VIDEO: Beaulieu press conference

'A' News London coming through in a big way with some videos of the Jacques Beaulieu press conference.

REPORT: Jacques Beaulieu off to Sarnia

Former Saint John Sea Dogs head coach and general manager Jacques Beaulieu is set to join the Ontario Hockey League’s Sarnia Sting.

The London Free Press reports that the Sting will name Beaulieu their new head coach and general manger tomorrow at a press conference. Beaulieu, the father of Sea Dogs defenseman Nathan, has been an assistant coach with the London Knights for the past two seasons.

Beaulieu was named Sea Dogs head coach for the 2006-07 season and was handed the general manager tag mid-season. He was fired at the end of the 2008-09 campaign after Saint John was swept out of the first round of the playoffs.

Beaulieu deserves a lot of credit for the Sea Dogs’ success over the last two seasons after he pulled off some unreal trades at the 2008 deadline.

A News London has more:

SEA DOGS NOTEBOOK

STYLIN’
Via Sea Dogs equipment manager David Kelly’s Twitter, the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup crests that will be on the team’s jerseys during the President’s Cup final.

TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT?
The Sea Dogs could know their opponent for the President’s Cup final this evening. The Quebec Remparts currently hold a 3-2 series lead over the Gatineau Olympiques entering Game Six this evening at the Robert Guertin Arena.

If the Olympiques win tonight, Game Seven will be Tuesday at Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City.

The finals begin Thursday night at Harbour Station.

THOMAS ON INSIDE THE Q
Sea Dogs captain Mike Thomas was a guest on the QMJHL radio program ‘Inside the Q’ this week. You can listen to it HERE.

Thomas, in his last QMJHL season would like to finish his career holding the President Cup and will tell us what were the differences between last year's Sea Dogs that went to the final compared to this year's squad.

Also on the program is D.J. Abisilah, the play-by-play man for the Lewiston MAINEiacs.

GETTING TO KNOW HUBERDEAU
Open Ice Hockey’s interview with Jonathan Huberdeau at the Top Prospects Game.

SEA DOGS NOTEBOOK

SAUVE SENT TO MOOSE
As we posted the other day, former Sea Dogs defenseman Yann Sauve was assigned to the Manitoba Moose last Thursday. The 20-year had been playing with the East Coast Hockey League’s Victoria Salmon Kings where he had two assists in seven games.

Sauve’s stint in the ECHL was believed to be for conditioning after finally recovering from a concussion he suffered in September. Now, the Vancouver Canucks must decide where to put Sauve for the rest of the season.

A second round pick of the Canucks in 2008, there have been rumblings of him possibly returning for a final year of junior in Saint John.

OKE NAMED TOP STUDENT
Sea Dogs forward Scott Oke was named the teams Student of the Month for November last week. Oke was presented with the honour at Harbour Station earier this month.

Oke is currently a 12th grade student at St. Malachy’s High School.

ISS FEATURES
Tomas Jurco was the lone Sea Dog to make International Scouting Service's list of top 30 prospects for the upcoming National Hockey League Entry Draft.

Jurco was placed in the No. 22 spot and joined Drummondville’s Sean Couturier, ranked first overall, as the only Quebec leaguers to make the list.

Four Sea Dogs – Jonathan Huberdeau, Zach Phillips, Guillaume Cloutier, and Scott Oke – were listed as “risers.” All four have a paragraph written about them on the Hockey’s Future website.

“Showed us a little more every viewing; played well with Kelly and Tesink,” says the scouting service about Scott Oke. “Showed better vision and passing ability then seen in early viewings; made a few smart 5 foot passes and a few good 30 foot passes, finding seams. Doesn't always see his options, but is showing more patience with puck. Worked hard and made the most of limited ice time...played 4th line with no PP or PK.”

JURCO ON TPS
Last week, Sea Dogs forward Tomas Jurco went on The Pipeline Show radio program. To download the interview, click HERE.

FORMER DOGS COACH ON THE MOVE?

According to the London Free Press, former Saint John Sea Dogs head coach Jacques Beaulieu could find himself once again head coaching a Canadian Hockey League club in the near future.

Apparently, there have been some rumblings that Beaulieu could be hired to coach the Guelph Storm. The Storm fired their head coach, Jason Brooks, on Monday.

And while this is all speculation, there are already rumblings that Beaulieu is one of the men being considered to take over from former Knight Jason Brooks, who was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Storm on Monday.

Beaulieu has all the tools. He’s been a long-time assistant with the Knights and has coached them during their most successful years. He left four years ago to become coach and general manager of the Saint John Sea Dogs. He made them successful and even though he was fired in his third year, he built the foundation of the team that is now No. 1 in Canada.

He returned to the Knights as an assistant coach, and does a lot of the heavy slugging. Also, he’s proven he can handle all aspects of building a team. (London Free Press)

Beaulieu was hired as the Sea Dogs head coach back in 2006 and later took over the general manager role that season (2006-07). He rebuilt Saint John’s roster, allowing the team to make the semi-finals in 2007-08 after finishing with just 20 wins the season before.

In 2008-09, the Sea Dogs failed to meet the lofty expectations put on them over the off-season, falling to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in four games in the first round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs. Beaulieu was fired not long after the Dogs’ playoff run came to an end.

Beaulieu will certainly be remembered more for his job as general manager than his role behind the bench. If not for current London Knights assistant coach, Saint John likely wouldn’t have made it to the President’s Cup Final last season. Although the Mike Kelly/Gerald Gallant era drafted and traded for a number of players who make the Dogs the No. 1 team in Canada today, Beaulieu is responsible for setting up most of the major acquisitions.

Ironically, Guelph’s general manager is one of the many Mike Kelly’s circulating around the Canadian sporting scene.

The father of Sea Dogs defenseman Nathan Beaulieu finished his coaching career in Saint John with a 95-111 record.

Beaulieu has, however, attached himself to the Knights nicely once again and is an asset to London’s coaching staff.

“I don’t know 100% yet what I would do (if I was asked about Beaulieu),” Knights general manager Mark Hunter said. “I would have no problem at the end of the year, but this is the middle of our season. It’s a tough position.”

SEA DOGS NOTEBOOK

ST. LAURENT OFF TO SOLID START
Former Sea Dogs netminder Karel St. Laurent is off to a solid start with the British Columbia Junior ‘A’ Hockey League’s Surrey Eagles.

St. Laurent made his debut on November 4th in Langley, an 8-4 Eagles win. Saint John’s backup goaltender in 2008-09 and 2009-10 made 37 saves in the victory. He then backstopped Surrey to a 5-4 overtime win over Langley the next night.

"He hadn't played for two or three weeks and he admits in the first game there were one or two goals he would like back," Eagles head coach Matt Erhart told Surrey Now last Tuesday. "He was better the next two nights; he made some big saves for us, especially in the third period and overtime Friday. He's been really solid for us."

"He played major junior hockey for the past three years," the coach said. "He's been on a really good team for the past two years as one of the two goalies playing for them. When he became available we thought he would be a good addition to the team."

THE POUTINE
SN reader Paul Leger has been telling us about his dream of having poutine sold at Harbour Station for quite awhile.

So, Paul has created a online petition to help support the movement. Apparently, Harbour Station doesn’t currently have the proper equipment to make the cheese and gravy goodness. We encourage everyone to sign, mainly because Harbour Station menu options are few and far between.

We still don’t know how you can have a QUEBEC Major Junior Hockey League team and not sell poutine.

KNIGHTS GLAD TO HAVE BEAULIEU BACK

Jacques Beaulieu was featured in an article in the London Free Press today. The former Saint John coach is responsible for the defensive duties with London.

The Knights assistant coach is sure to be having some mixed feelings about the recent CHL Top 10 rankings. The Knights, ranked eighth, have the Sea Dogs in the rearview mirror at number 10.

Beaulieu spent three seasons with the Dogs, his first in 2006-07. He led the Sea Dogs to the QMJHL semi-finals in 2008. He is also responsible for Mike Hoffman being in a Sea Dogs uniform.

To view the article in todays LFP click HERE.

Beaulieu to the Knights

London Free Press recently had an article about the re-hiring of Jacques Beaulieu with the London Knights. He is being welcomed back with open arms by the organization he won a Memorial Cup with in 2005.

"I don't think I failed," he said. "When you fail, it's different, it's
harder to accept. I did a lot of good things. They won 15 games their inaugural
year, 20 the year after then 41 and 37. We put the program on the map and the
final four last year. I was quite happy with what I achieved here."

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Sports/Columnists/Dalla_Costa_Morris/2009/05/21/9519771-sun.html