Notebook: Burbidge gets Sens camp invite

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Saint John Sea Dogs forward Cole Burbidge has received an invite to Ottawa Senators development camp.

The 17-year-old was not selected during this week's NHL Draft. He was ranked 110th amongst North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting's final rankings, making him a candidate for a late round pick.

Off to the Nation's Capital 🔜

Sea Dogs forward Cole Burbidge has been invited to the Ottawa Senators Development Camp!#CityOfChampions | @Senators pic.twitter.com/pEXZBnmjSq

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) June 30, 2023

Burbidge was not ranked at all in the mid-season rankings, proving just how much his play improved as his first season in the QMJHL progressed. The Falmouth, NS native finished the regular season with 19 goals and 50 points in 68 games.

Ottawa's development camp begins Sunday and ends on Thursday, July 6. 36 players will be attending.

HALL OF FAME RECAP

A quick video recap of last Friday's Sea Dogs Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Gerard Gallant and Mike Kelly.

Notebook: Development camp underway

QUISPAMSIS, NB - The Saint John Sea Dogs got the on-ice portion of their 2023 summer development camp underway on Saturday at the qplex.

Goaltenders, defensemen and forwards took to the ice in separate sessions in the morning. Later in the day, the three groups combined to take part in a couple hours of practices.

The sessions allowed Sea Dogs management and fans to see some of the team's top prospects on the ice together for the first time, including 2023 second-round picks Egan Beveridge, Olivier Duhamel and Benjamin Amyot. The full roster of invitees can be found here.

Sea Dogs 2nd round American draft selection Daniel Daley, from Franklin HS is also in attendance and is looking equally as impressive.

Love this drill, by the way. pic.twitter.com/DSxSI1amxb

— Brayden Olafson (@olaf1393) June 24, 2023

The group attended the Sea Dogs Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday night. Development camp continues on Sunday with a 9 a.m. practice and a 10:30 a.m. 3-on-3 series at the qplex.

This is the first time the Sea Dogs have held a development camp since 2019 due to the pandemic.

COYLE SPEAKS

One video that didn't make it into Friday night's Sea Dogs Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Gerard Gallant and Mike Kelly was this message from Charlie Coyle.

Messages from Sea Dogs alumni are starting to come in ahead of tonight's Sea Dogs Hall of Fame induction ceremony!@NHLBruins | @CharlieCoyle_3 pic.twitter.com/oQ7en6hiCs

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) June 23, 2023

Coyle, now a member of the Boston Bruins, joined the Sea Dogs for the second half of the 2011-12 season and was named the QMJHL's playoff MVP.

Gallant, Kelly inducted into Sea Dogs Hall of Fame

SAINT JOHN - Gerard Gallant and Mike Kelly were inducted into the Saint John Sea Dogs Hall of Fame on Friday night at the Imperial Theatre.

The two former Sea Dogs coaches led the team to the 2011 Memorial Cup championship, back-to-back QMJHL titles and three consecutive regular season crowns between 2009 and 2012. Gallant was twice named CHL coach of the year during his tenure while Kelly earned a QMJHL general manager of the year honour.

The two PEI-born coaches have been joined at the hip since leaving Saint John, working NHL benches together in Vegas, Florida and New York. The two also teamed up to help Canada win gold at the world championship.

The two join Jonathan Huberdeau (2018) and Mike Thomas (2019) as inductees into the Sea Dogs Hall of Fame. Thomas Chabot will be inducted next year.

While Gallant and Kelly headlined the event, the night featured a number of other speeches and panels. Hosted by Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino, the first panel included 2011 Memorial Cup champions: Thomas, Michael Kirkpatrick, Zack Phillips and Nathan Beaulieu.

Up now: 2022 Memorial Cup champions Gardiner MacDougall, Cam MacDonald, Thomas Couture and Riley Bezeau. pic.twitter.com/1ibihouxBP

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) June 23, 2023

The second panel included 2022 Memorial Cup champions: Gardiner MacDougall, Cam MacDonald, Thomas Couture and Riley Bezeau. Brady Burns was also honoured by Kirkpatrick for becoming Saint John's new franchise points leader.

Team president Trevor Georgie and owner Scott McCain also spoke. One of the more powerful speeches at the event came from former Sea Dogs assistant coach Greg Leland, who spoke about his time working with Gallant and Kelly in Saint John.

The night ended with a panel that featured McCain, Gallant and Kelly.

Along with former players — which included a large group from the 2022 championship team — Saint John's 2023 draft class and development camp invitees were also in attendance. The group begins summer development camp on Saturday in Quispamsis.

Notebook: Memorial Cup began a year ago

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Saint John was a little bit livelier at this time a year ago.

On June 20, 2022, the first game of the Memorial Cup was played at TD Station with the Saint John Sea Dogs edging the Hamilton Bulldogs 5-3. It was the start of a tremendously entertaining tournament that ended with those two teams facing off again — and with Saint John winning 6-3 the second time around.

It was a memorable couple weeks in Saint John that really kicked off on June 18 with the grand opening of the ball hockey pad and had its storybook ending on June 30 with a championship parade through the uptown.

MORE GUESTS

Some of the guests who were in attendance for last year's Memorial Cup will be in town again this week for the Sea Dogs Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The team tweeted that former Sea Dogs Michael Kirkpatrick, Jeremie Poirier, Zack Phillips and Nathan Beaulieu will all be in attendance on Friday at the Imperial Theatre.

Don't miss the 2023 Sea Dogs Hall of Fame induction ceremony this Friday night!

A number of Sea Dogs alumni will be in attendance including Michael Kirkpatrick, Jeremie Poirier, Zack Phillips, and Nathan Beaulieu.

📍@ImperialTheatre
📅 Friday, June 23rd
⏰ 7:00pm#SeaDogsHOF pic.twitter.com/HHl7tUkZxq

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) June 19, 2023

Former Sea Dogs coaches Gerard Gallant and Mike Kelly, who led the team to the 2011 Memorial Cup championship, will both be inducted, joining Jonathan Huberdeau and Mike Thomas.

Gallant, Kelly to be inducted into Sea Dogs Hall of Fame next Friday

Gerard Gallant and Mike Kelly will be inducted into the Saint John Sea Dogs Hall of Fame next Friday.

The event is scheduled to take place on June 23 at 7 p.m. at the Imperial Theatre.

From the team's news release:

This prestigious event celebrates the outstanding contributions of remarkable players, coaches, and individuals who have left an indelible mark on our organization. They will join the esteemed ranks of Jonathan Huberdeau (2018) and Mike Thomas (2019), with Thomas Chabot to be honored in the future. 

Hosted by Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino, the evening promises to be unforgettable, with the presence of Sea Dogs alumni and special guests.

Gallant and Kelly helped guide the Sea Dogs to back-to-back QMJHL titles in 2011 and 2012 and the 2011 Memorial Cup championship. The duo went on to coach together at the NHL level with the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights and most recently the New York Rangers.

Ticket info is below.

Tickets are available for $20+tax. However, if you are a season ticket member and have already renewed for the 2023-2024 season, your ticket is free (one ticket per season seat).

Secure your spot by emailing adam.clark@sjseadogs.com or by visiting the Sea Dogs office. https://t.co/NXmrddUkdk

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) June 15, 2023

The Sea Dogs Hall of Fame, which began in 2018 with Huberdeau's induction, is located in the pedway that connects to TD Station to uptown.

Notebook: Chabot to be inducted into Sea Dogs Hall of Fame

It was announced this past week that defenseman Thomas Chabot will be inducted into the Sea Dogs Hall of Fame in June.

“It’s an honour for me because Saint John is where it all started,” said the Ottawa Senators d-man. “I loved every minute that I spent playing and living there, I met great people along the way and created friendships that will last a lifetime.”

The Sea Dogs surprised Chabot with the news during a stop at the Bell Centre this week.

Today we got to be a part of something special as the @SJSeaDogs surprised @ThomasChabot1 with his induction into the Sea Dogs Hall of Fame! Thomas will be inducted during the Sea Dogs Hall of Fame weekend June 23-25.

Congrats, Chabby! 👏#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/TIQfewQbix

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 31, 2023

Brady Tkachuk came out for his media availability here in Montreal wearing a Thomas Chabot QMJHL Sea Dogs jersey. Just repping a buddy. pic.twitter.com/UlQoZddokb

— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) January 31, 2023

Chabot, along with former Sea Dogs coaches Gerard Gallant and Mike Kelly, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame June 23-25.

Jonathan Huberdeau and Mike Thomas have previously been inducted. According to a news release, "the 2024 Sea Dogs Hall of Fame class will be announced at this year’s ceremony."

So... what now?

Just like that, the 2019-20 Canadian Hockey League season is over.

The CHL announced in a press release Monday night that playoffs and the Memorial Cup would not be held this season due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. While it's hard to think about hockey right now, let's try and do just that. We likely could all use a distraction for a bit.

So what now for the Saint John Sea Dogs? This is certainly an odd end to the season for the team, but chances are the season was soon coming to an end anyways. As previously mentioned, the Sea Dogs are one of the fortunate teams who are not greatly impacted by what's currently going on.

So as the off-season begins, here are some items to keep an eye on.

QMJHL Draft Lottery

To be held on a yet-to-be-determined date, the Sea Dogs, via the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, have the fourth best odds of winning the right to select first overall in this year's QMJHL Entry Draft.

Prise 2.

Voici les détails de la loterie du prochain repêchage.

Gatineau 9 chances sur 21 (42,9%)
Gatineau 6 sur 21 (28,6%)
Gatineau 3 sur 21 (14,3%)
Saint-Jean 2 sur 21 (9,5%)
Québec 1 sur 21 (4,8%)

Les @LesOlympiques auront donc 86% des chances de repêcher 1er. #tvasports

— Mikaël Lalancette (@MLalancetteTVA) March 17, 2020

QMJHL Entry Draft

Originally scheduled for June 6 in Sherbrooke, the draft will take place OHL style and be held online this year. The league hasn't really come out and confirmed that the date will stay the same, but let's assume (and hope) for now that it will. Saint John currently has two picks in the first round: the Drakkar's lottery pick and Drummondville's 12th overall pick.

Trades

The Sea Dogs have at least one trade lined up to complete the Jeffrey Durocher/Nicolas Guay deal made in December. We'll see what happens beyond that. Saint John is in an interesting position because they're nearing their contender window but still have quite a few future draft picks that they could move to help out their current core.

Huberdeau inducted into Sea Dogs Hall of Fame

SAINT JOHN - Jonathan Huberdeau became the first inductee into the Saint John Sea Dogs Hall of Fame on Saturday at the Trade and Convention Centre.

The induction capped off a two-and-a-half hour ceremony that featured several speeches, hot stoves and a ring ceremony for the 2016-17 Sea Dogs team.

The most notable part of the evening - other than Huberdeau's induction - was probably the fact that Mike Thomas was announced as the second inductee into the Hall. There will presumably be some kind of ceremony for Thomas in the future.

Here are a few other news and notes from the evening:

• According to a Sea Dogs release, 14 former players were in attendance: Jonathan Huberdeau, Mike Thomas, Zack Phillips, Bailey Webster, Thomas Chabot, Bokondji Imama, Simon Bourque, Phil Richer, Alex Leduc, Dave Comeau, Kyle Ward, Mathieu Joseph, Chase Stewart, and Samuel Dove-McFalls.
• Current players and prospects greeted fans as they entered the venue on a red carpet.
• The Sea Dogs held a development camp at the qplex over the weekend, and those players were in attendance. Many speeches made mention of them, and there were moments where the event felt like a recruitment tool.
• The event had a cool feel to it with the 2018 draft class in attendance. It really felt like the franchise's culture of success was being handed off to them.
• The videos created for the evening were excellent. Also played was the QMJHL's 50th anniversary video, which was played at the Draft. If you haven't seen it, you'll probably be fired up enough to run through a wall after watching it.
• Memorial Cup champions Mike Thomas, Zack Phillips and Jonathan Huberdeau were on one stove while the other featured members of the 2016-17 QMJHL championship team: Mathieu Joseph, Kyle Ward and Thomas Chabot. Tara Slone form Hometown Hockey hosted the discussions.
• Chabot, as expected, did not go into great detail when asked about how this past season went for him. His current team, the Ottawa Senators, is on fire.
• One of the better (and perhaps cheesiest) videos of the night came from Mike Kelly and Gerard Gallant, who coached Huberdeau during his Sea Dogs days and again with the Florida Panthers.
• Sea Dogs CEO and majority owner Scott McCain said during his speech that the Sea Dogs will again bid to host the Memorial Cup - but only if the team is ready. The next time the QMJHL will host (following Halifax in 2019) is 2022.
• Former Sea Dogs assistant coach Greg Leland, who was Huberdeau's billet dad, had the longest and most emotional speech of the night.
• A Sea Dogs release stated that over 500 people attended the event.
• There still haven't been many details released about the Hall itself.
• I don't know if this format will be a yearly event, but it was very well done. Very few teams (if any) in the CHL hold events like this.

Huberdeau to be inducted into Sea Dogs Hall of Fame tonight

SAINT JOHN - Florida Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau will become the first player inducted into the Saint John Sea Dogs Hall of Fame tonight.

A ceremony will be held this evening at the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre to induct Huberdeau into the club's Hall. The 24-year-old was selected for induction by an esteemed panel of Sea Dogs stakeholders, according to a team press release.

The Sea Dogs announced last summer the creation of a Hall of Fame. Not many details have been announced about the Hall itself, though.

The 2016-17 President Cup winning Sea Dogs team will also be honoured this evening. Players in attendance will receive their championship rings.

Players expected to be in attendance tonight include Thomas Chabot, Mathieu Joseph, Samuel Dove-McFalls, Simon Bourque, Bailey Webster, Cole Reginato, Kyle Ward, David Comeau, Chase Stewart, Mike Thomas, Zack Phillips, Spencer Smallman, Boko Imama and more.

The event will be hosted by Tara Slone of Sportsnet's Hometown Hockey.

Notebook: Top prospects playing like top prospects

MONCTON – Many of the QMJHL's most promising rookies have played up to their potential so far at the 2017 QMJHL Rookie Challenge in Moncton.

On Friday, Xavier Parent (picked fourth overall in the 2017 QMJHL Entry Draft) and Justin Barron (13th overall) teamed up to score in overtime, giving the Halifax Mooseheads a 5-4 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs. Barron had two goals in the game while Parent had an assist. On Saturday, Parent added a goal and two helpers in a Moose win.

Moncton's Jakob Pelletier (third overall) had an assist on Friday while Jaxon Bellamy (16th overall) scored the game-winner in the Wildcats' 5-3 victory over Cape Breton.

Cape Breton's Brooklyn Kalmikov (15th overall) had a goal and an assist on Friday.

NEW ADDITION
The Sea Dogs announced Friday morning that draft pick Samuel Leblanc and free agent Nicholas Cardone had been added to the team’s Rookie Camp roster.

Interestingly, this is Cardone’s second QMJHL Rookie Challenge event, playing in last year’s tournament with the Charlottetown Islanders.

Cardone was an 11th-round pick of Charlottetown in the 2016 QMJHL Entry Draft and a fourth-round pick of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in 2015. He appeared in 16 games with the Sags in 2015-16 and spent last year in the QJAAAHL.

WILLIAMSON TO BADGERS
There haven't been a whole lot of publicly circulated rumours about the Sea Dogs' vacant head coaching position. But one of the rumours that was floating around involved former Niagara IceDogs head coach Marty Williamson.

It seems those rumours can be put to rest as Williamson has been named the interim head coach of the Brock Badgers men's hockey team.

“It’s just as exciting as when I got my first job in the OHL. Coaching is coaching and that part of it I feel confident with, but this is a little bit of a different animal,” said Williamson in a Brock University news release. “It has kind of come full circle. I coached minor hockey helping kids get to the OHL, then in the OHL for 12 years, and now I’ll be coaching guys who are at a different point in their career working on both academics and hockey.”

HALL CALL
Following the Sea Dogs Par 3 Celebrity Challenge on Friday at Rockwood Park Golf Course, it was announced that Jonathan Huberdeau would be the first inductee into the team's new Hall of Fame.

From the release:

The Sea Dogs Hall of Fame is a year-long project that will open in the summer of 2018. It will feature a members’ wing and Sea Dogs memorabilia accumulated since the start of the franchise in 2005. The location will be announced at a later date. 

Huberdeau will be inducted officially at a gala dinner at the 2018 Sea Dogs Par 3 Celebrity Challenge.

BIG TRADE
The Wildcats and Sherbrooke Phoenix made a significant trade on Thursday involving Quispamsis native and former Saint John Vito’s standout Anderson MacDonald.

The Wildcats traded Jeremy Jacques to the Phoenix along with a first round pick in 2018, a first round pick in 2019 and a second round pick in 2019 in exchange for MacDonald and a second round pick in 2019. Sherbrooke will reportedly receive their second-round pick back if Jacques does not report to the club.

MacDonald is projected to be a first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft by many publications. This loads up the Maritimes Division with even more high end draft eligible talent.

Sea Dogs creating a Hall of Fame in 2018

The Saint John Sea Dogs will be honouring some of their past this season.

In a press release issued today, the team announced it will be creating a "Sea Dogs Hall of Fame" in 2018. The first inductee will be announced next month at a charity golf event.

From the release:

Following the Challenge, a dinner will be held at Britt's Rockwood Park where the Sea Dogs Foundation will announce the first inductee in the new "Sea Dogs Hall of Fame" in 2018. A formal induction ceremony and the opening of the Sea Dogs Hall of Fame are scheduled for next year.

No further details on the Hall of Fame have been announced.

The Sea Dogs, despite having played just 12 seasons, have such an impressive history that it makes sense for the team to create something to show it off. The team has a trophy case and columns of fame on the concourse, but that's about it.

You also have to wonder when the Sea Dogs will start retiring jersey numbers to accompany all of the championship banners hanging inside Harbour Station. It's worth noting that no player has worn Alex Grant's No. 20, Mike Thomas' No. 17 or Jonathan Huberdeau's No. 11 since their departures (Grant is the only player in team history to wear No. 20).

Today's Hall of Fame news was part of an announcement about the team hosting its first annual "Sea Dogs Par 3 Celebrity Challenge," which will be held Aug. 18 at Rockwood Park Golf Course. A number of Sea Dogs alumni will be taking part in the event, including NHLers Huberdeau and Nathan Beaulieu.

More information on how to take part in the event, prizes and alumni can be found here.