Wayne Long Returns To Twitter

oh ohhhhhhh #crazyglue pic.twitter.com/k3KLc7wSGp
— Wayne Long (@WayneLongSJ) September 28, 2013

Sea Dogs president Wayne Long has returned to Twitter. He can be followed @WayneLongSJ.

Long made his return to the Twitterverse on Saturday, the first time he had tweeted since July 4^th, 2012.

This is probably the best post in the history of this blog.

Sea Dogs Notebook

CHAMPIONS

Cool picture here from draft week. A member of the Sea Dogs, Shawinigan Cataractes, and Halifax Mooseheads join Gilles Courteau with the Memorial Cup.

CALDER CUP

Tomas Jurco and the Grand Rapids Griffins are up 2-0 in the best-of-seven Calder Cup Final over the Syracuse Crunch.

The Griffins won Game 1, 3-1, and Game 2, 6-4, this past weekend. Both games were played in Syracuse while the next three will be played in Grand Rapids.

Jurco was held pointless in the first game but scored in the second match and recorded five shots. The former Sea Dogs forward now has eight goals and six assists in 20 playoff games.

Only 2 more !!! Being a champ feels great i can tell u that much, lets do it this year too! #ahlfinals #griffs
— Tomas Jurco (@Jurky13) June 10, 2013

The games are being streamed for free on the AHL website.

MIDGLEY

It was announced last week that the Mooseheads coaching staff had resigned with the club.

According to the Moose website, “(General Manager) Cam Russell and Head Coach Dominique Ducharme have agreed to new three year contracts. Smith also announced that Assistant Coaches Jim Midgley and Steve Hartley, along with Goaltending Coach Eric Raymond, have all signed new 2 year contracts with the Club.”

Midgley is a former Sea Dogs assistant coach from the Jacques Beaulieu days.

CHIASSON

The Universite de Moncton is having a really good recruiting year. Last week, it was announced former Sea Dog Danny Chiasson would be joining the men’s hockey team for the 2013-14 season.

Danny Chiasson ( @chiassondanny ) had committed to Université de Moncton's Men's Hockey program. #CapsCommit @aiglesbleus
— Summerside Capitals (@SsideCapitals) June 7, 2013

Chiasson helped the Summerside Western Capitals win a MHL Championship this past season. He played six games with Saint John in 2011-12.

UdeM has also added Pierre Durepos and the Saulnier twins for next season.

Sea Dogs Notebook

MEMORIAL CUP

Every team at the 2013 Memorial Cup sits at 1-1 entering action tonight. This evening, the Halifax Mooseheads battle the London Knights at 9pm and tomorrow the Portland Winterhawks take on the Saskatoon Blades.

All the possible scenarios about who advances to which game and how can be found on the CHL website.

The Mooseheads lost their first game of the tournament on Sunday night, a surprising 5-2 loss to the host Blades. The Moose have not lost much all year and they’ll need to rebound quickly.

MACAULAY

Former Sea Dog Stephen MacAulay is having a solid Memorial Cup so far. He sits fifth in tournament scoring entering tonight's game with two goals and an assist in two games.

Playing in his third straight Memorial Cup, MacAulay has two goals and two assists in 10 career games at the national championship. Despite all the success he has had at the junior level, he currently is not affiliated with a NHL club.

“In my mind I think I deserve a shot, hopefully an entry-level deal but if not, maybe something else,” MacAulay told the Chronicle Herald. “I think I’ve done everything I could do but one last Memorial Cup won’t hurt, especially if I play well and do well personally. I’m thankful for the opportunity.”

THE STATION

Forget to post this the other day so... here it is.

Stefan Fournier says the CUC looks an awful lot like Harbour Station in Saint John, N.B.
— Patrick King (@SNPatrickKing) May 17, 2013

2012-13 Sea Dogs Twitter Rankings

To nobody’s surprise, Jonathan Huberdeau leads the Saint John Sea Dogs Twitter rankings once again.

The Sea Dogs captain and Florida Panthers prospect has over 21,000 followers, giving him a big lead on Ryan Tesink who comes in second.

With the Sea Dogs having plenty of new players this season, there are many with very few followers. When we post this again when the season ends, it won't be surprising if most have over 1,000.

Only four players - Sebastien Auger, Jakub Izacky, Jurij Repe, and Michael Mastrangelo - that made the Sea Dogs roster don't have Twitter accounts (that we know of, anyway).

Here are the 2012-13 pre-season rankings.

Name	Handle	Followers
Jonathan Huberdeau	@JonnyHuby11	21,081
Ryan Tesink	@Sinker19	1,513
Stephen MacAulay	@smacaulay9	1,412
Pierre Durepos	@Durepos23	849
Jason Cameron	@jcameron_14	776
Aidan Kelly	@aidan22kelly	758
Oliver Cooper	@ocooper17	668
Devon Oliver-Dares	@DaresOd	497
Noah Zilbert	@nzilbs	386
MacKenzie Brown	@mackb09	378
Matthew Highmore	@MHighmore15	227
Spencer Smallman	@ssmallman96	225
Stephen Anderson	@Anddyy37	222
Ryan Kelly	@ryan_kelly4	162
Olivier LeBlanc	@3LeBlanc	145
Marcus Cuomo	@mcuomo10	126
David Weckworth	@wecks08	122
Andreas Tsogkas	@atsogkas19	111
Kevin Gagne	@KevinGagne21	102
Benjamin Hade	@Benhade	68
Alex Fournier	@furn31	47
Jakub Izacky	N/A	N/A
Michael Mastrangelo	N/A	N/A
Jurij Repe	N/A	N/A
Sebastien Auger	N/A	N/A

Thanks to Metro Q Files for the idea once again. The Mooseheads Twitter rankings can be found here.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

All A Twitter

The Saint John Sea Dogs got much more popular on Twitter over this past season.

In August, we had a post about which current Sea Dogs were the most popular on Twitter in terms of followers. Now it’s June and many players have seen their follower count double or even triple.

Not surprisingly, team captain Jonathan Huberdeau remained the most popular Sea Dog in the Twitterverse. He’s follower count nearly tripped over the season. He was even named the top Tweeter in Saint John at the annual Salty’s social media awards.

Nine players now have over 1,000 followers compared to five in August. One of those nine players is Charlie Coyle who just joined Twitter a few months ago when he became a Sea Dog.

Here’s an updated look at the rankings. Players are ranked in terms of current followers. Only "regular" players are listed so guys like Dylan McGuigan and Jordan Moore are not. It should be noted that some players are newer to Twitter than others. Also, a few players started new accounts mid-season.

Who Are Twitter's Top Sea Dogs?

In the world of Twitter, who are the most popular members of the Saint John Sea Dogs?

Inspired by Wuest’s post over at Metro Halifax, here is a nifty chart showing how many followers each member of the team has. Note that not every player is currently on the social networking site.

Player	Handle	Followers
Jonathan Huberdeau	@JonnyHuby11	6,265
Nathan Beaulieu	@n8THEggr8	5,126
Tomas Jurco	@Jurky13	2,159
Stanislav Galiev	@Galixon_97	1,852
Zack Phillips	@zackphillips7	1,395
Stephen MacAulay	@smacaulay9	690
Ryan Tesink	@Sinker19	660
Danick Gauthier	@elcreido18	502
Aidan Kelly	@aidankelly93	410
David Kelly	@SeaDogsDK	329
Pierre Durepos	@Durepos23	328
Jason Cameron	@jcameron_14	305
Steven Anthony	@StAnthony16	287
Mathieu Corbeil	@mathieucorbeil	233
Ian Saab	@saaber_4	133
Alexandre Beauregard	@AlexBo125	111
Scott Oke	@Okester15	14

The results aren’t that surprising as most of the NHL drafted players - who have another fan base following them - are near the top.

We left off Mike Thomas, Michael Kirkpatrick and Simon Despres for obvious reasons. You can still follow them on Twitter though, and you can find their info – along with other former Sea Dogs – on our ‘Sea Dogs on Twitter’ page.

If a player or member of the coaching/training staff has been missed, drop us a line in the comments section.

Note – Results are from this afternoon.

QMJHL Twitter All-Star Team

Let’s just start off by saying this: Twitter is the best. It makes keeping up with current events easier than ever, and it especially helps for a junior hockey league like the QMJHL, where there aren’t a ton of media all over the goings-on to keep you updated constantly. Twitter has also found a home with an increasing number of players in the Q-League. This is your QMJHL Twitter All-Star Team:

F – Maximilien Le Sieur (@ShawiNaked), Shawinigan Cataractes

The king has returned. Le Sieur’s feed was maybe the most entertaining in the Q before he and the rest of the Cataractes had to shut it down until the offseason. With their recent elimination, he’s back on the Twitter beat and already bringing it.

F – Viktor Hertzberg (@hertzberg27), Montreal Juniors

The former Screaming Eagles forward is one of the more consistent Tweeters in the league and is pretty good to interact with his followers. Here's hoping a team uses an overager and Euro roster spot on him next year, because he provides a pretty cool look into the life of a junior hockey player.

F – Danick Gauthier (@elcreido18), Saint John Sea Dogs

Remember when Alex Ovechkin first came to the NHL and all his interviews were hilarious because his English was not so good? Yeah. Gauthier is a funny dude to begin with, and a bit of broken English certainly never hurt anyone. He’s one of a number of Sea Dogs to join Twitter in recent months, and my favourite Q tweeter right now.

D – Garrett Clarke (@GarrettClarke92), Acadie-Bathurst Titan

By my count, the most-followed tweeter in the league, and for good reason. Clarke launched his account shortly after the fallout from his time in Halifax, and it was a terrific PR move. There were lots of rumours flying around about him as a person and the reasons for his departure from the Mooseheads, but anyone who follows him can plainly see that he’s a pretty good kid, and absolutely hilarious.

D – Alex MacDonald (@alexmac26), Rimouski Oceanic

This guy is very underrated on the Q Twitter scene, but he gets the job done. A good mix of humour, opinions, and wit, delivered in an “off the glass and out” fashion. Well worth the follow if you want a player’s perspective on life in the Q. NHL comparable: Ryan Whitney.

G – Jean-Francois Berube (@JRouby), Montreal Juniors

Not going to lie, it’s pretty slim pickings among goalies to this point. The Kings draft pick only just got going on Twitter since playoffs started, but the early returns have been good.

Honourable mentions:

Morgan Ellis (@MorganEllis4), D, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles – Eagles captain and likely one of the top d-men in the league next year is a Twitter vet.

Stephen MacAulay (@smacaulay9), F, Saint John Sea Dogs – Another Sea Dog on Twitter who knows the ropes and is a pretty good one to follow.

Nathan MacKinnon (@Mackinnon9), F, Baie-Comeau Drakkar? – Start following your Q-League superstars nice and early. MacKinnon will be the top pick in this year’s draft; watch the drama unfold on the Twitter.

---

This only covers a handful of players in the QMJHL who have joined Twitter recently. I’ve created a list (including media and other personalities) that I try to keep updated as new accounts pop up, so you can follow the list itself, or peruse it to pick and choose who you’d like to follow. Check it out here.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

NO LIVE COVERAGE FOR GAMES 1 & 2

SAINT JOHN – SN will not be offering in-game tweets or a live blog for this evening’s playoff game at Harbour Station between the Saint John Sea Dogs and the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Game Two of the first round playoff series - which will be played tomorrow at 7:00 pm - will also be without live coverage.

The rest of the series will be covered as usual.

For score updates, follow the Sea Dogs on Twitter.

The SN Pre-Game for tonight’s game can be found here.

HAPPY FESTIVUS

Happy Holiday's from all of us at Station Nation! Unless a trade foes down or any other significant news happens, we'll be on a holiday break. We will be back on December 27 with the Station Nation Sea Dogs/Titan Pre-game.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for breaking news, updates, and in game coverage.

Were on Facebook too. Search "Station Nation- Saint John Sea Dogs" to become a fan of this publication.

For every Sea Dog video you'll want to see, subscribe to us on YouTube at www.youtube.com/StationNationSJ.

STATION NATION NOW ON TWITTER

The Station Nation blog can now bring you news even faster with the Station Nation Twitter page. Check in regularly for our tweets on score updates and breaking news from your Saint John Sea Dogs!

Our URL is www.twitter.com/station_nation

NEXT CUTS COULD COME TODAY

According to this mprnings Telegragh-Journal, the next round of cuts could come this morning. For all of the latest news follow the Sea Dogs on Twitter and check out the News 88.9 locla news section.

Visit www.twitter.com/seadogshockey

Vist http://www.news889.com/

WANT THE LATEST NEWS?

The pre-season is a difficult time to get the latest on rosters and statistics with teams not in regular season form. Be sure to visit the Saint John Sea Dogs Twitter page and the QMJHL news page. Links below...

Sea Dogs official Twitter page: http://twitter.com/SeaDogsHockey

QMJHL official Twitter page: http://twitter.com/QMJHL_News

Metro Halifax official Twiiter page: http://twitter.com/metroqfiles