Playoff race continues this weekend; University Cup gets underway

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs head into Friday's action in a tie for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's final playoff spot.

The Sea Dogs and Val-d'Or Foreurs both have 51 points with four regular season games remaining. The tie-break is total wins excluding shootout wins, which the Foreurs currently have an edge in (23-22).

Finishing 15th overall isn't out of the question for Saint John either. The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada have 52 points with four games remaining.

The Sea Dogs have a tough test on Friday, hosting the Halifax Mooseheads. They return to action on Sunday, taking on the Charlottetown Islanders at TD Station.

The Foreurs will face the Drummondville Voltigeurs and Sherbrooke Phoenix this weekend while the Armada will take on the Baie-Comeau Drakkar twice.

Some other stuff...

• Friday is St. Patrick's Day and the Sea Dogs have a number of promotions taking place.
• A couple of franchise records to keep an eye on this weekend: Brady Burns is two points away from tying the franchise points record (257 - Jonathan Huberdeau) while Nicolas Bilodeau is one point away from tying the team record for most points by a rookie defenseman (41 - Radim Salda).
• At the University Cup quarterfinals, Dawson Theede and the Saint Mary's Huskies had their season come to an end with a 4-1 loss to Julien Tessier and the UQTR Patriotes. Theede was a -2 with two shots and four minutes in penalties while Tessier went 8/15 on faceoffs.
• In the second quarterfinal, Gardiner MacDougall's UNB Reds edged the Concordia Stingers 2-1. Jonathan Lemieux was named Concordia's player of the game with 23 saves. Christopher Inniss also had a strong performance in the loss. Kale McCallum and Nick Blagden were both out of the UNB lineup.
• The Reds and Patriotes will now meet in the 1 p.m. semifinal on Saturday. The bronze and gold medal games will take place on Sunday.
• Friday's quarterfinals will feature the Alberta Golden Bears taking on the Windsor Lancers and the Calgary Dinos facing the UPEI Panthers.

Sea Dogs announce team award winners

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Brady Burns was the big winner at the Saint John Sea Dogs' annual awards banquet.

Held Wednesday night at the Imperial Theatre, Burns was named the club's most valuable player for the 2022-23 season while also earning the Fan Choice Award. The 20-year-old also collected the team's top scorer and three stars awards.

Burns, in his overage season with the Sea Dogs, is just two points away from tying Jonathan Huberdeau's franchise points record of 257.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Top Scorer Award: Brady Burns

Three Stars Award: Brady Burns

Community Service Award: Vincent Despont

Rookie of the Year Award: Cole Burbidge

Players' Choice MVP Award: Charlie DesRoches

Academic Player of the Year Award: Nico Laforge

Team Player Award: Jared Cosman

Most Improved Player Award: Eriks Mateiko

Top Defensive Forward Award: Noah Reinhart

Fans Choice Award: Brady Burns

Top Defenseman Award: Charlie DesRoches

MVP Award: Brady Burns

To give a sense of the team's roster turnover over the past 12 months, not a single award winner from last season played for the Sea Dogs this year.

The all-time list of team award winners can be found on the Sea Dogs website.

University Cup begins Thursday

Some of the best hockey of the year will be played this week in Charlottetown - and the action will feature plenty of Saint John Sea Dogs alumni.

The University Cup tournament gets started on Thursday afternoon at Eastlink Centre with the first quarterfinal. Following Friday's quarterfinal games, the semifinals will be played Saturday and the bronze and gold medal games on Sunday.

U SPORTS MHKY: It's that time again.

The 2023 U CUP Bracket Challenge is ahead of the U CUP later this week.

Fill out the bracket and DM it to me or @49SPORTNET for a chance to win a small U SPORTS prize. #USPORTS pic.twitter.com/iilexMezEO

— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) March 13, 2023

The Concordia Stingers grabbed the final spot at the eight-team tournament with a 4-0 win over the Lakehead Thunderwolves in the Ontario University Athletics bronze medal game last Saturday.

The Stingers' roster includes Sea Dogs alumni Christopher Inniss, Marcus Tesink, Nicholas Girouard, Isiah Campbell and Jonathan Lemieux. Girouard, with a goal and an assist, was named the game's first star on Saturday while Lemieux, with a 21-save shutout, was named second star.

The Thunderwolves, meanwhile, featured former Sea Dog Ben Badalamenti.

In the OUA gold medal match, Julien Tessier and the UQTR Patriotes defeated Robbie Burt and the Windsor Lancers 3-2 in triple overtime to win a second straight Queen's Cup title.

The Stingers, Patriotes and Lancers will join the UNB Reds, Saint Mary's Huskies, UPEI Panthers, Calgary Dinos and Alberta Golden Bears at this year's University Cup.

Notebook: Sea Dogs rookies impressing

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

First-year players are making an impact for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Heading into Wednesday's action, seven Sea Dogs sit in the top-21 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League rookie scoring.

4. Cole Burbidge - 18 goals, 29 assists, 47 points

7. Noah Reinhart - 16 goals, 25 assists, 41 points

10. Nicolas Bilodeau - nine goals, 31 assists, 40 points

13. Eriks Mateiko - 16 goals, 17 assists, 33 points

15. Pavel Simek - 12 goals, 16 assists, 28 points

18. Vince Elie - nine goals, 16 assists, 25 points

21. Nate Tivey - two goals, 22 assists, 24 points

Six of Saint John's top-nine scorers are rookies.

Bilodeau sits second in assists amongst all QMJHL rookies while Burbidge is fourth.

Bilodeau also continues to lead all QMJHL rookie defensemen in scoring.

While it is worth noting that none of these players are "true rookies" (i.e. 16-year-olds who were drafted last summer), the success of these first-year players certainly provides some optimism for Saint John's rebuild. The discovering of players like Reinhart, Tivey, Joseph Ianniello and others is also impressive.

ISLES INCOMING

The Sea Dogs and Charlottetown Islanders will become quite familiar with each other before the season ends.

Following Tuesday night's meeting in Charlottetown, the Islanders travel to Saint John this Sunday for a 3 p.m. matchup with the Sea Dogs. Then next Friday, March 24, the Sea Dogs play their final regular season road game of the year at the Eastlink Centre.

Following Tuesday's 7-2 win, the Sea Dogs are 4-3-0-0 against the Islanders this season.

Recap: Sea Dogs win 7-2

FINAL: Saint John 7, Charlottetown 2

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

CHARLOTTETOWN - The Saint John Sea Dogs picked up an important win on Tuesday night at Eastlink Centre.

The Sea Dogs defeated the Charlottetown Islanders 7-2, pushing them into a tie for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's 16th and final playoff spot with 51 points. The Sea Dogs and Val-d'Or Foreurs both have four regular season games remaining.

The Foreurs currently hold the first tie-breaker, which is total wins excluding shootout victories.

Seven different Sea Dogs scored in the victory: Luka Benoit, Eriks Mateiko, Cole Burbidge, Alex Drover, Nicolas Bilodeau, Peter Reynolds and Brady Burns. Burns and Joseph Ianniello each added three assists while Bilodeau and Alexis Cournoyer registered two.

Ventsislav Shingarov had a strong game in net - especially in the opening two periods - by making 36 stops in the victory. The Islanders outshot the Sea Dogs 31-16 in the opening 40 minutes.

Charlottetown had a good start to the game, taking the lead twice in the first period. Saint John, though, responded well and seemed to take control of the game once they grabbed the lead. Joel Marchon was stopped on a penalty shot in the second period, keeping momentum on Saint John's side.

Lane Hinkley and Keiran Gallant scored for Charlottetown. Jakob Robillard made 27 saves in the loss.

OVG360 takes over TD Station management

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

OVG360 has been chosen to manage and operate TD Station.

According to a City of Saint John news release, the partnership has been in place since Feb. 15. The city said the deal was put in place "in an effort to increase the quantity and quality of live events and to operate more efficiently."

The Telegraph-Journal first reported on OVG360, part of the Oak View Group, potentially taking over TD Station back in September.

OVG, co-founded by former MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke, has become a major player in the arena industry in recent years. OVG and Spectra merged in 2021, meaning this company currently manages CHL arenas in Spokane, Windsor, Oshawa, Moose Jaw, Hamilton, Everett and London. The company is currently overseeing a massive renovation to Hamilton's arena, which is forcing the team to relocate to Brantford for at least three seasons.

OVG recently built the new homes for the New York Islanders and Seattle Kraken and also manages the Pittsburgh Penguins' arena. They are well-versed in modern hockey arenas.

“We’re eager to hit the ground running with the team at TD Station,” said Greg O’Dell, president of venue management at OVG360, in the city's release. “We’re going to tap OVG’s collective resources from across Canada, as well as our industry relationships and partnerships with agents, promoters and vendors, to reenergize TD Station and create new opportunities to bring the region together for top-notch quality entertainment. OVG360 is here to be a positive disruption to business as usual in the sports, live entertainment, and hospitality industries.”

The release added that the company "will oversee the day-to-day operations and food and beverage services of the venue, book and schedule events, and handle all marketing and sales."

It will be quite interesting to see what OVG360 does with the building. The bones of TD Station are quite good, but the building is starting to lack some of the modern amenities many newer buildings - like Moncton's Avenir Centre - feature. The concessions have been an issue for over a decade now; the ticketing platform lacks many features; and the video and sound system, which have both been updated since the Sea Dogs arrived, are starting to become dated.

There are certainly some valid concerns with this deal as well: how much could this arrangement cost tax payers and will it impact ticket prices. Time will tell, but it looks like quite a few positives could come from this.

Oak View Group currently has a job posting for a Director of Finance for TD Station.