Saab Is Back

The Saint John Sea Dogs confirmed what has been rumoured and have officially brought back 20-year old defenseman Ian Saab.

Saab, who was acquired by the Sea Dogs in the Lewiston Maineiacs dispersal draft, played in 52 regular season games with Saint John last year and recorded two goals, seven assists, and 164 penalty minutes. He added three assists in 12 playoff games and helped the Dogs win the President Cup.

The 6-foot-2, 192-pound Halifax native had 41 penalty minutes and no points in eight games this season with EC Red Bull Salzburg in the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga in Salzburg, Austria.

“We are thrilled to have Ian join our team,” said Sea Dogs head coach and General Manager Mike Kelly in a release. “His experience in the league will certainly benefit our younger players and help solidify our young blue line.”

“He is a quality person who plays the game hard,” Kelly added. “We expect that he will play in all situations for us while providing a physical presence and add to the leadership of the team.”

Saab should some toughness to the Sea Dogs young and rookie filled lineup. He had 15 fights with the Sea Dogs last season.

Adding Saab gives the Dogs three 20-year olds with defenseman Pierre Durepos and Stephen MacAulay being the others. Today’s announcement does give Saint John nine defensemen on their roster so it’ll be interesting to see if any changes are made before Tuesday’s 1pm QMJHL trade deadline.

The Sea Dogs are on the road in Halifax tonight and return home to battle the PEI Rocket tomorrow night.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

GAMEDAY 38 - at Halifax

GAMEDAY

Saint John Sea Dogs vs Halifax Mooseheads

Tonight at 7:00pm

Radio: News 88.9 | Webcast: Telus | TV: None | Live: @SeaDogsLive

Halifax Metro Centre – Halifax, NS

PREVIEW

HALIFAX – The Saint John Sea Dogs play their first game of the calendar year tonight in Halifax against the Mooseheads. Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm.

The Sea Dogs have gotten even younger since the Sea Dogs and Mooseheads met last. Along with Kevin Gagne, Saint John has also traded veterans Ryan Tesink and Aidan Kelly. They’ll need some younger players to step up like they did on Monday in a 3-1 win over the Moncton Wildcats.

Saint John enters play with a 17-20-0-0 record and sit fifth in the Telus Maritimes Division and 14^th overall in the league. They are 3-7-0-0 in their last 10 games and Monday’s victory ended a four-game losing streak.

With Jonathan Huberdeau still away and Ryan Tesink and Kevin Gagne both traded, Stephen MacAulay is currently Saint John’s leading scorer. He has 17 goals and 16 assists for 33 points in 33 games this season.

Halifax is having an incredible season. Despite being without Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin, and Martin Frk for the past few weeks, the Moose are an 11-0-1-0 run and are 9-0-1-0 in their last 10 games.

The Mooseheads sit first overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League standings with a 32-3-1-1 record for 66 points. They are 11 points ahead of the second-place Rimouski Oceanic. Halifax is also the toped ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League again this week.

With MacKinnon and Drouin away with Team Canada at the world juniors, Darcy Ashley is Halifax’s leading scorer with 12 goals and 30 assists for 42 points in 37 games.

Things That Happened Thursday

A couple former Sea Dogs made their debuts with their new teams last night while two others were in action at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. A recap...

FINAL: Phoenix 2, Armada 3

The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada out shot the Sherbrooke Phoenix 45-18 but could only beat Jacob Gervais-Chouinard three times to win 3-2.

Former Sea Dogs forward Ryan Tesink, who was traded to the Armada in exchange for a first-round pick earlier this week, had a solid debut. He recorded two assists, four shots, a +2 rating and was named the game’s first star. Tesink was placed on a line with Philippe Sanche and Tommy Giroux.

It’s nice to see Tesink put up a couple points in his debut because he has struggled of late. He had just one point in his final five Sea Dogs games.

Tonight’s win improved the Armada, who have slid down the standing a bit of late, to 23-10-1-4 on the season.

FINAL: Titan 6, Rocket 1

Former Sea Dog Aidan Kelly was also on the winning side in his debut with his new team. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan defeated the PEI Rocket 6-1 in Charlottetown on Thursday night.

Kelly, who wore No. 55 rather than No. 22, had one shot, one hit, and a +1 rating for the Titan. He also had a fight, dropping the gloves with Victor Provencher in the third period (video in highlight package below). Kelly was on a line with Andrew Meredith and Etienne Salvail.

The Titan are now 15-20-4-1 and sit one-point up on the Sea Dogs in the standings.

Sea Dogs Notebook

St John NB - beautiful in the sunlit snow. Taken from the International Space Station, 2 Jan 13 twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield/…
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) January 3, 2013

TOMORROW

The Sea Dogs are back in action tomorrow night when they travel to Halifax to take on Mooseheads. Halifax, 32-3-1-1, is the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League despite being without Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin, and Martin Frk for the past few weeks.

The Mooseheads are averaging 8,328 fans per game this season and tomorrow night is Teddy Bear Toss Night. So, there is sure to be a big delay in the game at some point.

Halifax beat the Moncton Wildcats 7-3 tonight at the Metro Centre.

SATURDAY

The Sea Dogs next home game is this Saturday at Harbour Station against the PEI Rocket. Game time is 7pm.

Saint John is 1-2-0-0 against the Rocket this season while PEI is 2-0-1-0 against Saint John.

DEADLINE

The league’s trade deadline is on Tuesday at 1pm Atlantic time. Given the way NHL talks are going, it doesn’t sound like anything will be certain there by deadline day which makes trading Jonathan Huberdeau quite complicated.

TVA Sports reports that the QMJHL will not push back the trade deadline to accommodate a Huberdeau deal. The OHL is reportedly considering pushing back their deadline due to the NHL’s silliness.

It’s been pretty quiet on the Huberdeau front. Surely things will heat up once the world juniors come to an end on Saturday.

Sea Dogs-Wildcats Game Rescheduled

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has announced that the Saint John Sea Dogs will travel to Moncton to face the Wildcats on Wednesday, January 16. Game time at the Moncton Coliseum is 7pm.

The game was originally scheduled to take place on December 30 at the Coliseum but was postponed due to the big time snow storm that took the lives of many mailboxes.

Saint John plays a three-in-three in Quebec against Rimouski, Victoriaville, and Sherbrooke the weekend before the 16^th. The following weekend they take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Saturday and the Wildcats on Sunday with both games being held a Harbour Station. So adding in the 16^th game makes this an even busier stretch for the Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs are 4-0-0-0 against the Wildcats this season thanks to a 3-1 win on New Year’s Eve at the Station.

Saint John’s next game is tomorrow night in Halifax against the Mooseheads.

Canada Comes Out Flat; Quebec Wins

FINAL: United States 5, Canada 1

Team Canada came out flat and stayed flat for most of the game in a 5-1 semi-final loss to the United States at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Just like last year’s semi-final loss to Russia, Canada fell in a big hole as the United States grabbed a 4-0 lead heading into the third. But unlike last year, Canada could not make a game of it in the third.

Canada’s only goal came in the third period by Ty Rattie, a bizarre goal that should have counted but technically should not have counted.

Malcolm Subban allowed four goals on 16 shots and was pulled in favour of Jordan Binnington who made 25 saves in relief. American John Gibson was terrific in net, making 33 stops in the win.

Jonathan Huberdeau, who was moved back up to the top line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mark Scheifele to try and create some offense, finished the game with one shot and a -4 rating.

Team Canada will now have to play in the bronze medal game against the host Russians on Saturday. The United States will play Sweden for Gold.

FINAL: Quebec 2, Ontario 1

Team Quebec upset powerhouse Ontario last night by score of 2-1 on the final day of preliminary action at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

Ontario led 1-0 after one but Quebec scored twice in the second period to take the lead. Sea Dogs defenseman Olivier LeBlanc assisted on Loik Leveille’s power play goal, a goal that proved to be the game winner.

Quebec, 3-1-0-0, will play Sweden tonight at 8:30pm in the semi-final game. The US plays Russia in the other semi-final.

Matthew Highmore and Team Atlantic, 1-3-0-0, will play Finland in the seventh-place game today at 2:30pm.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation