Friday night news & notes

Major junior hockey in Mississauga is no more.

The Ontario Hockey League has officially approved the relocation of the Mississauga Steelheads to Brampton where they will become the Brampton Steelheads. The two rinks are located less than 10 minutes from each other (pictured).

Brampton's CAA Centre has been without the OHL since the Battalion moved to North Bay in 2013. The move probably won't help the Steelheads' woeful attendance much, but it's believed to be a much more financially friendly lease arrangement. 

Mississauga's Paramount Fine Foods Centre – previously the Hershey Centre – is where the Saint John Sea Dogs won their first Memorial Cup in 2011. The Steelheads franchise was then known as the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors.

The Steelheads will play their first game in Brampton on Sept. 27 against the Brantford Bulldogs.

A few other news and notes...

• The Sea Dogs website recaps the team's QMJHL Entry Draft, which includes a few comments from general manager Anthony Stella.
• Oak View Group, the company that manages TD Station, will soon manage the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre, reports Country 94.
• The Quebec Remparts could host next year's QMJHL Entry Draft, reports le Soleil. The Remparts last hosted in 2019 when the Sea Dogs selected Joshua Roy first overall.
• There's going to be plenty of attention on the 2025 QMJHL Entry Draft (and the tanking that will come with it) with Alexis Joseph expected to be taken first overall. Joseph is considered by many to be the best Quebec prospect since Alexis Lafreniere.
• The Halifax Mooseheads have named Andrew Lord the team's new head coach. Lord was the head coach and general manager of the ECHL's Greenville Swamp Rabbits. He is the reigning ECHL coach of the year.
• Times are good in Cape Breton. General manager Sylvain Couturier has signed a "multi-year" contract extension with the club, which is coming off a trip to the league semifinals.
• The WHL's Kelowna Rockets have made it known that they are bidding to host the 2026 Memorial Cup. The Rockets were set to host the 2020 event that was cancelled by the pandemic.
• Flames Nation looks back on the season former Sea Dogs defenseman Yan Kuznetsov had, which included an NHL call up.
• Gold Canada executive Bryan Crawford has been named the new commissioner of the OHL, replacing the retiring David Branch. All three CHL leagues will have relatively new commissioners next season.
• The OHL regular season will begin a week later than the QMJHL's. The OHL is expected to release its full schedule on Monday.

Notebook: Over and out in Mississauga

The building where the Saint John Sea Dogs lifted the Memorial Cup for the first time hosted its final CHL game last Friday.

The Mississauga Steelheads fell 6-2 to the Sudbury Wolves in Game 5 of their first round playoff series, officially ending the team's run in Mississauga. The Steelheads will literally move down the road to Brampton for the 2024-25 season.

The Sea Dogs won the 2011 Memorial Cup at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre (then the Hershey Centre) when they defeated the host Mississauga St. Michael's Majors in the championship game.

It's certainly possible that the OHL will return to Mississauga one day — but it probably won't be quite awhile given how rough attendance has been during the Steelheads and Majors tenures.

IMAMA MAKES SENS DEBUT

Former Sea Dogs forward Boko Imama made his Ottawa Senators debut last Saturday.

Imama dropped the gloves with New Jersey's Kurtis MacDermid in the first period.

Welcome to the Ottawa Senators, Boko Imama. 👊 pic.twitter.com/tEQhPXmqWm

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 6, 2024

Imama was one of three former Sea Dogs playing for Ottawa in the game, joining Mathieu Joseph and Thomas Chabot.

The 27-year-old has spent most of this season withe AHL's Belleville Senators where he has three goals and seven assists in 53 games.

Notebook: Draft moves into primetime

It's happening: the first round of the QMJHL Entry Draft will be held Friday in primetime.

The QMJHL confirmed the news on Tuesday when it announced that TVA Sports and Eastlink will both be broadcasting the first round, which will take place Friday, June 7 at Moncton's Avenir Centre.

Big news! The first round of next summer's #QDraft will air live on @Eastlink TV!

Details 👉 https://t.co/9AqBoD0q69 pic.twitter.com/stzQDXWwPY

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) January 30, 2024

The remaining rounds will take place Saturday.

The QMJHL Entry Draft has traditionally been a one day event with all rounds taking place on a Saturday. But the first round is a big show put on by the league, a show that is much more of a Friday night vibe than a Saturday morning.

COMING UP

The Sea Dogs are on the road once again this weekend — but this time much closer to home.

The Sea Dogs travel to Bathurst on Friday to face the Titan at 7 p.m. Then on Sunday, the Dogs make the quick trip to Moncton to take on the Wildcats at 4 p.m.

Saint John went 1-2-0-0 on their three-game Quebec road trip last weekend, posting an upset win over the Victoriaville Tigres.

The Sea Dogs are on the road the following weekend as well, visiting Halifax and Charlottetown. They don't play at TD Station until Feb. 15.

Catching up on some news

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Saint John Sea Dogs forward Eriks Mateiko and Team Latvia fell to 0-2 at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship on Friday.

The Latvians fell 5-2 to Finland a day after opening the tournament with a 7-1 loss to the United States.

Mateiko, who is captaining Latvia, was held pointless in 19:01 of ice time. He recorded one shot on goal while playing on the team's top line - a line that includes Kristers Ansons, the brother of former Sea Dogs forward Raivis Ansons.

Latvia returns to action on Sunday, taking on host Switzerland.

Sea Dogs forward Pavel Simek and Team Czechia are back in action on Saturday, taking on Germany. Czechia dropped their opener 3-2 in a shootout to Slovakia on Thursday.

Team Canada, meanwhile, rebounded from an ugly 8-0 loss to Sweden on Thursday with an 8-0 win over Germany on Friday. Victoriaville Tigres goaltender Gabriel D'Aigle, the only QMJHL player on the Canadian roster, was the backup.

Some other notes on this Friday evening...

• The Halifax Mooseheads can secure a spot in the QMJHL semifinals with a win over the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday afternoon at Scotiabank Centre. The Mooseheads took a 3-1 series lead on Thursday, defeating the Wildcats 3-0. Josh Lawrence was held pointless in the win.
• Les 2 Rives has a story on Sea Dogs forward Alexis Cournoyer and his solid season.
• The Chicoutimi Sagueneens will release the rights of first-round pick Sacha Boisvert and receive a first-round pick in this year's QMJHL Entry Draft as compensation. Boisvert spent this past season in the USHL and has committed to the University of North Dakota. UND is one of the premier college hockey programs but rarely recruits from QMJHL territory. 
• CBC Nova Scotia spoke with Sea Dogs forward Brady Burns about his friend and fellow Nova Scotian Jacob Quillan, who scored the overtime winner in the NCAA championship game.
• The NCAA men's hockey final had record TV ratings on ESPN. TSN owns the NCAA hockey rights in Canada (along with the CHL rights) and only aired the game online through TSN+.
• In the Maritime Hockey League final, Ben Roode and the Yarmouth Mariners carry a 3-0 series lead over Brandon Casey and the Edmundston Blizzard heading into action Friday.
• In Ontario, former Sea Dogs forward Jacob Chantler and the St. Marys Lincolns were eliminated in the conference championship of the GOJHL playoffs. Chantler had two goals and 12 assists in 13 playoff games with the Lincolns.
• Former Sea Dogs defenseman Matt Murphy will be working with the Champions Hockey spring and summer program this off-season. Murphy spent parts of this past season in the AHL, ECHL and Austria.
• It feels like the OHL's Mississauga Steelheads are entering an important season off the ice.
• Cape Breton's Centre 200 needs some upgrades, reports CTV Atlantic.
• Bill Schurman has passed away. Schurman, a PEI native, spent many years involved with the QMJHL, working in front offices in Moncton and Lewiston and most recently in Charlottetown's Eastlink Centre.
• On this week's episode of The Hockey News on the Q, Will MacLaren and I discuss the QMJHL playoffs, awards season, St. Louis Blues prospects and Cole Burbidge.

.@willmacwriter and @station_nation discuss the second round of the QMJHL playoffs, the @QMJHL Awards, @StLouisBlues prospects and more: https://t.co/v3KgaHQtSo

— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) April 19, 2023

Notebook: The final week is here

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - Folks, we made it.

The final week of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's regular season has arrived. It wasn't the smoothest ride with a pretty significant bump in the middle (thank you, COVID!) but here we are. A little later than originally planned, but we made it.

The Sea Dogs have three regular season games remaining. On Thursday and Friday night the team will host the last-place Cape Breton Eagles in the final regular season games at TD Station. Both contests start at 7 p.m.

The Sea Dogs will honour their three overage players on Thursday night. Then on Friday, Saint John resident Maestro Fresh Wes will perform as part of the team's first ever Throwback Night.

Saint John will close out the regular season with a Sunday afternoon match in Moncton. Game time for that one is 4 p.m. All 18 teams will be in action on Sunday.

DUFOUR SIGNS

If you missed it last week, Sea Dogs forward William Dufour has signed a three-year, entry-level deal with the New York Islanders.

Congratulations to William Dufour on signing a three-year, entry level contract with the New York Islanders! 👏 🖊 pic.twitter.com/lHZdWYb3PH

— x - Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) April 21, 2022

Dufour was a fifth-round pick of the Islanders in the 2020 NHL Draft. The Quebec City native will likely play professionally in the Islanders system next season.

Five Seasons Later

Embed from Getty Images

It's been five whole seasons since the Sea Dogs made their Memorial Cup debut in Mississauga.

Obviously, a lot has changed since then. Saint John went on to reach the tournament again in 2012 and then went into rebuild mode. They hadn't come close to making the Memorial Cup until this past season where they reached the QMJHL's final four.

We know how Saint John has performed over the past five seasons, but what about the other teams that participated in the 2011 Memorial Cup? Here's a look at how the host Mississauga St. Michael's Majors, OHL champion Owen Sound Attack and WHL champion Kootenay Ice have performed since then.

Saint John Sea Dogs

Season	Record	Playoffs
2011-12	50-15-0-3	Won championship
2012-13	23-44-1-0	Lost in round 1
2013-14	19-44-2-3	Missed playoffs
2014-15	32-26-4-6	Lost in round 1
2015-16	42-20-6-0	Lost in round 3