Notebook: QMJHL Cup concludes

Vincent Ethier/QMJHL

Team Daigle won the QMJHL Cup last weekend.

The tournament, which features the top prospects for the upcoming QMJHL Entry Draft split into four teams, came to a close on April 26 and saw Team Daigle defeat Team Savage 3-2.

Team Daigle had a fairly loaded roster, featuring top prospects like James Scantlebury, Benjamin Veitch and Malik L'Italien.

Veitch and Emrick Nolette-Robidoux finished in a tie for the team scoring lead with four goals and three assists in four games.

Scantlebury, considered to be one of the top prospects in this year's draft, posted three goals and three assists.

Alexis Joseph, who played with Team Talbot, registered three goals and four assists, finishing in a tie for third in tournament scoring.

The QMJHL Entry Draft takes place June 6-7 in Quebec City. The Saint John Sea Dogs own the first overall pick.

SCANTLEBURY NEWS

Even after the announcement that he has signed a USHL tender agreement with the Chicago Steel, there appears to still be hope that James Scantlebury will choose the QMJHL route.

Hadi Kalakeche of Elie Prospects shared the below earlier this week.

Being told James Scantlebury tendering with the Chicago Steel is an insurance policy, in case the QMJHL Draft sees him go to a team his side doesn’t see benefiting his development.

Still being considered high in the draft, and very much interested in going the QMJHL route.

— Hadi Kalakeche (@HadiK_Scouting) April 30, 2025

We'll see how this plays out. In recent years, some players in this situation have continued down the USHL route while others opted for the QMJHL.

Notebook: Sea Dogs release new video series

The Saint John Sea Dogs have released a new behind-the-scenes video series.

The Sea Dogs released the debut episode of "Closer To The Game presented by TD" on Monday. The episode goes behind the scenes of Saint John's regular season opener in September.

Last year, the Sea Dogs released a four-part series called "Rising Tide."

MORIN MENTION

Sea Dogs forward Zachary Morin is starting to get more NHL Draft attention.

Morin was ranked 29th in Craig Button's latest 2025 NHL Draft rankings over at TSN. Button has an intriguing list with Brampton Steelheads forward Porter Martone ranked first ahead of American James Hagens.

Morin has been averaging nearly a point-per-game since leaving the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms for the Sea Dogs. In 18 QMJHL games, the 17-year-old has four goals and 12 assists.

THROWBACK NIGHT

The Sea Dogs will be holding a Throwback Night on Friday when they host the Gatineau Olympiques. The team will be sporting the same jersey design as the one they wore for their first four seasons in the city.

Notebook: Sea Dogs opening new shop

SAINT JOHN - A new retail shop is in the works for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

It was announced Friday that the team will soon be opening a Sea Dogs Styles location at the new waterfront Area 506 Container Village.

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The area will be home to Bash on the Bay events during the 2022 Memorial Cup.

The Sea Dogs are looking to hire a retail sales representative to work at the location.

NOMINATED

Three Sea Dogs were nominated for league awards this week.

Team captain Vincent Sevigny was nominated for the QMJHL's best defensive defenseman award. Charlottetown's Noah Laaouan won the award.

Toronto Maple Leafs prospect William Villeneuve was nominated for the league's top defenseman award. Charlottetown's Lukas Cormier took home the honour.

Lastly, forward Nicholas Blagden was nominated for the QMJHL's Humanitarian of the Year award for his involvement in raising awareness around mental health issues. Charlottetown's Brett Budgell won the award.

MORE ON MACDOUGALL

A few more notes on the Gardiner MacDougall hire:

• MacDougall and team president and general manager Trevor Georgie were on CBC Radio's Information Morning Thursday.
• The UNB Reds have commented on MacDougall joining the Sea Dogs temporarily. "The Reds and the University of New Brunswick wish Coach MacDougall, the Sea Dogs and Sea Dogs’ fans all the best during the upcoming Canadian Hockey League championship tournament," reads the Reds website. Associate coach Rob Hennigar will run the Reds in MacDougall's absence.
• Bill Hunt has a column on the MacDougall news in the Daily Gleaner (paywall) and asks a few critical questions on the unexpected hiring.
• In the Sea Dogs' Tuesday press release that made the MacDougall hiring official, Georgie said that the team "identified a small group of winning coaches with experience having won tournaments. There are no active coaches in Canada that have prepared teams for and won more tournaments than Gardiner." On the Monday edition of Sportsnet's 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman said that he "heard they took some big swings at some other coaches." Jeff Marek added that "there were some names out there."

Panthers Close To Picking New Coach

And then there were five.

George Richards of the Miami Herald tweeted today that the Florida Panthers have reduced their list of coaching candidates to five. Richards adds that an “official announcement should be (made) no later than Monday.”

The Sun Sentinel reported on Tuesday that the Panthers were considering six people for their head coaching position: Dan Bylsma, Marc Crawford, Tom Renney, Bill Peters, Ron Wilson and Gerard Gallant.

While it may seem like Dan Bylsma, the recently fired head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, has a clear advantage here, Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun tweets that that is not the case.

Gerard Gallant not necessarily Dan Bylsma is being favoured by sources as next coach of the Florida Panthers. Will be announced next week
— steve simmons (@simmonssteve) June 13, 2014

Gallant, who coached the Sea Dogs during their glory days from 2009 to 2012, has been an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens for the past two seasons.

In other news…

• Big time sale at Sea Dogs Styles on Saturday. T-shirts, hoodies, and hats are all 40% off while season ticket holders receive an additional 10% off. The store, located in the Harbour Station lobby, is open from 9am to 1pm.
• Toronto Star writer Rick Westhead tweets that we can all “expect Rogers to turn up marketing power on Canadian major-jr hockey. CHL just registered ‘May Mania’ as a trademark, a la March Madness.”
• The Maritime Junior ‘A’ Hockey League Entry Draft takes place on Saturday in Summerside. The expansion St. Stephen County Aces hold the first overall pick. A few Sea Dogs prospects should be selected in the draft.
• The 2014-15 AUS men's hockey schedule was released this week. The CIS University Cup will be played at the Halifax Metro Centre in 2015 and 2016.

Come Feel Appreciated Tomorrow

SAINT JOHN – Tomorrow night, the Saint John Sea Dogs will play their final home game of the regular season. The Sea Dogs will be taking on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 7:30pm.

Tomorrow’s game is also Fan Appreciation Day where fans can come and fell appreciated. Sea Dogs Styles will be having a big sale (pictured above). It’s looking like Friday’s game could bring in the biggest crowd of the season as there were less than 1,000 tickets remaining as of yesterday.

Along with that stuff, the Sea Dogs will be wearing their black third jerseys and will hold a pre-game ceremony to honour the team’s trio of 20-year old players.

After the jump, the list of prizes that will be given away.

Sea Dogs Notebook

IPHONE

Sea Dogs Styles now has cases for the iPhone 4/4S. There are two different designs to choose from as you can see above.

UP NEXT

The Sea Dogs are back in action tomorrow night at 7pm at Harbour Station against the last-place Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

Cape Breton has a 12-39-3-5 record and will likely miss the playoffs this year. The Eagles are 2-3-0-1 against the Sea Dogs this season.

Upper-bowl tickets for tomorrow’s game are just $8.00. In support of P.R.O. Kids, donations of Canadian Tire money will be collected at the front doors of Wednesday’s game as well.

MOOSE

Stephen MacAulay and the Halifax Mooseheads clinched first overall in the QMJHL over the weekend, giving them home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

For MacAulay, it’s his fourth straight regular season title. If that has been done before, there can’t be many players who have done it.

Since joining the Mooseheads, MacAulay has 11 goals and 11 assists in 20 games.

Use Your Gift Card

Passing this info along. If you don’t use your season ticket holder gift card by January 31, then you will not be able use your season ticket holder gift card.

Season Ticket Gift Card

This is a reminder to Season Ticket Holders that your $10 Gift Cards to Sea Dog Styles expire on January 31st, 2013. (This applies to the first 2000 Season Ticket Holders that received the $10 gift cards).  Make sure to use your gift card at Sea Dog Styles before the end of this month or at the game on Saturday. Season Ticket Holders also receive 10% off at Sea Dog Styles.

Store Hours
Monday-Friday: Sea Dogs Staff can open the store from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Saturday: 12 Noon - 4 p.m. (Hockey Season Only)
Game days - Two hours prior to start of the game

For more information call 506-632-9269 or email store@saintjohnseadogs.com.

You can see all the products available at Sea Dogs Styles HERE.

The Sea Dogs host the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Saturday night at Harbour Station.

Sea Dogs Notebook

AUGER

After getting 62% of votes on a poll posted on the Sea Dogs Facebook page, goaltender Sebastien Auger will be the next player to get his own jersey t-shirt.

According to the Sea Dogs Styles website, “T-Shirts will be available for pick up at the Sea Dogs home game on February 7, but you can pre-order yours online today.”

T-shirts will be made in both youth and adult sizes.

HUBERDEAU

After getting his NHL career off to a hot start, Jonathan Huberdeau and the Florida Panthers have gone cold the past couple games. Huberdeau was a combined -1 and recorded two shots in loses to the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens. He had just under 16 minutes of ice time in each game.

“He’s pretty good kid,” Alex Kovalev told The Canadian Press about his linemate. “He’s a good playmaker.

“But there’s still a long way for him to go to learn to play at this level and be consistent. We had a good first game and [Monday] night we didn’t show up. That could be from having it too easy the first game and then moving up to a harder game. But our line was completely off.”

The Panthers take on the Senators Thursday night.

CALDER

And speaking of Huberdeau, he is one of the players mentioned as a Calder Trophy candidate by Hockey’s Future. Former Sea Dogs defenseman Simon Despres, playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins, is also discussed in the article.

OKE

After missing over a month of action due to an injury, former Sea Dogs forward Scott Oke returned to the Rimouski Oceanic lineup on January 18. He recorded an assist in his return.

On January 20, Oke netted a hat trick against Acadie-Bathurst Titan. He now has 21 goals and 28 assists in 36 games this season.

Oke, Kevin Gagne, and the Oceanic sit second overall in the league with a 31-11-1-4 record.

LEBLANC

Sea Dogs defenseman Olivier LeBlanc caught the eye of Future Considerations during the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

“Leblanc was a strong skating, puck moving blue liner who finished the tournament third in team scoring for a plucky Quebec squad,” writes Dan Stewart. “His poise, energy and ability to handle the puck were impressive traits as he liked the puck on his stick and to start the offensive rush. His shot was dangerous as was his ability to snake through traffic.”

Also noted in the article is Cape Breton’s Clark Bishop. LeBlanc and Bishop dropped the gloves last night in Sydney. Via HockeyFights.com:

Sea Dogs Notebook

STORE

Sea Dogs Styles in the lobby of Harbour Station got bigger over the summer. The glass trophy case has been removed and the store has been expanded, providing some much needed space for merchandise. They have a lot of new stuff which can be found on the store’s website.

PRE-SEASON

The Sea Dogs announced yesterday that seats for tonight’s pre-season game at the Quispamsis qplex are sold out. A limited number of standing room tickets have been made available.

Saint John will play their first match of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League pre-season against the PEI Rocket. Game time is 7:30pm.

It is the first part of a home-and-home series between the Sea Dogs and Rocket. The two teams meet again on Saturday afternoon in Pownal, PEI.

SN will be live blogging/tweeting both games this weekend.

NEVIN

According to the Telegraph-Journal, former Moncton Wildcats head scout Peter Nevin has joined the Sea Dogs scouting staff. He will be Saint John’s new US scout with Trevor Hanson leaving the team to join the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes.

Nevin and the Wildcats parted ways over the summer.

JURCO

Over at NHL.com, Dan Rosen calls Tomas Jurco the Detroit Red Wings’ fifth best prospect.

"He was a very big part of Saint John's championship runs," Red Wings vice president and assistant general manager Jim Nill said. "He has a very high skill level. This will be his first year pro, so he'll be making that jump from junior to the American League and go from there."

Brendan Smith was named Detroit’s best prospect.

CANCELED

The big news in hockey yesterday saw the Red Wings cancel their annual Traverse City rookie tournament because of the looming NHL lockout. According to the Wings website, “the tournament was to begin on Sept. 15, the same day that the current collective bargaining agreement expires.”

Buffalo, Carolina, Columbus, Minnesota, Dallas, New York Rangers, and St. Louis were expected to join Detroit at this year’s tournament so there would have been plenty of Sea Dogs content.

In other lockout news, at Buzzing The Net yesterday, Neate Sager examined what will happen with the CHL-NHL agreement being expired.

Sea Dogs Notebook

PREVIEW

The QMJHL website has a video featuring RJ Broadhead and Sam Cosentino previewing tonight’s Saint John Sea Dogs – Edmonton Oil Kings game. Game time is 8pm on Sportsnet.

News 88.9 also has a brief preview on their website. In it, Stanislav Galiev is quoted as saying, "we're going to play our best game. Everyone is hungry for a win so it's going to be a good game for us.”

SEED

Buzzing The Net has an article on Sea Dogs defenseman Jason Seed. What do the Dogs need to do tonight against Edmonton?

"We need to play our game in our next contest against the Edmonton Oil Kings [on Monday],” he said. “We were not very good against London, took some costly penalties and did not compete hard enough. We will be better. "

Seed played in all 17 of Saint John’s playoff games, recording a goal and three assists.

HUBERDEAU

Open Ice Hockey has an article on Sea Dogs captain Jonathan Huberdeau. He admits he must be more disciplined than on Saturday when he collected six minutes in penalties.

“You don’t want to take penalties like that one,” he said about his third period roughing penalties. “I have to be more disciplined and play my game more. Shy away a bit from the rough stuff.”

Huberdeau had 18 penalty minutes in 15 playoff games and 50 in 37 regular season contests.

COYLE

Prince Charles was in Saint John today while Sir Charles – the nickname many Saint John fans have given Charlie Coyle on Twitter – gets ready for another Memorial Cup game. He talked about the nickname with Sunaya Sapurji of Yahoo! Sports.

"I think this is the first one, Sir Charles," said Coyle about the nickname. "I guess we'll stick with that one... some of the guys call me Chuck here, so that's a little easier to get used to, but that's my dad's name. People call my dad Chuck, so that was weird to me at first."

Coyle also talks about his decision to leave Boston University and join the Sea Dogs.

STYLES

Sea Dogs Styles finally has an online store. They are even selling 2012 President’s Cup championship stuff on it. Check the store out here.

Championship Merchandise Available Today

According to the Sea Dogs Facebook page, Sea Dogs Styles will be open today from 10am – 4pm so fans can purchase President’s Cup Championship merchandise.

Available will be:

- Back-to-Back President’s Cup Championship T-shirts

- 16”x12” Team Championship Posters of your Sea Dogs with the President’s Cup.

- Also, there is a Limited Supply of Championship Hats

There is a Cirque de Soleil show at 3:30pm today so parking in the afternoon at HS could be a bit ugly. 

Memorial Cup Blowout Sale Today

Sea Dogs Styles is having some big time sale today and is giving fans a chance to get some autographs. From the Sea Dogs website.

Players will be on hand to sign books and other memorabilia at the Sea Dog Styles store in Harbour Station Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. as the store hosts a one-day Memorial Cup Merchandise Blowout. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, the store will be offering two special deals on Memorial Cup souvenirs. 

Fans purchasing a copy of the book Hockey Heaven: A Look Inside the Saint John Sea Dogs, 2011 Memorial Cup champions, will receive a free upper-bowl ticket to Sunday’s game against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Fans can also receive a free ticket by purchasing the book as part of a package, along with a Memorial Cup Champions T-shirt and puck. A $100 value, this package will be available Saturday for just $77.11 (plus tax) in recognition of the team’s 77-11 overall record last season. The book alone retails for $58 in recognition of the team tying the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League record with 58 wins. 

A variety of players from the defending Memorial Cup champions will be available to sign items purchased Saturday, and fans are welcome to bring other previously purchased merchandise as well.

Saint John hosts the Armada tomorrow afternoon at Harbour Station in their only game of the weekend.  The Dogs will be looking to win a fifth straight contest. 

Sea Dogs Notebook

LAST CHANCE

Your last chance to purchase Sea Dogs items in time for Christmas is Saturday. Sea Dogs Styles is open from 10pm – 1pm. Items for sale include a wide variety of hats, shirts, jumbo hockey cards and Memorial Cup championship stuff.

THE BOOK

One of the items that can be purchased at Sea Dogs Styles is the team’s commemorative Memorial Cup championship book, “Hockey Heaven.” The Fredericton Daily Gleaner had an article about the book on Friday.

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, as the old cliche suggests, there are thousands of them here: behind the scenes stuff, from training camp, through a record tying 58 win regular season, through the playoffs, the Memorial Cup and the downtown parade that saluted Saint John's champions, the first team from Atlantic Canada to win the Memorial Cup,” writes the Gleaner’s Bill Hunt.

It is an unreal book. We highly recommend checking it out.

FREE TICKETS

If you are looking to win two free Sea Dogs tickets to a game of your choice, here’s how.

1. Go to Barbbaarbbarb.com.

2. Follow the instructions near the bottom of the page.

There is also a pretty solid interview with Nathan Beaulieu on the site.

FIGHT OF THE YEAR

Brett Gallant’s fight against Joel Rechlicz earlier this year in the American Hockey League has been named the hockey fight of the year by Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog.

“This AHL fight between Gallant, a winger for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and Rechlicz of the Hershey Bears tops the list for two reasons: First, because the undisputed fight of the 2010-11 season between John Erskine and Eric Boulton occurred in 2010; and second, because this fight was a [expletive] marathon,” writes Greg Wyshynski. “The amount of quality punches thrown and the rally by Gallant to extend the fight were fantastic.”

The former Sea Dogs enforcer has a goal and an assist in 17 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers this season.

Sea Dogs Notebook

KELLY TALKS TRADE PERIOD

Sea Dogs director of hockey operations and associate coach Mike Kelly spoke to the Times & Transcript earlier this week aboutthe trade period.

"We think we have a good team and our best players are our older players," said Kelly. "Obviously, when you're in that position you're going to try to improve your team if you can and we'll look to do that.

"We go into the trade period with the attitude that yes we want to improve our team, but we're not going to pay over the top. What we believe is fair is what we'll stick with and if we're not able to get trades done then we'll move on."

Kelly wouldn’t say if he was after a specific player.

"We've talked to a lot of teams about a lot of players," said Kelly. "I don't get into specifics. I don't think it's fair to the kids."

It’s been a fairly quiet trade period so far. The deadline is January 7.

STORE HOURS

Christmas is almost here – and Sea Dogs Styles has extended store hours. From the Sea Dogs:

The store will be open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Dec. 23. The last day for Sea Dog Styles Christmas shopping will be on Dec. 24, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Fans looking to browse merchandise online can do so via the store’s new and improved web page at http://saintjohnseadogs.com/page/merch. For orders outside normal hours, fans can email info@saintjohnseadogs.com

I was down there yesterday. The Sea Dogs’ Memorial Cup commemorative book, ‘Hockey Heaven,’ is unreal. They also have some new hat styles and the jumbo hockey cards of each player have returned.

Also, Cleve’s Source for Sports has an unlimited amount of Memorial Cup championship hats (pictured).

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Speaking of Christmas, Telegraph-Journal columnist Peter McGuire had his annual gift giving piece in Tuesday’s paper. This year’s edition features plenty of gifts related to the 2012 Memorial Cup host site selection.

Scott McCain - a second Memorial Cup championship. Let's have former prime minister Jean Chretien - an ambassador for Shawinigan - present the hardware, offering congratulations to McCain, whose reply might be, 'Thanks. You may have won the battle, but we won the war.' 

The 2012 Memorial Cup Selection Committee - not a darn thing.

Some solid gifts right there.

SEA DOGS STYLES OPEN SATURDAY

SAINT JOHN – If you haven’t picked up your Saint John Sea Dogs championship stuff yet, Sea Dogs Styles will be open 10:00 am to 4:00 pm this Saturday.

According to the Sea Dogs website, “limited-edition T-shirts and hats commemorating the President’s Cup and Memorial Cup championships are available, in addition to the great selection of Sea Dogs merchandise already on hand. These collector’s items make great gifts for Father’s Day.”

Also, there are a limited number of the very nice Sea Dogs Memorial Cup media guides available for purchase.

SEA DOGS STYLES HOLIDAY HOURS

Sea Dogs Styles, the official team store of the Saint John Sea Dogs, will have extended hours over the holiday shopping period.

A complete listing of the store’s expanded Holiday hours can be found below:

Monday, December 13 – Friday, December 17: 10am – 5pm
Saturday, December 18: 10am – 5pm
Monday, December 20 – Thursday, December 23: 10am – 5pm
Friday, December 24: 10am – 2pm

From the Sea Dogs website:

With team apparel, merchandise, souvenirs, and a wide variety of branded paraphernalia available for purchase, you’ll definitely be able to find a gift for the major junior hockey fan in your life.

They’ve had some pretty cool new stuff in there this year.