Safin, Mooseheads advance to QMJHL final

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HALIFAX - Ostap Safin will play for a QMJHL championship beginning on Thursday.

The former Saint John Sea Dogs forward helped the Halifax Mooseheads advance to the President Cup final on Sunday at Scotiabank Centre, defeating the Drummondville Voltigeurs in six games with a 2-1 overtime victory.

Safin, who appeared in just 15 regular season games due to an injury, has had a fairly quiet post-season, registering two assists in 17 games. He's become more of a depth player on a deep and experienced Mooseheads squad.

The Moose dropped the first game of the semifinal series in Drummondville but rebounded with a 5-4 double overtime victory. That was the first of three straight wins for the Moose. After dropping Game 5 at the Marcel Dionne Centre, Halifax returned home to win a hard fought Game Six in extra time.

With the Volts being eliminated, Joe Veleno's season came to an end. After a tremendous 104-point regular season (in just 59 games), Veleno followed that up with an eight-goal and nine assist post-season. The former Sea Dogs captain was held pointless in the first three games of the semis but went on to record two goals and three assists in final trio of contests.

The Mooseheads will meet the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the league final. The series begins on Thursday in Quebec. With Halifax hosting the Memorial Cup, both teams have already earned a spot in the tournament.

This will be the third straight year a Maritimes Division team appears in the President Cup Final following Bathurst last year and Saint John the year prior.

Stairs' season comes to an end

CAMPBELLTON - The 2018-19 season came to an end for Saint John Sea Dogs top prospect Dawson Stairs on Friday night.

Stairs and the Campbellton Tigers were swept by the Yarmouth Mariners in the MHL final, which concluded with a wild 7-6 overtime game on Friday at the Campbellton Memorial Civic Centre.

Despite recording just an assist in the six-goal final game, Stairs had an impressive post-season as a rookie, recording four goals and eight assists in 15 games. The 12 points placed him second amongst MHL rookies in playoff scoring. The Fredericton native also led all Tigers in playoff scoring.

Stairs joined the Tigers in December. In 24 regular season games he recorded 16 goals and 12 assists.

A seventh-round pick by the Sea Dogs in last year's QMJHL Entry Draft, Stairs committed to major junior over NCAA during the summer. He appeared in 11 games with the Dogs this past season, registering two assists.

Stairs, who turned 17 in January, is expected to be a key part of the Sea Dogs' 2002 born core moving forward. He likely would have been a regular in the Dogs lineup this past season if not for the underage player limit.

Some other MHL notes...

• The Tigers are coached by former Sea Dogs assistant coach Greg Leland. Overage defenseman Pierre-Luc Lurette, who appeared in one game with the Dogs in 2015-16, was the team's captain.
• The Yarmouth Mariners feature former Sea Dogs forward Landon Quinney. The 20-year-old had six goals and seven assists in 14 playoff games.
• The Mariners now advance to the Fred Page Cup where they'll join the host Amherst Ramblers as Maritime representatives. The Ramblers feature Matt Green, Alex Lafreniere, Thomas Ashe, Matt Williams and Joel Goguen. The tournament runs from May 1-5.

Canada/Russia Series returning to Saint John

SAINT JOHN - A little lost in Thursday's QMJHL Draft Lottery excitement was the news that the CHL's Canada/Russia Series is making a return to Harbour Station.

The Canadian Hockey League announced the six host cities for the 2019 event, which will feature CHL all star teams (made up of Canadian players) going up against a Russian junior team, on Thursday. For the first time since 2013, the series will begin in the QMJHL - which was the normal thing to do back in the day.

Here are the six host cities:

Game 1 – Monday, November 4 at Saint John, NB
Game 2 – Tuesday, November 5 at Moncton, NB
Game 3 – Thursday, November 7 at Kitchener, ON
Game 4 – Monday, November 11 at London, ON
Game 5 – Wednesday, November 13 at Saskatoon, SK
Game 6 – Thursday, November 14 at Prince Albert, SK

Saint John has hosted the event twice in the past. In 2008, the Russians defeated Team QMJHL 4-3 and in 2010 Russia beat the QMJHL 5-4.

Moncton last hosted very recently. In 2017, the Russians beat the QMJHL 2-1 in the final game of the event.

The event is used to scout players for the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Sea Dogs' lottery luck returns

QUEBEC CITY - They did it again.

Give any team a 4.8% chance of winning the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Draft Lottery and they're probably not going to make a big move. Give the Saint John Sea Dogs a 4.8% chance and you might as well let them make the first overall pick right now.

The Sea Dogs, via the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, worked their franchise magic again on Thursday night in Quebec City, winning the QMJHL's Draft Lottery. They'll now pick first in June's QMJHL Entry Draft, giving a team rich with elite young talent another huge asset.

Last year marked the first time in team history that the Sea Dogs did not win a Draft Lottery they were involved in, finishing second. Before that, the team had won all five they were involved with - which, at the time, were coin flips with the bottom two teams, giving them much better odds of winning.

Making the night even sweeter for the Sea Dogs was the fact that the rival Moncton Wildcats, via the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, had the best odds - 43% - of winning the lottery. They'll now pick third overall as their run of bad lottery luck continues.

The Val-d'Or Foreurs, who have Saint John's first overall pick, will pick second. The Wildcats will pick third, Gatineau Olympiques fourth and the Shawinigan Cataractes fifth.

Forward Joshua Roy is considered to be the top prospect available for this year's QMJHL Entry Draft. In 42 games with the Levis Chevaliers this past season, Roy recorded 38 goals and 50 assists. HockeyProspect.com's latest rankings can be found here.

The 2019 QMJHL Entry Draft is scheduled for June 8 in Quebec City.

RECAP: Sea Dogs lose 6-4

FINAL: Moncton 6, Saint John 4

MONCTON - As fate would have it, the Shawinigan Cataractes put an end to the Saint John Sea Dogs' season yet again.

The long-time Quebec rival of the Sea Dogs managed to get a point in their final regular season contest on Saturday, falling 5-4 in overtime to the Victoriaville Tigres. Shawinigan needed Saint John to lose - which they did, falling 6-4 to the Moncton Wildcats - and earn a point to take the final playoff spot.

The "reward" for the Cataractes is a first-round meeting with the top ranked Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Keeping one of those games close should be considered a success for Shawinigan.

The Sea Dogs are no doubt disappointed, especially knowing they controlled their own fate on Saturday - if they had won, the Sea Dogs would have taken the final playoff spot no matter what happened in the Shawinigan game.

Saint John trailed 5-1 entering the third period at Avenir Centre but rallied for three unanswered goals to make a game of it. But unlike Friday in Halifax, the Dogs were unable to tie the match late.

Josh Lawrence, Nicholas Deakin-Poot, James White and William Poirier all scored for Saint John. Mikhail Denisov, playing in what proved to be his final game of junior, made 27 saves in the loss.

Mika Cyr, Tristan DeJong, Gabriel Sylvestre, Dylan Seitz, Jakob Pelletier and Brady Pataki all scored for Moncton. The rarely used Charles-Antoine Lavallee made 24 saves in the win.

Saint John finishes the regular season with a record of 13-49-2-4.  This was the worst season in club history for wins, regulation time losses and points. The team misses the playoffs for a second straight season and for a fifth time in club history.

Game Day 68: at Moncton

MONCTON - On the final day of the regular season, the Saint John Sea Dogs are in control of their own destiny.

Win this afternoon's 4 p.m. match against the Moncton Wildcats at the Avenir Centre, and they'll make the 2019 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs. If the team loses, they'll need the Shawinigan Cataractes to also lose their afternoon match against the Victoriaville Tigres. The Cataractes are on a 14-game losing streak - but the game means nothing to the Tigres, so it could be interesting.

No matter what happens, it's pretty awesome that the final day of the regular season has so much meaning.

TV/Radio/Webcast: Rogers TV/Sea Dogs Live/QMJHL Live

Records: The Sea Dogs are 13-48-2-4 for 32 points (fifth Maritimes, ninth Eastern, 16th QMJHL) while the Wildcats are 37-21-4-5 for 83 points (fourth Maritimes, seventh Eastern, ninth QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-4 shootout loss in Halifax last night. Benjamin Gagne, William Poirier, Nicholas Deakin-Poot and Brady Burns all scored for Saint John. Zachary Bouthillier made 45 saves in the loss. The Wildcats are coming off a 3-2 loss in Charlottetown last night. Elliot Desnoyers, Alexander Khovanov and Jeremy McKenna all scored for Moncton. Francis Leclerc made 33 saves in the loss.

2018-19 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 3-5-0-0 against the Wildcats this season while Moncton is 5-3-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Feb. 15 at Harbour Station where the Sea Dogs fell 8-1 to the Wildcats. Brady Pataki and Jakob Pelletier each scored twice while singles came from Jeremy McKenna, Dylan Seitz, Mika Cyr and Alexander Khovanov. Francis Leclerc made 23 saves in the win. Mikhail Denisov allowed eight goals on 35 shots.