Notebook: Three ex-Dogs remain in race for Gilles Courteau Trophy

Gatineau Olympiques

Only three former Saint John Sea Dogs remain in the Gilles Courteau Trophy playoffs.

Josh Lawrence of the Halifax Mooseheads and Joshua Roy of the Sherbrooke Phoenix are currently in a battle to grab the second spot in the QMJHL championship series. The winner will face Charles Savoie and the Quebec Remparts in the final round.

The Remparts eliminated Cam MacDonald and the Gatineau Olympiques earlier this week. MacDonald, who the Sea Dogs dealt to Gatineau during the holiday trade period, had five goals and three assists in 13 playoff games.

A fifth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021, MacDonald remains unsigned by the NHL club, meaning he could return to the QMJHL as an overager next season.

Here's an updated look at how former Sea Dogs have performed in the QMJHL playoffs so far.

Player	Team	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
Joshua Roy	SHE	12	12	12	24
Josh Lawrence	HAL	13	8	15	23
Cam MacDonald	GAT	13	5	3	8
Charles Savoie	QUE	12	2	5	7
Marshall Lessard	BAC	6	1	2	3
Connor Trenholm	MON	12	0	3	3
Leighton Carruthers	ROU	8	0	0	0
Simon Hughes	CHA	4	0	0	0

Rouyn-Noranda goaltender Thomas Couture finished 4-5 with a 3.93 goals against average and a .883 save percentage in nine playoff games.

VELENO HEADED TO WORLDS

Former Sea Dogs forward Joe Veleno has been named to Hockey Canada's roster for the upcoming IIHF World Championship in Finland and Latvia.

This will be the first time Veleno has played for Canada at the men's worlds. The 23-year-old has represented Canada at the under-20, under-18 and under-17 levels.

The former Sea Dogs captain appeared in 81 games with the Detroit Red Wings this past season, recording nine goals and 11 assists. Detroit's general manager, Steve Yzerman, is an associate general manager with Team Canada.

Canada begins the tournament May 12 against Latvia.

Notebook: Some home opener video

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

If you missed Saturday's Saint John Sea Dogs home opener, the QMJHL has uploaded the pre-game ceremony, which saw the 2022 Memorial Cup championship banner raised into the TD Station rafters.

The Sea Dogs have also shared the video that was shown during the ceremony.

Some of our favourite moments from the 2022 Memorial Cup presented by Kia, on the ice and in the community.

Thank you Saint John, for making last year one to remember.#CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/tpwAAjoMGu

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) October 3, 2022

BIG CROWD

4,954 fans attended Saturday's Sea Dogs game at TD Station, making it the most attended home opener in Saint John since 2017 (5,309).

Saturday's crowd would have been Saint John's fourth largest all of last season. The team averaged 2,643 fans per game last season, although three home games were impacted by COVID capacity restrictions.

The Sea Dogs are no doubt hoping to ride the wave of enthusiasm generated during the Memorial Cup even as the team begins to rebuild.

Notebook: MHL playoffs off to fun start

SAINT JOHN - If the opening round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs are anything like the Maritime Junior Hockey League's, we're in for a wild ride.

There were two significant upsets in the MHL's first round with the Valley Wildcats (19-16-2-1) upsetting the Eastlink South Division's top seeded Yarmouth Mariners (25-8-4-1) in six games and the Fredericton Red Wings (22-12-2-0) eliminating the Eastlink North Division's second-place squad in the Campbellton Tigers (23-8-4-1) in six matches.

The Truro Bearcats (19-15-2-0), the No. 3 seed in the South, also upended the Amherst Ramblers (19-14-2-2), the No. 2 seed, in five games.

The MHL's semifinals will feature the Wildcats facing the Bearcats and the Red Wings taking on the top-ranked Summerside Western Capitals. Even the Western Capitals, who finished 18 points ahead of the Edmundston Blizzard, needed five games to advance to the next round (each series was/is best-of-seven).

Some notable names to watch in the MHL semifinals:

Fredericton Red Wings: Zachary Alchorn, Logan Carruthers, Connor McCluskey and Mathias Savoie

Summerside Western Capitals: Josh MacDonald and Sam Dow

Truro Bearcats: Brady Stone and Frederic Plourde

Valley Wildcats: Luke Wilson, Julian Vander Voet, Antoine Lyonnais and Justin Bourque

GREAT PIC

Quite a photo captured by Sea Dogs team photographer Michael Hawkins on Wednesday night.

Last night's OT Winner: Philippe Daoust or Bobby Orr? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/bVEQOF30WQ

— x - Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) April 7, 2022 

Notebook: Happy Anniversary

Two years ago last night, Stanislav Galiev and Tomas Jurco each had five points as they led the Sea Dogs to their second consecutive President Cup title.

Galiev had three goals and two assists while Jurco recorded two goals and three assists in Saint John’s 8-0 victory in Game 4 over the Rimouski Oceanic, completing the series sweep. Zack Phillips, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Danick Gauthier each had a goal and an assist. Mathieu Corbeil made 24 saves for the shutout.

Never forget.

Q FINAL

The Baie-Comea Drakkar are a win away from the President Cup.

The Drakkar took a 3-2 series lead in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s championship series with a 6-5 victory over the Val-d’Or Foreurs on Friday night. Game 6 is tonight at 5pm at the Air Creebec Centre in Val-d’Or.

The winner of the series will also represent the QMJHL at the 2014 Memorial Cup in London. The Guelph Storm confirmed their participation in the CHL’s championship tournament with a thrilling Game 5 win on Friday over the North Bay Battalion.

HUBERDEAU

At the IIHF World Championships in Belarus, France stunned Canada with a 3-2 shootout victory on Friday. Jonathan Huberdeau didn’t record a point or shot in 9:58 of ice time. He wasn’t used in the shootout.

Canada got back on track on Saturday with a 4-1 win over Slovakia. Huberdeau had one shot in 12:21 of ice time.

Canada’s next game is on Monday against the Czech Republic.

COYLE UPDATE

Charlie Coyle had an assist in the Minnesota Wild’s 4-2 Game 4 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, evening the second round series at 2-2. Coyle also had one hit in 17:32 of ice time.

Game 5 is tonight at 10pm in Chicago.

Elsewhere In The CHL

While the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final doesn’t begin until tomorrow, the other Canadian Hockey League finals begin tonight.

Out west, the Edmonton Oil Kings host the Portland Winterhawks in Game 1 of the Western Hockey League final tonight. The Oil Kings finished first overall in the Eastern Conference with a record of 50-15-3-4 for 107 points while the Winterhawks finished third in the Western Conference with a record of 49-19-3-1 for 102 points.

Like the Sea Dogs, the Oil Kings have just one playoff loss this post-season. They swept Kootenay and Brandon before finally losing a game to Moose Jaw in the semifinals. Edmonton won that series 4-1 to advance to the league final.

Portland swept Kelowna in the first round, beat Kamloops in seven games in the quarterfinals, and then swept Tri-City to move on to the final.

Buzzing The Net has a solid preview of the WHL Championship Series.

In the Ontario Hockey League, the London Knights will take on the Niagara IceDogs. The IceDogs finished first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 47-18-0-3 for 97 points while the Knights finished first in the Western Conference with a record 49-18-0-1 for 99 points.

London swept Windsor in the first round, beat Saginaw in six games in the second round, and then swept Kitchener in the third round to advance to the league final.

Niagara beat Oshawa in six games in the first round, swept Brampton in the second round, and then defeated Ottawa in five games in the third round to advance to the OHL Championship Series.

Buzzing The Net also has a preview of the OHL final.

Sportsnet’s Fan Fuel has a preview of all three CHL Championships.

The winner of the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL final will all join the Shawinigan Cataractes at the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup.