Notebook: Quebec road trip begins

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

It's nearly February, but Wednesday night will be the first meeting of the season between the Saint John Sea Dogs and the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.

The Sea Dogs will begin a three-game Quebec road trip at 8 p.m. Atlantic in the Montreal suburbs. The two will meet again in one week, this time at TD Station.

The expansion cousins haven't met in nearly a year (the last meeting was Feb. 15, 2024). The Armada currently sit 11th overall with 50 points while the Sea Dogs are 15th with 38.

The Sea Dogs have already arrived in the Montreal area, practicing at the Bell Centre on Monday.

Quick stop at the @CentreBell in Montreal for practice last night ahead of tomorrow’s game in Blainville!#GoDogsGo pic.twitter.com/fo2GvJsy3t

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) January 28, 2025

Following Wednesday's game, the Sea Dogs will head northwest to Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d'Or for games on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

SOME STATS

Five current Sea Dogs have new reached double digits in goals.

Dylan Rozzi became the latest to reach the 10-goal mark, scoring his ninth and 10th goals of the season over the weekend. He joins Zachary Morin (12), Tyler Peddle (12), William Yared (11) and Olivier Groulx (10) in double digits. Eriks Mateiko had 14 before he was traded to the Rimouski Oceanic.

Morin sits third in QMJHL rookie goal scoring while Yared in fifth.

Peddle continues to lead the team in power play goals with seven while Groulx and Rozzi each have four.

Captain Nate Tivey continues to lead the team in points (34) and assists (23). He sits sixth in QMJHL defensemen scoring.

Sea Dogs connections win University Games gold medals

U Sports

While no former Saint John Sea Dogs players participated in this year's FISU World University Games, there are a couple Sea Dogs connections coming home with gold medals.

Head coach Gardiner MacDougall of the UNB Reds, who guided the Sea Dogs to a Memorial Cup championship in June, led the Canadian men's hockey squad to a gold medal.

Canada defeated the United States 7-2 in the championship game on Sunday, which was held at the historic Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, NY.

Hear from Gardiner MacDougall, Canada’s gold medal winning coach in men’s hockey.

In the late 1980s, he visited Lake Placid just to see this arena and where Herb Brooks coached USA to gold.

Today, he won a gold medal in the same rink. pic.twitter.com/I8F4VkieRM

— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) January 23, 2023

As 49-Sports notes, MacDougall has now won "an AUS championship, Memorial Cup and FISU gold medal all within the last 10 months."

The Canadian women's team is also coming home with gold. Canada defeated Japan 5-0 in Saturday's gold medal contest.

Canada’s 3-0 goal on the five on three advantage from Maggy Burbidge.

The U SPORTS top scorer doing it on the biggest stage in university hockey.

pic.twitter.com/wHAwiKUfIq

— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) January 22, 2023

A key contributor for the Canadians was Maggy Burbidge of the StFX X-Women, the sister of Sea Dogs forward Cole Burbidge. She scored in the championship game - the same night her brother netted his first career QMJHL hat trick.

Notebook: Dogs welcome back division rival

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs will do something on Tuesday they haven't done much over the past month: play a Maritimes Division opponent.

Tuesday's home game against the Halifax Mooseheads ends a streak of 10 straight games against Quebec based clubs. The last time the Sea Dogs played a team from within their division was none other than the Mooseheads on Halloween.

The Sea Dogs are 6-3-0-1 in their past 10 games but are on a 3-0-0-1 run. Tuesday's game ends a three-game homestand before the team heads back to Quebec for a three-in-three this weekend.

Saint John has a chance to make up some ground in the standings with a victory Tuesday. The Sea Dogs, Mooseheads and Moncton Wildcats sit in a tie for second in the Maritimes Division with 25 points each.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Sea Dogs defenseman William Villeneuve has been named to the QMJHL's team of the week.

Oyé! Oyé! Here is the ninth edition of the @Videotron Team of the Week! 👇

STATS 📊 | https://t.co/RnqCHKaFRj pic.twitter.com/5AXxrlyM6d

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) November 29, 2021

Villeneuve has point in three straight games and six of his past seven.

POINT LEADERS

William Dufour heads into action this week as the league leader in goals with 18. Shawinigan's Xavier Bourgault and Charlottetown's Xavier Simoneau sit tied for second with 17 goals each.

Dufour currently sits third in points with 36, trailing Sherbrooke's Joshua Roy (39) and Simoneau (38).

Jeremie Poirier, meanwhile, sits fourth in defensemen scoring with 21 points and fourth in defensemen assists with 16.

Notebook: Foston assigned to Yarmouth

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - Saint John Sea Dogs forward Cole Foston has been officially assigned to the Maritime Junior Hockey League's Yarmouth Mariners.

#BreakingNews We are proud to announce we have signed forward @Colefoston99. Cole joins us from the @SJSeaDogs and will be in the lineup this weekend. Welcome Cole!#BleedBlue #MarinersArmy pic.twitter.com/fFjWuyOEaL

— Yarmouth Mariners (@MarinersHockey) November 25, 2021

The 18-year-old was a sixth-round pick of the Mariners in the 2019 MHL Draft.

“We weren’t sure if we’d see him here when we drafted him, but we’re excited for him to be part of our organization now,” Mariners head coach and general manager Laurie Barron told Y95.5.

Foston spent last season with the Halifax Mooseheads. He appeared in 14 games with the Sea Dogs this season - recording one goal and one assist - but was pushed down the lineup with recent additions up front. 

The Mariners, as they usually do, sit first in the MHL's South Division with a 12-6-2-0 record heading into this weekend's action. Their lineup also features former Dogs defenseman Benjamin Roode.

LELAND TAKES OVER TITAN

Former Sea Dogs assistant coach Greg Leland is now the interim head coach of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

The Titan announced Thursday that Mario Durocher had been relieved of his duties. The team has put Leland, who's been on the Titan bench as an assistant for the past two seasons, in charge on an interim basis.

Bathurst has struggled after a hot start, sitting fifth in the Maritimes Division and 14th overall in the QMJHL with a 9-9-0-2 record.

Leland, from Quispamsis, was an assistant coach with the Sea Dogs for eight seasons, which included helping the club win two President Cup championships and the 2011 Memorial Cup title.

Before joining the Titan, Leland was the head coach and general manager of the MHL's Campbellton Tigers.

Saturday notes: Auger makes FISU team

MONTREAL - Former Saint John Sea Dogs goaltender Sebastien Auger has been named to the team that will represent Canada at the upcoming FISU Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Auger and former London Knight Kevin Bailie will make up Canada's goaltending tandem for the tournament, which will open on Jan. 30 with Canada taking on the United States.

Auger is 8-3 with a 2.49 GAA and .927 SV% with the UQTR Patriotes this season.

The team is made up entirely of OUA players. Former Dogs defenceman David Weckworth, now with the Carleton Ravens, was invited to the Canadian camp but did not make the team.

Former Sea Dog Michael Kirkpatrick helped Canada win gold at the 2013 Winter Universiade.

Some other notes...

• Speaking of former Sea Dogs goaltenders, Marc-Antoine Turcotte made his debut with the OUA's Concordia Stingers this past week. He had a game to forget last night against the University of Toronto though, allowing three goals on six shots in the first period.
• According to a Quebec newspaper report, the Sea Dogs inquired about acquiring Olympiques import forward Vitalii Abramov. The 18-year-old Columbus Blue Jackets prospect has 28 goals and 56 points in 37 games with Gatineau this season.
• According to another report, the Sea Dogs tried to acquire 19-year-old forward Samuel Laberge from the Rimouski Oceanic right up until the deadline. Now the captain of the Oceanic, Laberge has 10 goals and 23 points in 19 games.
• From CHL stats man Geoffrey Brandow on Twitter: Alex D'Orio improves to 5-0 in last five starts with a 1.00 GAA and .945 SV% rejecting 103 of 109. 
• Saturday's Sea Dogs - Mooseheads game in Halifax will be broadcast nationally on Sportsnet and TVA Sports. Note that game time is 4 p.m. Atlantic.
• Bokondji Imama was named Saint John's player of the month for December. Kyle Ward was named the student of the month.
• Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun had some real nice words about Mathieu Joseph's goal in Thursday's gold medal game.
• 17-year-old forward Kallum Muirhead, an eighth-round pick of the Sea Dogs in the 2015 QMJHL Entry Draft, has been named the MHL's Rookie of the Month for December. He had seven goals and two assists in seven games with the Summerside Western Capitals.
• This is neat:

Trade period over means @ssmallman96 and @MHighmore15 are set to join @ThommerBomber as the only guys to play 5 full seasons here in SJ!

— DK (@SeaDogsDK) January 6, 2017

Auger, Weckworth invited to University Games camp

Two former Saint John Sea Dogs have been invited to next month's FISU World University Games Training Camp in Caledon, Ont.

This year's team will be made up entirely of players from Ontario University Athletics. According to a press release, "the players will participate in a four-day training camp where a team of 22 student-athletes will be selected to represent OUA, U Sports and Canada at the upcoming World University Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan from January 25-February 10."

Defenceman David Weckworth of the Carleton Ravens and goaltender Sebastien Auger of the UQTR Patriotes will be the Sea Dogs alumni in attendance.

Weckworth spent the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons with the Sea Dogs after playing with the Gatineau Olympiques for two years. The Ottawa native had two goals and 18 assists in 107 career games with Saint John.

The 23-year-old is in his third season with the Ravens. In 14 games this year, Weckworth has a goal and four assists.

Auger spent his entire QMJHL career with the Sea Dogs. In four seasons, Auger posted a record of 77-98 to go along with a 3.14 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.

Auger is in his second season at UQTR. This year he is 5-2 with a 2.77 GAA and .914 SV%.

Former Sea Dog Michael Kirkpatrick helped Canada win gold at the 2013 Winter Universiade.