Notebook: Dixon takes over Gryphons

University of Guelph

Josh Dixon has been named head coach of the University of Guelph men's hockey team.

The former Saint John Sea Dogs head coach joins the Gryphons after spending the past two seasons as an associate coach with the WHL's Prince George Cougars.

"It is an honour to join the University of Guelph Gryphons and such an impressive athletics department with an established tradition of success, both in student-athlete development and experience in addition to championship achievement at both the provincial and national levels," said Dixon in a news release. "I look forward to the opportunity to lead the men's hockey program back to national prominence and be a part of the excellent culture the Gryphons have created."

Dixon has previous coaching experience at the university level, working with Carleton, Calgary and Mount Royal as an assistant coach.

Dixon spent parts of three seasons with the Sea Dogs before being fired during the 2019-20 season. His numbers in Saint John were less than impressive as he worked with a young and rebuilding team.

The Gryphons have been a strong program over the past decade or so but have had a couple of off years coming out of the pandemic. 

HEAD COACH HIRES

Speaking of head coaches, some hires have been made around the QMJHL.

The biggest is in Quebec City where the rebuilding Remparts will be led by veteran QMJHL coach Eric Veilleux, the team announced Thursday. Veilleux was the long-time head coach of the Shawinigan Cataractes and has also worked as a head coach with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Halifax Mooseheads. He has spent the past four seasons as an assistant with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch.

Two long-time assistant coaches in the QMJHL have been given head coaching opportunities. Benoit Desrosiers will lead the Gatineau Olympiques while Mathieu Turcotte will run the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada bench.

The hires leave the Halifax Mooseheads, Cape Breton Eagles, Sherbrooke Phoenix and Rimouski Oceanic as teams without head coaches at the moment. The Eagles are reportedly close to making an announcement.

#BREAKING: The Cape Breton Eagles have a coach picked and are finishing up the hiring process now. Announcement expected early next week.@capebretonpost #Eagles #CapeBreton #QMJHL

— Luke Dyment (@lwdyment) July 6, 2023

Notebook: Lawrence, Mooseheads look to force a Game 7 in QMJHL final

HALIFAX - The Gilles-Courteau Trophy will be in the building once again as the Quebec Remparts try and close out the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship series against the Halifax Mooseheads.

The Mooseheads forced a Game 6 back in Halifax with a 3-2 win in Game 5 on Friday in Quebec City. The Remparts now lead the series 3-2.

Game time Sunday at Scotiabank Centre is 5 p.m. A Game 7, if needed, would be Monday night at 8:30 p.m. back in Quebec City.

Tickets for this series have proven to be a hot commodity in both markets. Tickets for Sunday's match sold out within a few hours, reports Global Halifax.

Former Saint John Sea Dogs forward Josh Lawrence continues to lead the QMJHL in playoff scoring with 30 points. He has, however, been held pointless over the last two games.

The winner of this series advances to the 2023 Memorial Cup in Kamloops, which begins Friday.

THUNDERBIRDS ADVANCE

The Seattle Thunderbirds are Western Hockey League champions.

The Thunderbirds defeated the Winnipeg Ice 3-1 on Friday to take the WHL championship series 4-1. While Winnipeg was the No. 1 seed, the Thunderbirds, who loaded up at the trade deadline, have arguably the best roster in junior hockey (on paper).

Seattle will join representatives from the QMJHL, OHL and the host Kamloops Blazers at the 2023 Memorial Cup. The Thunderbirds' last trip to the Memorial Cup came in 2017 where they went 0-3 - which included a 7-0 loss to the Sea Dogs.

Seattle's roster includes forward Dylan Guenther and defenseman Luke Prokop who were members of last year's Edmonton Oil Kings squad that played in the 2022 Memorial Cup in Saint John. Guenther did not play in the tournament due to an injury.

Notebook: Foreurs earn crucial point

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Val-d'Or Foreurs picked up a very important point in an absurd 9-8 shootout loss to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Tuesday night.

The Foreurs scored three times in the third period to send the match into overtime before losing a nine-round shootout.

The shootout loss pushed the Foreurs into a tie for 16th overall in the QMJHL standings. The top 16 teams qualify for the post-season.

The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and Saint John Sea Dogs both have two games remaining while Val-d'Or has just one. The Armada will play Gatineau twice; the Sea Dogs will take on Charlottetown and Bathurst; and the Foreurs play Rouyn-Noranda again.

The Sea Dogs are back in action on Friday, playing their final road game of the regular season in Charlottetown. The team closes out the 2022-23 campaign on Saturday, hosting the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 4 p.m.

It's worth noting as well that the first tie-breaker is total wins excluding shootout wins. Val-d'Or currently has 23 while Saint John and Blainville-Boisbriand have 22.

BURBIDGE GETTING NOTICED

You have to think Sea Dogs forward Cole Burbidge has started to generate some attention from NHL scouts.

The 17-year-old, in his first QMJHL season, has produced 19 goals and 30 assists in 66 games. He sits fourth in rookie scoring.

"The timing should work out for Burbidge to be at the peak of his game by the time it all comes together," writes Steven Ellis in Daily Faceoff. "I think Burbidge, at best, is a late-round selection, and while I don’t think his ceiling is that high, I think there’s enough raw talent for him to be a nice little pickup."

Burbidge's 49 points is currently the sixth most by a rookie in team history. He could match or surpass Tomas Jurco (51 points) and Felix Schutz (52 points) this weekend. Chris DiDomenico's 75 points in 2006-07 remains the best offensive rookie campaign in team history.

Notebook: Bishop backs up Leafs

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Former Sea Dogs goaltender Alex Bishop was the Toronto Maple Leafs backup goaltender on Saturday night against Thomas Chabot and the Ottawa Senators.

The Leafs were forced to sign Bishop, currently a member of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, due to Petr Mrazek's injury and salary cup issues.

What a thrill for this guy. 👏@UofT's very own Alex Bishop suits up for the @MapleLeafs as an emergency back-up goalie tonight. #NHLonSN pic.twitter.com/BGwauZiDop

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 16, 2021

Alex Bishop woke up on Saturday as a university student with two mid-terms next week.

He went to sleep as an NHLer...with two mid-terms next week.

Inside Alex Bishop's Unprecedented Night, for @SInow/@TheHockeyNews https://t.co/XHp7WgWrta

— Mike Stephens (@mikeystephens81) October 17, 2021

The Leafs won the game 3-1 with Jack Campbell playing the full 60 minutes in net.

Bishop spent parts of three seasons with the Sea Dogs between the 2014-15 and 2016-17 seasons. He also played with the Quebec Remparts and Val-d'Or Foreurs in the QMJHL - and later the MHL's Summerside Western Capitals.

The 24-year-old is in his fourth season with the Varsity Blues.

Notebook: Eagles coming to town

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - For the first time in nearly a year, the Saint John Sea Dogs and Cape Breton Eagles will square off.

The Eagles were the last Nova Scotia club the Sea Dogs faced last season, falling in a wild 8-6 contest on Nov. 18, 2020 at Centre 200. That game ended up being Saint John's last until the restart in March.

The last time the Eagles were in Saint John was on Halloween of 2020.

The Eagles will have a couple of familiar faces in their lineup when they take on the Sea Dogs on Friday and Saturday at TD Station. Former Sea Dog Nicholas Girouard leads the team in scoring with five goals and three assists while Dawson Stairs has a goal and three helpers.

BASKETBALL IS BACK

Basketball is returning to TD Station.

The Eastern Canadian Basketball League announced this week that Saint John is officially the second franchise in the new Maritimes-based hoops circuit. The team will be called the Saint John Union.

Proud to officially announce that the Saint John Union will officially be the second franchise to join the @ecbl_ca!

We are honored to be a part of this amazing community and look forward to calling the TD Station our home for the upcoming inaugural season!#unionstrong 💪🏽💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/qriBe13tik

— SaintJohnUnion (@SaintJohnUnion) October 13, 2021

Truro was announced as the league's first franchise. The league expects to have four to six teams when it tips off next March, reports the Telegraph-Journal (paywall).

The Saint John Riptide, formerly the Mill Rats, of the National Basketball League of Canada were the last professional basketball team to call Saint John home. They took a one-year absence from the league in 2019 but never returned.

DOGS IN THE SHOW

Nine former Sea Dogs started the 2021-22 season in the NHL. According to the CHL, that's the most of any QMJHL team.

They are: Mike Hoffman (Montreal Canadiens), Nathan Beaulieu (Winnipeg Jets), Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers), Charlie Coyle (Boston Bruins), Jakub Zboril (Boston Bruins), Matthew Highmore (Vancouver Canucks), Julien Gauthier (New York Rangers), Thomas Chabot (Ottawa Senators), and Mathieu Joseph (Tampa Bay Lightning).

Unsurprisingly, the London Knights led all CHL clubs with 32 players on opening night NHL rosters.