Plenty Of Ex-Dogs In NHL This Season

Nathan Beaulieu was the only former Sea Dog in action on the opening night of the 2014-15 NHL season.

Beaulieu, back wearing No. 28, had one shot in 10:25 of ice time in the Montreal Canadiens’ 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Beaulieu and the Habs take on the Washington Capitals in DC tomorrow. That game can be seen nationally on Sportsnet 360.

Thursday should see a number of former Sea Dogs in action. Here’s a rundown:

• Gerard Gallant officially returns to the NHL as he steps behind the Florida Panthers bench for their game in Tampa Bay. Of course, the Panthers also feature Jonathan Huberdeau and Mike Kelly.
• There are probably more Florida Panthers fans in Saint John than in Miami, am I right? Just getting this joke out there so we can all get on with our lives.
• Eric Gelinas and the New Jersey Devils are in Philadelphia to battle the Flyers. Gelinas played in 60 games with the Devils last season, recording seven goals and 22 assists.
• Simon Despres and the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Anaheim Ducks.
• Tomas Jurco and the Detroit Red Wings host the Boston Bruins.
• In a game that can be seen on TSN5, Mike Hoffman and the Ottawa Senators visit Nashville to battle the Predators at 9 p.m.
• Lastly, Charlie Coyle and the Minnesota Wild take on Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche.

How Nikita Li Ended Up a Tigres

Nikita Li returned to Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action this past weekend, playing in two games with the Victoriaville Tigres.

Li, selected 65^th overall by the Saint John Sea Dogs in this summer’s CHL Import Draft, was picked up off waivers by the Tigres last week. Saint John originally assigned him to the United States Hockey League’s Des Moines Buccaneers but it was later discovered that he had to pass through QMJHL waivers first, allowing Victoriaville to grab the Russian forward.

Bizarre situations happen all the time with import players (hi, Quebec!), but this was a new one. Sea Dogs general manager Darrell Young said in an interview last week a unique scenario and some protesting has Li back in the league.

“We were able to put Juraj Siska on a frozen list because he didn’t play a game for us last year. That allowed us to draft two Europeans,” said Young. “Once Nikita played a game in our league – we brought him in and signed him to a card – we had two weeks from that date to drop one of the two.

“The rule simply stated that we could not trade the player because he hadn’t played a year in our league and we could not put the player on waivers because he had not played a year in our league. That’s simply how we were informed by the league and according to CHL rules. We would drop the player from our list and he would become eligible for the 2015 CHL Import Draft.

“There was an article on the Quebec Journal last week crucifying the system and the general manager in question was questioning why he couldn’t pick up Nikita Li and why he wasn’t available. The CHL rules simply stated that he couldn’t.

“After some protests, [the general manager] contacted the league hierarchy and then they approached the other two leagues, saying ‘you played a game in our league so you should eligible.’ [The league] agreed and they asked us if we were comfortable with it. Of course we said yes just because we want to see players play in the league.”

Young had nothing but nice things to say about Li, adding that he has some offensive upside and is “a hard working kid.” The Tigres take on the Sea Dogs on Dec. 10 in Victoriaville and February 18 at Harbour Station.

“If you want to play in the Quebec league then we’re not going to block you from playing in our league. We want good players in our league and we want to give kids an opportunity.”

The Tigres were forced to trade import Jan Mandat after picking up Li. Siska and Jakub Zboril will be Saint John’s imports for the season.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

Monday Stuff

A little bit of this and a little bit of that…

• One month into the season and the Maritimes Division is a tight race. Moncton, Saint John, and Charlottetown all have 12 points while Cape Breton has 11. Will it stay this close all year is the big question.
• Thomas Chabot is tied for the league lead in defensemen scoring with eight points. Four other d-men have eight points but none have more goals than Chabot, who has two.
• International Scouting Services ranked Sea Dogs defenseman Jakub Zboril 27^th for the 2015 NHL Draft.
• Meanwhile, TSN’s Craig Button has ranked Zboril 19^th for the upcoming draft. Chabot was ranked 32^nd while Nathan Noel was placed 39^th. Button watched the Sea Dogs play a few times last week.
• It looks like Nathan Beaulieu will start the season with the Montreal Canadiens.
• Former Sea Dog Michael Kirkpatrick netted the game winner in StFX's 2-0 win at UNH on Saturday.
• Former Sea Dogs forward Joey Richard, traded to Gatineau during the off-season, has six points in 10 games.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

RECAP: Sea Dogs Lose 4-2

FINAL: Saint John 2, Cape Breton 4

SYDNEY, NS – The Saint John Sea Dogs are heading home with a split in Cape Breton.

The Sea Dogs fell 4-2 to the Screaming Eagles on Saturday night. The loss comes a day after a thrilling come-from-behind 5-4 win at Centre 200 on Friday night.

Saint John got off to a slow start once again, being outshot 12-2 in the first period and were down 3-0 just past the midway point of the second period. The Sea Dogs tried to pull off another comeback, cutting the Eagles lead to 3-2 heading into the third but couldn’t quite pull it off.

Duncan MacIntyre opened the scoring 3:33 in on a power play to make it 1-0. Blade Mann-Dixon made his first career QMJHL appearance and was tested quite a bit in the opening frame, facing 12 shots.

At 7:56 of the second, Colby Tower scored to make it 2-0 Eagles. Then at 12:53, MacIntyre scored another power play marker to give the home side a 3-0 advantage.

Samuel Dove-McFalls got the Sea Dogs on the board at 15:21. A little over two minutes later, Spencer Smallman scored his first goal of the season – while shorthanded – to make it 3-2 heading into the third.

Kyle Farrell’s 11^th goal of the season just 41 seconds into the third provided some insurance for Cape Breton. The Eagles would hang on for the victory.

Shots were 28-27 in favour of the Sea Dogs in the game. Mann-Dixon made 23 saves in the loss while Francois Brassard, who was not pleased with his performance on Friday, made 26 in the win.

Saint John’s power play continues to struggle, going 0-for-6. Cape Breton went 2-for-6 on the man advantage.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

GAMEDAY 9: at Cape Breton

A preview of tonight’s game between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles…

When and where: Tonight at 7 p.m., Centre 200

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/96.1 NewSong FM/QMJHL Live

Records: The Sea Dogs sit first in the Maritimes Division and second overall in the QMJHL with a 5-1-0-2 record for 12 points. The Screaming Eagles are fourth in the Maritimes and ninth overall with a 4-3-1-0 record for nine points.

Last games: These two met last night at Centre 200 with Saint John coming back from 4-1 down to defeat the Screaming Eagles 5-4. Nathan Noel had two goals while singles came from Adam Marsh, Mathieu Joseph, and Daniel Del Paggio. Sebastien Auger made 27 saves in the win. Charles-Eric Legare had two goals for Cape Breton and Clark Bishop and Maxime Lazarev added a solo markers. Francois Brassard made 25 stops in the loss.

2014-15 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 1-0-0-0 against the Screaming Eagles this season while Cape Breton is 0-1-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Last night.

Random stat: Cape Breton has scored a league high 40 goals. Saint John is second with 36.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Screaming Eagles: None

RECAP: Sea Dogs Win 5-4

FINAL: Saint John 5, Cape Breton 4

By Lorne Webster | SN Staff

SYDNEY N.S. - The Sea Dogs were at Sydney's Centre 200 Friday evening for the first of back-to-back games against the Screaming Eagles and came away with a 5-4 comeback win. Nathan Noel, with two, Mathieu Joseph, Adam Marsh and Daniel Del Paggio scored for Saint John. Charles-Eric Legare led the way for Cape Breton with two goals while Maxim Lazarev and Clark Bishop also scored for the home team. 

In what has become a troubling trend, the Sea Dogs got into penalty trouble early and it cost them dearly. Lazarev scored on a power play at 4:08 and Legare added another power play goal less than two minutes later. Noel went end-to-end and scored on a wrap around at 17:18. The Sea Dogs continued to apply pressure on a five-on-three power play but Francois Brassard made a few big saves to preserve the lead. Saint John led on the shot clock 11-8.

Early in the second period, Bishop scooped up a neutral zone turnover, broke in alone and snapped a shot past Sebastien Auger. About one minute later, Legare scored a shorthanded goal with a top shelf shot over Auger's shoulder to grab a 4-1 lead. However, as the penalty parade continued, Joseph grabbed a rebound in the goalmouth and slid the puck behind Brassard at 6:30 on a power play. Just past the 10 minute mark, Luke Green took the puck inside the blue line, broke down the right wing and fed a lovely pass to Noel for a one-timer to make it 4-3. That score would hold up and Saint John out shot Cape Breton 13-9.

Early in the third, a Spencer Smallman shot banked off the crossbar and stayed out. But, at 5:02, Marsh took a feed from Sam Dove-McFalls and roofed a shot over Brassard to tie the game at 4-4. At 12:26, Del Paggio corralled the rebound off a Luke Green point shot and flipped the puck past Brassard to give the Sea Dogs their first lead at 5-4. Auger come up with several huge stops in the final four minutes to preserve the win. Shots were 14-6 in favour of Cape Breton in the 3rd to give them a 31-30 shot advantage on the night.