable hits in the playoffs, received a two-game suspension, and caused a stir with an elbow that could arguably have drawn a second suspension.”

ORGANIZATIONAL RANKINGS

Also at Hockey’s Future, they are ranking each NHL club by their prospect depth. They released the 21-30 teams today. The Montreal Canadiens were ranked 21^st.

“The organization has a deep and varied group of defensive prospects,” writes Ken McKenna. “Nathan Beaulieu, Jarred Tinordi, Morgan Ellis, and Greg Pateryn will all be playing in the AHL next season, with Darren Dietz, Mac Bennett, and Josiah Didier coming in the near future.”

Beaulieu is the top ranked Habs prospect at Hockey’s Future.

Former Sea Dog Eric Gelinas is ranked 4^th in the New Jersey Devils system. The Devils are ranked 22^nd.

Stanislav Galiev is ranked 5^th in the Washington Capitals system. Their organization is ranked 27^th.

Phillips Named Most Sportsmanlike Player

Saint John Sea Dogs forward Zack Phillips was announced as the winner of the George Parsons Trophy last night which is awarded to the most sportsmanlike player at the Memorial Cup.

“Zack Phillips of the Saint John Sea Dogs scored three goals and one assist for four points in four games of the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup,” states the Memorial Cup website. “Accumulating just four penalty minutes in the tournament, the 19-year-old from Fredericton, New Brunswick, is a Minnesota Wild prospect selected in the first round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.”

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League swept the Memorial Cup awards. Here are the other winners:

Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy (Most Valuable Player) – Michaal Chaput (Shawinigan Cataractes)

Ed Chynoweth Trophy (Top Scorer) – Michael Chaput (Shawinigan Cataractes)

Hap Emms Memorial Trophy (Outstanding Goaltender) – Gabriel Girard (Shawinigan Cataractes)

The Memorial Cup All-Star Team was also announced but no Sea Dogs were named to the list. Here are the All-Stars:

Goaltender – Michael Houser (London Knights)

Defence – Jarred Tinordi (London Knights)

Defence – Brandon Gormley (Shawinigan Cataractes)

Forward – Austin Watson (London Knights)

Forward – Michael Chaput (Shawinigan Cataractes)

Forward – Henrik Samuelsson (Edmonton Oil Kings)

The top individual award winners and tournament All-Stars for the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup as selected by NHL Central Scouting.

The Day After

Here’s what the front page of the Shawinigan newspaper Le Nouvelliste looks like this morning.

Le Nouvelliste has a solid photo gallery posted here.

The London Knight have little to hang heads over. [Buzzing The Net]

Anton Zlobin was almost too tired to take his final shift. [Sportsnet.ca]

How about Gabriel Girard? [Sportsnet.ca]

It’s the first time since 2001 that the Memorial Cup was won in overtime. [London Free Press]

Shawinigan Wins Memorial Cup; Wikipedia Page Is Then Trolled

The Memorial Cup is staying in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Anton Zlobin scored at 17:51 of overtime to give the Shawinigan Cataractes a 2-1 victory over the London Knights in the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup Championship Final. It is the Cataractes first national title in franchise history.

Zlobin had the other Cataractes goal as well, meaning he is now a legend in Shawinigan. Ryan Rupert had the lone goal for the Ontario Hockey League champions, a team that has a good chance of playing in the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

Goaltender Gabriel Girard made 35 saves for the win while Michael Houser made the same amount in the loss.

Shawinigan’s win will probably be debated about forever. This is a team that lost in the second round of the playoffs and had a month off before getting in as hosts. But you do have to give them some respect for winning it all after taking the long route through the tie-breaker.

For Sea Dogs fans, it’s tough to see Shawinigan win. This is a team and a franchise we’ve all come to hate over the past year. But at the end of the day, it’s great to see a QMJHL team win the Memorial Cup. It’s great see a team from the Q beat a team from the Centre of the Universe. This is a league that doesn’t get much respect nationally, back now with back-to-back championships maybe that will start to change.

If you’re a Sea Dogs fan and are still upset you can check out the photo after the jump. The Cataractes Wikipedia page got trolled in a big way.

Memorial Cup Final Tonight

A new MasterCard Memorial Cup champion will be crowned tonight in Shawinigan. The host Cataractes will take on the Ontario Hockey League champion London Knights at 8pm.

London took the easy way to get here, receiving a bye straight through to the final following the round-robin portion of the tournament. Meanwhile, Shawinigan took the hard way here having to beat Edmonton in the tie-breaker and Saint John in the semi-final.

If you’re a Sea Dogs fan, who do you even cheer for tonight? It’s incredibly difficult to support Shawinigan after all that has gone down between them and Saint John over the past year. But at the same time, it’s always nice to see someone from your league win at all. 

A London win would mean that Shawinigan lost. But at the same time, it’s incredibly difficult to support a team from the Centre of the Universe.

Some links:

• Shawinigan has an awesome mascot and nobody is complaining.
• Sportsnet.ca has a full preview.
• If you are looking for something to do while watching the game, check out Buzzing The Net’s live chat.
• Open Ice Hockey’s video preview.

There will also be a “Net a Million” contest tonight. After the game David Branch will make some big time speech about the winning team. Should be a blast.

No CHL Awards For Dogs

Not surprisingly, the Saint John Sea Dogs came away empty handed at yesterday’s Canadian Hockey League Awards in Shawinigan.

The only player nominated was Mathieu Corbeil who was up for the Vaughn Goaltender of the Year Award. That went to the London Knights’ Michael Houser who was also nominated for CCM Player of the Year.

Only three players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League won awards. Quebec’s Vincent Barnard was named the Home Hardware Humanitarian Player of the Year, Cape Breton’s Jonathan Brunelle was named the Subway Scholastic Player of the Year, and Quebec’s Mikhail Grigorenko was named the BMO Rookie of the Year.

Bathurst’s Zach O’Brien, who hasn’t recorded a single penalty minute in his entire career, was not named FRAM Sportsman of the Year. That award went to Brandon’s Mark Stone.

Here are the full list of award winners.

Jack Link’s Top Prospect of the Year – Nail Yakupov (Sarnia Sting)

FRAM Sportsman of the Year – Mark Stone (Brandon Wheat Kings)

Dodge Top Scorer of the Year – Brendan Shinnimin (Tri-City Americans)

Home Hardware Humanitarian Player of the Year – Vincent Barnard (Quebec Remparts)

Subway Scholastic Player of the Year – Jonathan Brunelle (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles)

Old Dutch Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year – Jim Hiller (Tri-City Americans)

BMO Rookie of the Year – Mikhail Grigorenko (Quebec Remparts)

Vaughn Goaltender of the Year – Michael Houser (London Knights)

Post Foods Canada Defenceman of the Year – Dougie Hamilton (Niagara IceDogs)

CCM Player of the Year – Brendan Shinnimin (Tri-City Americans)

Tri-City’s Brendan Shinnimin earned both the Chrysler Top Scorer and CCM Player of the Year Award.  He is the first player since Alexander Radulov in 2005-06 and Sidney Crosby in 2004-05 to win both major awards in the same season.

In other news, Shreddies is now the official cereal ofthe CHL.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

VIDEO: Sea Dogs Come Home

The Sea Dogs arrived back in Saint John this afternoon less than 24 hours removed from being eliminated at the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

Via CHSJ News, here’s some video of the Sea Dogs arriving at the airport.

POSTSCRIPT: Cataractes 7, Sea Dogs 4

A collection of recaps from last night’s 7-4 Saint John Sea Dogs loss to the Shawinigan Cataractes…

Our recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs’ season came to a crashing end on Friday night at Centre Bionest as the rival Shawinigan Cataractes won the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup semi-final game 7-4.

News 88.9’s recap. Featuring Tim Roszell’s goal calls.

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. The back-to-back President’s Cup champions came back from deficits of 2-1 and 4-2 before eventually falling to the host Cataractes, who were eliminated in the second round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs.

Buzzing The Net’s recap. "When we tied it up, I thought we had a real good chance of winning, but Girard made a real good glove save [on Tomas Jurco]," Sea Dogs coach Gerard Gallant said. "We didn't play well all night. Shawinigan played very well, they competed harder than us and that's why they won the game. Give full credit to them."

Sportsnet.ca’s recap. The Cataractes battled hard from start to finish and faced plenty of adversity along the way. When push came to shove after the Sea Dogs tied the game 4-4 midway through the third period, Shawinigan head coach Eric Veilleux had nothing more to do than look at this bench to realize everything would work out.

The Canadian Press’ recap. They’ve also ensured there will be a new Memorial Cup champion. The Sea Dogs, a powerhouse team that has won more than 200 games over the last three seasons, were looking to repeat after winning the Cup last year in Mississauga, Ont.

SN Live Blog Replay. See you in August.

MISSING IN ACTION: The Sea Dogs dressed the same lineup as they did on Wednesday. Scratches were forwards Devon Oliver-Dares, Oliver Cooper, Dylan McGuigan, and defensemen Spencer MacDonald and Jordan Moore and goaltender Richard Tingley.

Today's Front Page

Tough loss for the Sea Dogs last night. One of the biggest wins in franchise history for the Cataractes. Here's what the front page of the Shawinigan Le Nouvelliste looks like this morning.

RECAP: Closing Time. Dogs Lose 7-4.

FINAL: Shawinigan 7, Saint John 4

SHAWINIGAN, Que. – It wasn’t meant to be.

The Saint John Sea Dogs’ season came to a crashing end on Friday night at Centre Bionest as the rival Shawinigan Cataractes won the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup semi-final game 7-4.

You could say plenty about this game but the bottom line is this – the Cataractes were the better team tonight and deserved to win. It’s these win-or-go-home games that make the Memorial Cup so awesome and so heartbreaking.

They Cats will now play the London Knights in Sunday’s Championship Final. There will be a new Memorial Cup champion.

The Sea Dogs opened the scoring early in the first but they would never lead again. When Brandon Gormley scored to make it 2-1 Cataractes, you just got the feeling that this could be a rough night. And it was just that as Shawinigan scored three times in the final half of the third to win 7-4.

Shawinigan had a pair of goals from Michael Chaput and singles from Yannick Veilleux, Brandon Gormley, Pier-Olivier Morin, Loik Poudrier, and Michael Bournival. Anton Zlobin had three assists while Gormley added two. Gabriel Girard made 24 saves in the win.

Saint John had two goals from Tomas Jurco and a marker each from Zack Phillips and Jonathan Huberdeau. Mathieu Corbeil allowed six goals on 36 shots in the loss.

From a Saint John standpoint, this is no doubt disappointing. This team was consider favourites to win the Memorial Cup by many and were ranked No. 1 in the Canadian Hockey League for much of the season. This was the last year for this core of players. But at the Memorial Cup, anything can happen. 

But at the same time, there are only two teams in the entire CHL who can say they made it further than Saint John. Even though it didn’t end with a national title, this has to be considered one of the best three-year runs in CHL history. It's some kind of ride and fans should be proud of what this team has accomplished. 

We could reminisce further, but we’ve got all summer to do that. On to the final recap of the year.

LIVE BLOG: Cataractes vs Sea Dogs

SHAWINIGAN, Que. - Huge game at the Memorial Cup tonight as the Sea Dogs battle the Cataractes. Winner plays in the Championship Final. Follow along for updates.