GAME DAY 29: at Halifax

A preview of tonight’s game between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Halifax Mooseheads…

Where and when: Tonight at 7 p.m., Scotiabank Centre

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

Records: The Sea Dogs are first in the Maritimes Division, second overall in the QMJHL and ranked eighth in the CHL Top 10 with a 17-6-1-4 record for 39 points. The Mooseheads sit third in the Maritimes and 12^th overall with a 14-13-2-1 record for 31 points.

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-1 home win over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies last night at Harbour Station. Samuel Dove-McFalls, Adam Marsh, Spencer Smallman, Jakub Zboril and Mark Tremaine scored for Saint John. Sebastien Auger made 25 saves in the win. The Mooseheads are coming off a 5-0 home win over the Charlottetown Islanders last night. Danny Moynihan had a hat trick while Brett Crossley and Philippe Gadoury added singles. Zach Fucale made 28 saves in the shutout victory.

2014-15 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 4-0-0-0 against the Mooseheads this season while Halifax is 0-3-1-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Nov. 7 in Halifax when the Sea Dogs defeated the Mooseheads 4-2. Justice Dundas had two goals while singles came from Nathan Noel and Adam Marsh. Nikolaj Ehlers and Samuel Leblanc scored for the Moose. Sebastien Auger made 27 saves in the victory while Zach Fucale made 23 in the loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Mooseheads: Kelly Bent

Random stat: Justice Dundas has not scored in his past five games. He has just one point over that stretch.

RECAP: Sea Dogs Win 5-1

FINAL: Rouyn-Noranda 1, Saint John 5

Lorne Webster | SN Staff

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs (17-6-1-4) hosted Rouyn-Noranda (15-14-2-0) on Friday evening in the Huskies' second game of a three game tour of the Maritimes. Despite allowing Rouyn-Noranda to score first, the Sea Dogs played arguably their best game in the past two or three weeks and came away with a 5-1 victory at Harbour Station.

Sam Dove-McFalls, Spencer Smallman, Adam Marsh, Jakub Zboril and Mark Tremaine scored for Saint John, while Justin Guenette replied for Rouyn-Noranda. Ross Yates juggled the forward lines and they seemed to work well overall, which allowed the Sea Dogs to extend their lead atop the Maritimes Division to four points over the idle Moncton Wildcats.

At 3:33 of the first, Guenette's one-timer, off a pass from Ryan Penny, struck Sebastien Auger up high and then caromed off another Sea Dog and into the net. After that, the Sea Dogs controlled most of the play; but, other than an Olivier LeBlanc shot off a post, were unable to get a shot behind Sam Harvey until 13:26. At that point, Dove-McFalls took a nice feed from Mathieu Joseph, broke in all alone and fired a wrist shot to the top corner behind the Huskies' rookie 'keeper. Saint John's penalty kill was called into action twice late in the frame and held the Huskies at bay. The period ended tied 1-1 and the shots on goal favoured Saint John 11-8.

At 4:13 of the second, seconds after a Huskies' penalty ended, a misfire by Zboril ended up on Smallman's stick at the edge of the crease and he slammed the puck behind Harvey. Just three minutes later, Marsh took a pass from Thomas Chabot, curled off the side wall and rifled the puck past Harvey to make it 3-1. On a power play with under 40 seconds left, Zboril's bullet from the point found its way through a crowd and into the net to extend the Sea Dogs' lead to 4-1.  Saint John also led 11-7 on the shot clock.

At 11:36 of the third, while shorthanded, Tremaine's hard work paid off when he won a battle for the puck at the Huskie's line, broke in on Harvey and beat the keeper through the five hole on a deke. With a number of power plays, Rouyn-Noranda out shot Saint John 12-10 in the third but shots favoured the Sea Dogs 32-26 overall.

GAME DAY 28: vs Huskies

A preview of tonight’s game between the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Saint John Sea Dogs…

When and where: Tonight at 7:30 p.m., Harbour Station

TV/Radio/Webcast: Rogers TV/96.1 NewSong FM/QMJHL Live

Records: The Sea Dogs are first in the Maritimes Division, second in the overall QMJHL standings and are ranked eighth in the CHL Top 10 with a 16-6-1-4 record for 37 points. The Huskies are third in the West Division and ninth overall with a 15-13-2-0 record for 32 points.

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Sunday at Harbour Station. Spencer Smallman scored twice while a single came from Jakub Zboril. Sebastien Auger made 25 saves in the loss. The Huskies are coming off a 3-1 win over the Titan in Bathurst last night. Mathieu Lemay had two goals while Jeremy Auger scored once. Alexandre Belanger made 30 saves in the win.

2014-15 head-to-head: The two have not met yet this season.

Last meeting: See above.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Huskies: None

Random stat: These two meet again one week from tonight in Rouyn-Noranda. These are their only meetings of the season.

Sea Dogs Begin 3-in-3 On Friday

One of the more bizarre and busy stretches of the Saint John Sea Dogs’ season begins on Friday.

The team begins a three-in-three at Harbour Station with a 7:30 p.m. match against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. They will then travel to Halifax to battle the Mooseheads on Saturday which will be followed by a trip back to Saint John to host the Val-d’Or Foreurs on Sunday.

Oh, and a three game Quebec road trip begins on Wednesday in Victoriaville.

Here is Saint John’s final stretch of games before the holiday break:

Friday, Dec. 5 vs Rouyn-Noranda

Saturday, Dec. 6 at Halifax

Sunday, Dec. 7 vs Val-d’Or

Wednesday, Dec. 10 at Victoriaville

Friday, Dec. 12 at Rouyn-Noranda

Saturday, Dec. 13 at Val-d’Or

Thursday, Dec. 18 vs Bathurst

That’s a fairly busy stretch.

Four of Saint John’s final seven games before Christmas will be played on the road. They’ll also get a good luck at the West Division, a division the Sea Dogs have played just one game against so far this year.

At tomorrow’s home game, the Sea Dogs will be announcing their monthly team awards. On Sunday, the annual Teddy Bear Toss will take place.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

Sea Dogs Fall To 8th In Top 10

The Saint John Sea Dogs have slid to eighth in the BMO CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Sea Dogs had a tough week, losing 6-5 in Charlottetown on Thursday, defeating the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 2-1 in a shootout on Friday and then falling 4-3 to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in a shootout at Harbour Station on Sunday.

Saint John, 16-6-1-4, was one of three QMJHL teams in this week’s rankings. The Rimouski Oceanic came in third while the Armada were ranked 10^th.

The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10 teams are selected by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.

Here are this week’s rankings:

This week, the Sea Dogs host the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Friday, travel to Halifax on Saturday and then return home to face the Val-d’Or Foreurs on Sunday.

Dugan Reassigned To Amherst

The Saint John Sea Dogs continue to shake up their goaltending.

The team announced this morning that they have reassigned netminder Bobby Dugan to the Maritime Junior A Hockey League’s Amherst Ramblers.

The 17-year-old played in three games with the Sea Dogs this season, posting a 1-1 record to go along with a 3.35 goals against average and .892 save percentage.  He spent most of his time rotating with Blade Mann-Dixon as Sebastien Auger’s backup.

Dugan, a native of Seminole, Florida, made the Sea Dogs after attending training camp as a free agent.

It’s been an eventful week for Sea Dogs goaltending. Mann-Dixon was returned to the MHL’s Valley Wildcats and the team brought in OJHL netminder Alex Bishop to replace him. Bishop was the Sea Dogs’ backup ‘tender on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Dugan joins a Ramblers team that is last in the Eastlink Division with a 5-15-2-0 record. Their next game is this Saturday against the 1-23-0-1 St. Stephen County Aces at Amherst Stadium.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation