Notebook: Sea Dogs host Eagles in back-to-back this weekend

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - A couple of familiar faces will be on the ice at TD Station this weekend.

Former Saint John Sea Dogs forwards Cam MacDonald and Cole Burbidge will presumably be in the Cape Breton Eagles lineup on Friday and Saturday. MacDonald was released from his tryout with the Arizona Coyotes earlier this week.

MacDonald, who helped the Sea Dogs win the Memorial Cup in 2022, made his TD Station return last season when he was a member of the Gatineau Olympiques. Burbidge, who was traded to Cape Breton in August, will be playing his first game against Saint John.

Burbidge had an impressive first QMJHL season with the Sea Dogs last year, recording 19 goals and 50 points in 68 games. Like most players on the Eagles, he's been held pointless through the first two games of this season.

Cape Breton had a rough opening weekend, dropping back-to-back home games to the Moncton Wildcats and getting outscored 13-1 in the process. 

Both Friday and Saturday games are 7 p.m. starts.

THEME NIGHTS

The Sea Dogs have announced their first few theme nights of the season.

As was indicated on the TD Station boards, the Sea Dogs will welcome Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall on Oct. 21 and on Nov. 13, the Sea Dogs will host a Taylor Swift Tribute. Note that the Nov. 13 game is on a Monday (a holiday for many) at 2 p.m.

The team also announced on social media Wednesday that the club's Nov. 3 game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan will be the annual Hockey Fights Cancer Game with performances by The Artificially Hip.

Notebook: Sea Dogs hire new coach

SAINT JOHN - Max Essiambre has been named the Saint John Sea Dogs' new goaltending and video coach.

Essiambre replaces long-time video and goaltending coach Brian Fleming, who has left the club for other career opportunities.

“I am absolutely thrilled to join the Saint John Sea Dogs,” said Essiambre in a news release. “The opportunity to work with a talented group of players and contribute to the team’s success is a dream come true.”

The 33-year-old has spent the past couple seasons in the Ottawa area, working with the University of Ottawa men's hockey team last season and the CCHL's Hawkesbury Hawks in 2021-22. His previous experience also includes working as a goaltending coach with the Miramichi Rivermen under-18 team.

INJURY UPDATES

The Sea Dogs are dealing with a few injuries before the season even begins.

Forwards Sam-Luca Thifault and Nico Laforge along with defenseman Jeremie Richard all had surgery during the off-season and aren't quite ready to go yet, reports Kevin Barrett of Postmedia.

Richard may be able to return after Labour Day while Thifault may be October and Laforge is anytime between October and December. All three underwent surgeries in the off-season.

— Kevin Barrett (@KevinBarrettNB) August 16, 2023

The news creates a few more holes in Saint John's lineup that the club will need to — at least temporarily — fill.

Saint John's 2022 Memorial Cup championship now one year old

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

It's been one year since the Saint John Sea Dogs lifted the Memorial Cup on home ice.

Captain Vincent Sevigny scored just 2:35 into the first period to help lead the Sea Dogs to a 6-3 victory over Mason McTavish, Arber Xhekaj and the Hamilton Bulldogs in the championship game on June 29, 2022.

Along with Sevigny, Cam MacDonald, Riley Bezeau, William Dufour, Josh Lawrence and Peter Reynolds scored. Nikolas Hurtubise made 25 saves in the win.

The victory finished off a spectacular tournament inside TD Station and some fantastic community events outside. The 2022 Memorial Cup will not be forgotten in this city for some time.

Notebook: Sea Dogs' PK will be tested

QUISPAMSIS, NB - The Saint John Sea Dogs' penalty kill will face a serious challenge on Saturday at the 2022 Memorial Cup.

With a bye to Wednesday's championship game on the line, the Sea Dogs will face their old Memorial Cup rival, the Shawinigan Cataractes, in the final game of the round-robin. Saint John needs a win in regulation time in order to earn the bye.

Shawinigan's power play went 3/7 in a 3-2 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs on Thursday. They went 1/5 in their opening game, a 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings.

When Shawinigan's power play is clicking, they typically get a positive result. Here'a a look at their power play performances over the past seven games:

President Cup Final Game 1: 3/4 (win)

President Cup Final Game 2: 2/3 (win)

President Cup Final Game 3: 0/5 (win)

President Cup Final Game 4: 0/1 (loss)

President Cup Final Game 5: 1/5 (win)

Memorial Cup Game 1 (4-3 win): 1/5 (win)

Memorial Cup Game 2 (3-2 win): 3/7 (win)

Saint John's penalty kill has really struggled so far at the Memorial Cup, allowing four goals against on six opportunities. This comes after the team successfully killed off all 17 power play chances they gave the Rimouski Oceanic in their first round series loss.

On the flip side, Saint John's power play is 0/5 so far at the national championship tournament.

Saint John's best option on Saturday may simply be to do whatever they can to stay out of the box. The team will want to keep their composure in what is sure to be an electric atmosphere.

SEA DOGS VS WHL

With Wednesday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings, the Sea Dogs are now 2-0-1 all-time against Western Hockey League teams.

2011 vs Kootenay: 5-4 loss (OT)

2012 vs Edmonton: 5-2 win

2017 vs Seattle: 7-0 win

2022 vs Edmonton: 4-3 loss (OT)

The Sea Dogs face the Cataractes on Saturday, the only QMJHL team the Sea Dogs have ever faced in Memorial Cup competition. The two teams split their pair of games at the 2012 tournament.

Notebook: Stairs, Isles set for major Game 3

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CHARLOTTETOWN - For a few minutes, Dawson Stairs had scored one of the biggest goals in Charlottetown Islanders history.

The former Saint John Sea Dogs forward scored with 1:17 remaining in the third period to put the Islanders up 3-2 over the Shawinigan Cataractes in Game 2 of the President Cup final Sunday. The Cataractes would tie the game on a controversial power play and then win in it overtime, cancelling out a lot of the impact of Stairs' goal.

Dawson Stairs with a perfect tip on the Noah Laaouan blast! 👌#PresidentCup | #InMemoryOfGuy pic.twitter.com/xxhKnjGord

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) June 6, 2022

The Fredericton native was named the game's third star. Stairs now has two goals and seven assists in 12 playoff games this year.

The Islanders will need Stairs and all of the team's offensive players to be at their best in Wednesday's pivotal Game 3 in Shawinigan. Despite posting 38 shots in Game 2, Charlottetown's offense has struggled to create quality scoring chances against a well structured and committed Shawinigan group.

The Cataractes lead the best-of-seven President Cup final 2-0. The winner of the series advances to the 2022 Memorial Cup in Saint John.

NEW STORE

The new Area 506 Waterfront Container Village opens Wednesday in Saint John.

The Sea Dogs will be one of the vendors at the waterfront space, opening a new Sea Dogs Styles location.

The Container Village will also play a major role at the 2022 Memorial Cup, hosting the Bash on the Bay concert series.

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.

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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."