Game Day 14: at Cape Breton

SYDNEY, NS - The Saint John Sea Dogs return to action tonight, visiting the Cape Breton Eagles for the first time this season.

The Sea Dogs are coming off a rough 7-3 loss in Charlottetown on Wednesday. Saint John has struggled on the road this season, posting a 1-4-0-1 record. They have lost five straight road games.

The Eagles, meanwhile, are coming off their first home win of the season, defeating the Halifax Mooseheads 5-3 last night at Centre 200. Cape Breton sits last overall in the QMJHL standings with a 2-8-2-0 record, placing them three points back of Saint John.

Game time tonight at Centre 200 is 7 p.m.

TV/Radio/Stream: None/93 CFBC/CHL TV

2022-23 regular season records: The Sea Dogs are 4-8-0-1 for nine points (fifth Maritimes/ninth Eastern/17th QMJHL) while the Eagles are 2-8-2-0 for six points (sixth Maritimes/10th Eastern/18th QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 7-3 loss in Charlottetown on Wednesday. Vince Elie, Noah Reinhart and Jared Cosman scored for Saint John. Ventsislav Shingarov made 35 saves in the loss. The Eagles are coming off a 5-3 win over the Halifax Mooseheads last night at Centre 200. Trevor Thurston, Cam Squires, Cameron Henderson, Xavier Daigle and Olivier Houde scored for Cape Breton. Nicolas Ruccia made 36 saves in the win.

Sea Dogs call up Calder, Bellemare

The Saint John Sea Dogs have added some reinforcements for the weekend.

The team announced Friday that forwards Reid Calder and Chad Bellemare have been called up. Saint John dressed 11 forwards on Wednesday night in Charlottetown with Peter Reynolds, Cam MacDonald and Tomasz Szczerba all out with injuries.

The Sea Dogs have called up prospects Reid Calder and Chad Bellemare to play this weekend.

Calder is a Saint John local and has 12 points in 9 games so far this season with @sjvitoshockey

Bellemare has netted 17 points in 19 GP this season with the @VikingsAAA pic.twitter.com/1TmqBhBUgw

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) November 4, 2022

Calder, a seventh-round pick of the Sea Dogs in the 2022 QMJHL Entry Draft, has six goals and six assists with the Saint John Vito's this season. He's also appeared in one Maritime Hockey League contest with the Grand Falls Rapids. The Saint John native had a goal and two helpers in four pre-season games with the Sea Dogs.

Bellemare, a fourth-round pick of Saint John in the 2022 QMJHL Entry Draft, already has 12 goals and five assists with the Saint-Eustache Vikings this year. Bellemare had a goal in three pre-season games with the Sea Dogs.

Calder and Bellemare, assuming they play, will both make their QMJHL debuts this weekend. Defenseman Jeremie Richard (third-round) and forward Jacob Beaulieu (seventh-round) are the only members of Saint John's 2022 draft class to suit up for games so far this season.

The Sea Dogs visit the Cape Breton Eagles on Saturday night and Halifax Mooseheads on Sunday afternoon.

Sea Dogs have struggled on the road

Micheal Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs will try to do something this weekend they've done only once this season: win a road game.

The Sea Dogs are 1-4-0-1 away from TD Station this year and have been outscored 33-12 in those six games. Saint John's lone road win came on opening night (Sept. 25) in Bathurst when they posted a 4-3 victory over the Titan.

Here's a look at Saint John's road results so far:

Sept. 25 at Bathurst: 4-3 win

Oct. 14 at Sherbrooke: 6-1 loss

Oct. 15 at Quebec: 7-2 loss

Oct. 16 at Victoriaville: 7-0 loss

Oct. 30 at Moncton: 3-2 shootout loss

Nov. 2 at Charlottetown: 7-3 loss

Saint John's special teams have struggled overall, but especially on the road. The team's power play is operating at 10% and the penalty kill is running at 68.4%.

One positive is that the Sea Dogs are a decent 1-1-0-1 against Maritimes Division opponents on the road - a good sign heading into the next two games (and the rest of the season). Saint John visits two divisional opponents this weekend: Saturday they travel to Cape Breton (1-8-2-0 overall and 0-3-1-0 at home) and Sunday they visit Halifax (8-1-2-1 overall and 3-0-1-1 at home).

Road struggles are common amongst rebuilding clubs. Saint John went 6-24-4-0 on the road in 2017-18 and 4-26-0-4 in 2018-19.

Notebook: Sevigny, Dufour shine in win

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Tuesday morning/afternoon was a big one for a couple of former Saint John Sea Dogs.

Defenseman Vincent Sevigny scored his first American Hockey League goal while William Dufour netted the shootout winner.

Here's Sevigny's goal, which opened the scoring at 6:10 of the first period.

Sevigny 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/YHGkBF6zJY

— Bridgeport Islanders (@AHLIslanders) November 1, 2022

And here's Dufour's shootout winner (note that Sevigny is the first off the bench to congratulate him).

DUFOUR ‼️ pic.twitter.com/CUa928kObV

— Bridgeport Islanders (@AHLIslanders) November 1, 2022

The Bridgeport Islanders defeated the Charlotte Checkers 4-3 in a school day game.

Sevigny now has a goal and an assist in three games with the Islanders while Dufour has three goals and an assist in eight contests.

Riley Bezeau was in the Checkers lineup, recording two shots and a -1 rating. Tuesday's match was just his second game of the season.

BILODEAU IMPRESSING

One Sea Dogs rookie who is starting to get some attention: defenseman Nicolas Bilodeau.

Bilodeau, a fourth-round pick of the Sea Dogs in the 2021 QMJHL Entry Draft, has looked calm and comfortable on the backend for an inexperienced 17-year-old. He has five assists in 13 games this season.

Here's Craig Eagles' take on the d-man.

The @monctonwildcats winning ways continue, they beat the @SJSeaDogs in a shootout today at the @AvenirCentre, a young Sea Dogs defender is the subject of this @_Neutral_Zone Parking Lot Postgame #PLPG @QMJHL pic.twitter.com/QXRoedwuGB

— Craig Eagles (@Eags37) October 30, 2022

Bilodeau captained the Gatineau L'Intrepide last season, posting nine goals and 30 points in 39 regular season games.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 7-3

FINAL: Saint John 3, Charlottetown 7

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

CHARLOTTETOWN - The Charlottetown Islanders didn't have any problems scoring goals on Wednesday night at Eastlink Centre.

The Islanders put seven goals on the board in a 7-3 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs. The Islanders entered the game averaging just 2.60 goals per game, the second fewest in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Jakub Brabenec scored twice for Charlottetown while Lucas Romeo, Giovanni Morneau, Peter Repcik, Jarrett Todd and Jeremie Biakabutuka added solo markers. Francesco Lapenna made 16 saves in the win.

Vince Elie, Noah Reinhart and Jared Cosman scored for Saint John. Ventsislav Shingarov made 35 stops in the loss.

Saint John was sloppy defensively at times, which led to Charlottetown scoring chances. The Sea Dogs struggled to generate quality chances of their own, recording just nine dangerous shots in this game. The absences of Cam MacDonald and Peter Reynolds were felt.

The Islanders opened the scoring at 9:20 of the first when Michael Horth fed Brabenec with a backhand pass, allowing the import forward to fire a one time shot top corner on Shingarov. Then at 18:35, Romeo danced around Vincent Despont and beat the Sea Dogs netnimder five hole to give Charlottetown a 2-0 advantage after 20 minutes.

Elie got Saint John on the board at 9:08 of the second, beating Lapenna upstairs after a nice, short feed from Cole Burbidge. But Charlottetown quickly responded at 10:54 with Morneau redirecting a point shot.

The Islanders made it a 4-1 game at 15:25 when Ross Campbell sent Repcik in alone, beating Shingarov with a backhand shot five hole. Not long after at 18:08, Brett Arsenault and Todd went in on a short two-on-none with Todd finishing off the play, giving Charlottetown a commanding 5-1 lead. Reinhart scored at 19:26, making it a 5-2 game through two periods.

Cosman got Saint John back within a pair at 6:21 of the third, showing off some patience and toe dragging around a couple Islanders before ripping a wrist shot past Lapenna. Charlottetown got some insurance at 13:40 when Brabenec went coast-to-coast on a power play to make it 6-3. Biakabutuka made it a 7-3 final with another power play goal with 16 seconds remaining.

Game Day 13: at Charlottetown

CHARLOTTETOWN - The Saint John Sea Dogs will look to end some road woes tonight.

The Sea Dogs travel to Charlottetown to face the Islanders tonight at 7 p.m. Saint John has struggled away from TD Station so far this year, posting a 1-3-0-1 record on the road. Their lone road victory was on opening night in Bathurst.

Saint John is coming off an impressive week. After losing six straight, the Sea Dogs earned five of a possible six points, defeating the Gatineau Olympiques and Acadie-Bathurst Titan on home ice before falling to the Moncton Wildcats in a shootout on Sunday.

The Islanders have just one more win than the Sea Dogs this season and have dropped two straight. Saint John earned a 7-4 win over Charlottetown on Oct. 7 at TD Station.

TV/Radio/Stream: None/93 CFBC/CHL TV

2022-23 regular season records: The Sea Dogs are 4-7-0-1 for nine points (fifth Maritimes/ninth Eastern/17th QMJHL) while the Islanders are 5-7-1-0 for 11 points (third Maritimes/seventh Eastern/14th QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 3-2 shootout loss in Moncton on Sunday. Charlie DesRoches and Connor Trenholm scored for Saint John. Ventsislav Shingarov made 24 saves in the loss. The Islanders are coming off a 5-1 loss in Rimouski on Sunday. Michael Horth scored Charlottetown's lone goal. Francesco Lapenna made 30 stops in the loss.