Three Dogs Ranked By Central Scouting

NHL Central Scouting released their midterm rankings today for the upcoming 2014 Draft.

Defenseman Oliver LeBlanc was the top ranked member of the Saint John Sea Dogs, coming in at No. 112 amongst North American skaters. Center Matthew Highmore came in at No. 139 and right winger Spencer Smallman was ranked No. 145.

LeBlanc sits third on the Sea Dogs in points with 26 and is tied for the team lead in assists with 21. Meanwhile, Highmore is second on the team in scoring with 32 points in 42 games. Smallman has 19 points in 40 contests.

Also ranked was the injured Juraj Siska who was given a “limited viewing” ranking.

Moncton’s Ivan Barbashev was the top ranked Quebec Major Junior Hockey League player at No. 12.

News & Notes From Sunday's Game

Solid hit by Olivier LeBlanc in the first period of last night’s game. Unfortunately LeBlanc was called for checking to the head and then had to fight Aaron Hoyles.

Some other stuff from the game…

• Quite a game. Nice to see the Sea Dogs pick up a well earned point after a tough loss in Quebec City on Saturday night. Saint John seemed to improve as this road trip went along. They finished the trip with just one point but it came against the league’s top team.
• The first period was quite physical with a few big hits. Along with LeBlanc fighting Hoyles, Joseph Strong and Lukas Walter had a very spirited tilt. Video can be found HERE.
• Then in the second period, Daniel Walcott fought Kelly Bent.
• Saint John opened the scoring just 1:14 into the game thanks to Oliver Cooper netting his 15^th of the season. It was his first goal since December 21^st.
• Cooper and Daniel Walcott collided knee-on-knee in the first period. Cooper was in some pain but would be okay.
• With a goal and an assist, Noah Zilbert has two goals and a helper in his last two games. His goal on Sunday came during a five-on-three power play in the third period that tied the game at 2-2.
• This was Saint John’s first loss in overtime this season.
• Ryan Tesink played his first game against his former team. He had an assist in the game along with six shots and one hit. No word yet if the league will compensate Saint John for the Armada winning this game.
• Rough game for David Weckworth who took three minor penalties – a couple of them being questionable. His third came at 19:36 of the third, giving the Armada a power play to kick off overtime. The Dogs would kill off the penalty, though.
• Mathieu Joseph looked great in this game. He had a good chance in OT but was taken down on a partial break. There was no call.
• Sebastien Auger was definitely upset following the OT goal. He played great again but suffered another tough loss.
• The Sea Dogs were without forward Stephen Anderson (upper body), Joey Richard (shoulder), and Nathan Noel (healthy) along with defensemen Michael Abbott (hand) and Will Thompson (healthy). Per News 88.9, Ross Yates wanted Noel and Thompson to get some rest with the heavy schedule they have endured over the past couple weeks.
• Some unreal photos from the game.

RECAP: So Close. Dogs Lose 3-2.

FINAL: Saint John 2, Blainville-Boisbriand 3 (OT)

BOISBRIAND, Que. – The Saint John Sea Dogs’ road trip came to end in heartbreaking fashion on Sunday night against the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s top team.

Daniel Walcott scored at 4:25 of overtime to give the St. John’s Fog Devils Montreal Junior Blainville-Boisbriand Armada a 3-2 victory over the Sea Dogs at the Arena-With-A-Really-Long-Name.

Much like Saturday’s game in Quebec City, the Sea Dogs were certainly good enough to pick up the win in this game. But unfortunately for the Dogs, the Armada were able to score first in OT and pick up the extra point.

Oliver Cooper and Noah Zilbert scored for the Sea Dogs. Sebastien Auger was excellent in net and made 35 saves in the loss.

Nikita Jevpalovs, Marc-Olivier Roy, and Walcott had goals for the league leading Armada. Samuel Montembeault made 21 stops in the win.

GAMEDAY 42 - at Blainville-Boisbriand

A preview of today’s game…

When and where: Today at 5 pm AST, Centre d'excellence Sports Rousseau

TV/RADIO: TVA Sports/TELUS Webcast/News 88.9

Records: The Sea Dogs are sixth in the Telus Maritimes Division and 18^th overall in the QMJHL with an 11-27-0-3 record for 25 points. The St. John's Fog Devils Montreal Junior Blainville-Boisbriand Armada are first in the Telus West Division and first overall in the league with a 27-9-4-3 record for 61 points.

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 3-1 loss in Quebec City last night. Noah Zilbert had Saint John’s only goal. The Armada are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday. Etienne Marcoux allowed four goals on 28 shots in the loss.

2013-14 head-to-head: This is the first meeting of the season between the two.

Last meeting: See above.

Random stat: There are two Saint John natives on the Armada: Ryan Tesink and Matthew Bursey.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Armada: Ryan Tesink

SJ notes: 4-6-0-0 in their last 10 games… this game ends a three-game Quebec road trip for the Sea Dogs. They have lost both games so far and have been outscored 8-1… 1-5-0-0 against the Telus West Division… this is the first time Saint John has played against Ryan Tesink since the trade fiasco.

BLB notes: 4-4-0-2 in their last 10 and have lost back-to-back games… Etienne Marcoux has the league’s fourth best GAA at 2.78… averaging 13.65 penalty minutes per game, the third lowest average in the league… 15-1-2-1 when scoring first… 4-1-1-1 against the Maritimes Division… the Armada have the league’s worst penalty kill with a rating of 73.7%... their goals against per game average of 2.73 is second lowest in the league… Frederic Bergeron is on a three-game goal scoring streak… Daniel Walcott is on a five-game assist streak… Danick Martel has goals in three straight home games.

News & Notes From Saturday's Game

Some stuff from last night’s game…

• Adam Erne scored on Quebec’s first shot of the game at 7:07 of the first to open the scoring. He added another goal just 10 seconds into the second. He finished the night with two goals, an assist, and four shots.
• Nick Sorensen had a good night as well, assisting on both of Erne’s goals and scoring his own in the third period.
• Fairly evenly played game. Francois Brassard made some nice stops throughout the game in the Quebec net.
• Noah Zilbert had Saint John’s only goal, scoring with one minute remaining in the game.
• Zilbert’s goal was the Sea Dogs’ first goal in some time. They hadn’t scored since the first period of last Sunday’s game against Bathurst, a stretch of seven periods.
• Definitely not a spectacular night for either team’s offense. Dangerous shots were only 9-5 in favour of Saint John. Neither team had much going on on the power play, either.
• This was the final meeting of the season between the two. Quebec won both games
• Sea Dogs scratches were forwards Stephen Anderson (upper body), Joey Richard (shoulder), and Mackenzie Brown (healthy) along with defensemen Michael Abbott (hand) and Alexander McQuaid (healthy).

RECAP: Dogs Lose 3-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Quebec 3

QUEBEC CITY – Goals are hard to come by for the Saint John Sea Dogs these days.

The team managed to keep up with the Quebec Remparts for most of Saturday’s game but could not equal them on the scoreboard, falling 3-1 at Colisee Pepsi in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

Neither team had a spectacular night offensively with shots just 28-27 in favour of the Remparts. Quebec goaltender Francois Brassard made several solid stops to keep the Dogs from scoring. Saint John’s only goal came with one minute left to play in the game.

Saint John has struggled to score on this road trip so far. They lost 5-0 on Thursday in Rimouski and extended their goalless drought to seven periods tonight. Fortunately, Noah Zilbert ended the shutout streak.

Adam Erne had a pair of goals and an assist for Quebec while Nick Sorensen had a goal and two assists. Brassard made 26 saves in the win.

Sebastien Auger made 25 saves in the loss for the Sea Dogs.