Mateiko to Milano Cortina

Embed from Getty Images

There will be at least one former Saint John Sea Dog the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

Former Sea Dogs captain Eriks Mateiko was named to Latvia's men's hockey roster on Tuesday morning. The 20-year-old has represented his country at the both the under-20 and under-18 levels, which included being captain of the U18 squad.

🇱🇻 Team Latvia men’s roster for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games just dropped!➡️

Athlete participation requires confirmation by their respective NOC.@lhf_lv @olympics @nhl @nhlpa#Olympics #NHL #IIHF pic.twitter.com/EbcW17NxqB

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) January 6, 2026

The Washington Capitals prospect is in his first season of professional hockey. In 25 games with the AHL's Hershey Bears, Mateiko has a goal and four assists.

Mateiko spent parts of three seasons with the Sea Dogs. He was traded to the Memorial Cup host Rimouski Oceanic at last year's trade deadline.

Men's Olympic hockey will take place Feb. 11-22. Latvia will be in Group C with the United States, Germany and Denmark.

Latvia's first game will be Feb. 12 against the United States.

Reports: Sea Dogs to acquire Radkov

Embed from Getty Images 

The Saint John Sea Dogs are poised to acquire a goaltender before the QMJHL's trade period comes to an end, according to reports on Sunday evening.

According to Blainville-Boisbriand Armada broadcaster Cédrik Blondin, the Sea Dogs will be acquiring goaltender Arseni Radkov in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2027 QMJHL Entry Draft. RDS is also reporting the deal.

Arseni Radkov est échangé aux @SJSeaDogs par l’@ArmadaBLB.

En retour, l’Armada obtiendra un choix de 3e ronde en 2027.

C’est la fin de l’aventure avec l’espoir des #GoHabsGo.

— Cédrik Blondin (@cedrikblondin) January 4, 2026

Radkov, 18, is in his first season in North America after being selected in the first-round, 33rd overall by the Armada in this year's CHL Import Draft. 

Listed at 6'4" and 203 lbs, Radkov was a third-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2025 NHL Draft. 

The Belarusian has had his struggles this season, posting a 12-7-1-2 record but with a 3.01 goals against average and a .894 save percentage. We'll see what a new environment does for him.

Radkov is committed to play at the University of Massachusetts next year, which adds another wrinkle to this acquisition. 

This trade obviously means that at least two other roster moves are coming for the Sea Dogs. They'll need to move a goaltender and an import player. Notably, import defenseman Patryk Zubek has been a healthy scratch in three of the team's first four games in the second half.

The QMJHL's trade deadline is Tuesday.

Recap: Sea Dogs win 5-2

FINAL: Halifax 2, Saint John 5

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - What a start to the new year.

Playing in their first game since the calendar changed, the Saint John Sea Dogs never trailed in a 5-2 victory over the Halifax Mooseheads on Sunday afternoon at TD Station.

The Sea Dogs opened the scoring and led 2-0 after the opening frame despite being outshot 13-5. Saint John would add three more in the third – which included an empty netter – in the victory.

Shots in the game were 33-23 in favour of the Mooseheads.

Oskar Drabczynski, Angelo Fullerton, Everett Baldwin, Olivier Duhamel and Dylan Rozzi all scored for Saint John. Rafaël Courchesne made 31 stops in the win.

Liam Kilfoil and William Bent had Halifax goals. Nicolas Gillham-Cirka made 18 stops in the loss.

Game Day 36: vs Mooseheads

Trevor MacMillan/Halifax Mooseheads

SAINT JOHN - Just two days out from the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League trade deadline, the Saint John Sea Dogs host the Halifax Mooseheads at TD Station.

Game time this afternoon is 3 p.m.

The Sea Dogs have fallen to 1-2-1-0 against the Mooseheads this season thanks to back-to-back losses prior to the Christmas break. 

The Mooseheads were in action last night, falling 3-2 in a shootout to the Moncton Wildcats. The Sea Dogs, meanwhile, have not played since that wild 6-5 loss to the Newfoundland Regiment on New Year's Eve.

Stream/TV/Radio: FloHockey/None/Sea Dogs Audio Network

Records: The Sea Dogs are 13-19-3-0 for 29 points (ninth Eastern/17th QMJHL) while the Mooseheads are 18-14-1-2 for 39 points (sixth Eastern/10th QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 6-5 loss to the Newfoundland Regiment on Wednesday. Alexis Joseph had a hat trick for Saint John while singles came from Everett Baldwin and Alexander Donovan. Rafaël Courchesne made 35 saves in the loss. The Mooseheads are coming off a 3-2 shootout loss in Moncton last night. Malik L'Italien and Quinn Kennedy scored for Halifax. Nicolas Gillham-Cirka made 34 stops in the loss.

World Juniors end for Murnieks

Embed from Getty Images 

SAINT PAUL, MN - The IIHF World Junior Championship has come to an end for Saint John Sea Dogs forward Olivers Murnieks.

Murnieks and Team Latvia fell 6-3 to Sweden in Thursday's quarterfinal action. Murnieks played 20:37 and recorded his first goal of the tournament. He also had three shots and went 14-15 on faceoffs.

MURNS 🚨🇱🇻

Olivers Murnieks buries a one-timer on the man advantage! He finishes the tournament with four points in five games.#GoDogsGo | #WorldJuniorspic.twitter.com/POLmfYWaxs

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) January 2, 2026

Murnieks had a goal and three assists in five games at the tournament, matching his totals from a year ago. The 17-year-old remains eligible for next year's tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer where he's likely to be a key piece for Latvia again.

Murnieks had been sidelined with a concussion prior to this year's tournament. In 22 games with the Sea Dogs this season, he's registered three goals and 10 assists. The team is no doubt hoping he can get back into the groove he was in earlier this season.

Sweden will play Finland in Sunday's first semifinal. Finland upset the host Americans with a 4-3 overtime win on Friday.

Gardiner MacDougall and Team Canada will take on Czechia in the late semifinal. The two have gotten to know each other quite well in recent years and have developed a nice rivalry. Canada defeated Czechia 7-5 in preliminary round play.

The semifinal winners will play for gold on Monday while the losers will play for bronze.

Notebook: Top prospect signs USHL tender

USHL

The player recruitment issues aren't going away for the QMJHL.

Earlier this week the USHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks announced that forward Zaac Charbonneau, one of the top prospects for the 2026 QMJHL Entry Draft, has signed a tender agreement with the club for the 2026-27 season.

“We are getting an elite player that is passionate and loves the game, and it shows in his compete, his IQ, and his ability to score goals from anywhere,” said Lumberjacks general manager Jim McGroarty in a news release. “When you are talking hockey, or anything with Zaac, he always has a smile on his face. These are the types of young men we want in the locker room and our community.”

Charbonneau has played US prep school hockey at Mount St. Charles the past two seasons.

There's still a chance Charbonneau could opt to play in the QMJHL next season, but players have been honouring these commitments of late – which hasn't been good news for the Q. The hope was that these types of things would go away with the NCAA rule change – but they're still happening.

The Lumberjacks in particular have been a problem for the QMJHL. Fredericton native Tynan Lawrence, a top prospect for this year's NHL Draft, is in his second season with the Lumberjacks.

WORLD JR UPDATE

Olivers Murnieks and Team Latvia will face Sweden in Friday's quarterfinals.

Murnieks registered an assist and went 16-14 in faceoffs in 19:54 of ice time in Latvia's 4-2 loss to Czechia on Wednesday, the final day of preliminary round play at the IIHF World Junior Championship.

Latvia finished fourth in Group B with four points. They'll now crossover and face Sweden, who finished first in Group A thanks to a 6-3 win over the United States on Wednesday.

The other quarterfinals will see Czechia face Switzerland, the US take on Finland and Canada face Slovakia.

Following Friday's quarterfinals, the semifinals will take place Sunday and the finals on Monday.

JOSEPH HAT TRICK

Alexis Joseph recorded his second career QMJHL hat trick on Wednesday in Saint John's 6-5 loss to the Newfoundland Regiment.

Here's a look at all three goals:

Joseph also had an assist in the game. He tied a career high for both goals and points in a single game.

Joseph sits sixth in QMJHL rookie scoring with 33 points and is tied for fourth in goals with 17.