Memorial Cup final set

Candice Ward/CHL

It'll be the Quebec Remparts and Seattle Thunderbirds playing for the Memorial Cup title on Sunday.

The Thunderbirds defeated the Peterborough Petes 4-1 in Friday night's semifinal, earning a spot in the championship game. The Remparts, meanwhile, earned a bye straight through to the final after defeating Seattle on Monday.

The Memorial Cup championship match will take place Sunday night at 8 p.m. Atlantic and can be seen on TSN.

Quebec defeated Seattle 3-1 in that preliminary round game. Despite being outshot 36-22, the Remparts had an impressive defensive performance, keeping quality Seattle scoring chances to a minimum.

Both squads finished 2-1 in the preliminary round. Quebec's lone loss came on Tuesday when they dropped a meaningless game (for the Remparts, anyways) to the Petes.

It's certainly not a shock to see these two meeting in the final. Quebec finished first in the QMJHL regular season standings and had a relatively smooth ride to the Gilles-Courteau Trophy championship. Seattle likely has the most star power of any team in junior hockey and defeated two very tough opponents, the Kamloops Blazers and Winnipeg Ice, in the WHL playoffs.

The Remparts, who feature former Saint John Sea Dogs forward Charles Savoie, will look to win their first Memorial Cup since 2006. If Quebec wins, it will be the fourth straight national championship for the QMJHL.

No WHL team has won the Memorial Cup since the 2014 Edmonton Oil Kings. No WHL champion has appeared in the final since 2015 when the Kelowna Rockets fell to the Oshawa Generals in Quebec City.

The host Blazers were eliminated by the Petes in Thursday's tie-breaker game, blowing a 4-1 lead and falling 5-4 in overtime. This is the first time since 2016 in Red Deer that the host team did not qualify for the final. It's also the first time since the 2014 London Knights that the host will finish in last-place.

2023-24 QMJHL schedule released

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs will open the 2023-24 season at the KC Irving Regional Centre in Bathurst.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League unveiled its schedule for the upcoming season on Wednesday and will feature the Sea Dogs visiting the Titan on Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. The contest is one of seven QMJHL games taking place opening night.

On Saturday, Sept. 23, the Sea Dogs will play their first home game of the year, hosting the Titan at 7 p.m.

The PDF released by the league on Wednesday is a bit messy to sort through, but here are a few takeaways on Saint John's schedule:

• The Sea Dogs travel into Quebec early this season, visiting Blainville-Boisbriand (Oct. 12), Val-d'Or (Oct. 14) and Rouyn-Noranda (Oct. 15) in mid-October.
• The defending QMJHL champions, the Quebec Remparts (or at least what is left of the roster), visit TD Station on Sunday, Oct. 29.
• The schedule has the Sea Dogs playing a rare Monday night game on Nov. 13 at TD Station, hosting the Cape Breton Eagles.
• The Sea Dogs will travel into Quebec three other times:
• Nov. 16 at Baie-Comeau, Nov. 17 at Chicoutimi and Nov. 19 at Rimouski.
• Jan. 26 at Shawinigan, Jan. 27 at Victoriaville and Jan. 28 at Gatineau.
• Feb. 23 at Quebec, Feb. 24 at Drummondville and Feb. 25 at Sherbrooke.
• The Sea Dogs play their final games before the holiday break on Dec. 15-16, visiting the Halifax Mooseheads.
• Saint John begins the second half on Thursday, Dec. 28 in Cape Breton. The Sea Dogs play in Moncton on Saturday, Dec. 30 and then host the Titan on New Year's Eve at 2 p.m.
• The Sea Dogs host the Eagles on Family Day Monday (Feb. 19) at 2 p.m.
• Saint John concludes regular season play at home at Saturday, March 23 against the Mooseheads. That game has a 4 p.m. start.

Saint John's pre-season schedule, which was released last week, begins Aug. 22.

Remparts earn bye to Memorial Cup final

Candice Ward/CHL

For a fourth straight tournament, a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team will play in the Memorial Cup final.

The Quebec Remparts earned a bye straight to Sunday's championship game with a 3-1 victory over the Western Hockey League champion Seattle Thunderbirds on Monday night in Kamloops.

Quebec has one preliminary round game remaining — Tuesday night against the winless Peterborough Petes — but that game will have no impact on the Remparts.

The Remparts will look to win the QMJHL's fourth straight national championship on Sunday, following in the footsteps of the Saint John Sea Dogs (2022), Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (2019) and Acadie-Bathurst Titan (2018).

Theo Rochette scored a pair of goals for Quebec on Monday while Charle Truchon secured the victory with an empty net goal. William Rousseau was strong in net once again, making 35 saves. Former Sea Dogs forward Charles Savoie assisted on Quebec's first goal, which came just 54 seconds into the game.

Quebec was outshot 36-22 by the high-powered Thunderbirds — the team many considered the favourite to win this year's Memorial Cup. The Remparts, who hammered the host Kamloops Blazers on Friday and then downed the Thunderbirds in a tight game, have certainly sent a statement that they are capable of beating any team in junior hockey.

Following Tuesday's Remparts-Petes game, the Blazers (1-1) take on the Thunderbirds (1-1). A tie-breaker game, if needed, would be Thursday followed by the semifinal on Friday. The Memorial Cup final takes place Sunday at 8 p.m. Atlantic.

Memorial Cup off to lopsided start

Candice Ward/CHL

The 2023 Memorial Cup has gotten off to a lopsided start.

The first three games of the tournament have all been decided by three or more goals, highlighted by the Kamloops Blazers hammering the Peterborough Petes 10-2 on Sunday.

Here's a look at the results from the opening three games:

Game 1: Quebec 8, Kamloops 3

Game 2: Seattle 6, Peterborough 3

Game 3: Kamloops 10, Peterborough 2

It's a significant difference from last year's tournament in Saint John where only one game — the championship match — was decided by three goals or more.

Game 1: Hamilton 3, Saint John 5

Game 2: Shawinigan 4, Edmonton 3

Game 3: Saint John 3, Edmonton 4 (OT)

Game 4: Shawinigan 3, Hamilton 2

Game 5: Edmonton 2, Hamilton 4

Game 6: Saint John 5, Shawinigan 3

Semifinal: Hamilton 4, Shawinigan 3 (OT)

Final: Hamilton 3, Saint John 6

The lopsided start to year's event could easily turn around this week (and likely will now that I've spent the time writing this). We were blessed with a few incredible games last year, so hopefully we get at least a couple this year.

The Quebec Remparts, who are looking to bring the Memorial Cup to the QMJHL for a fourth straight tournament, have two intriguing games remaining in the preliminary round: Monday night against the Seattle Thunderbirds and Tuesday against the Peterborough Petes. Most have the Thunderbirds as the favourites to win the event while the Petes must win to stay alive.

Team Canada wins gold at IIHF men's worlds

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Team Canada captured gold on Sunday at the 2023 IIHF World Championship in Finland.

While he did not play in Sunday's championship game — or in any of Canada's final five games at the tournament — former Saint John Sea Dogs forward Joe Veleno was on the ice in full equipment to accept his medal.

Veleno received a five-game suspension for a stomp he put on Switzerland's Nino Niederreiter in a preliminary round game on May 20. The ban made the Detroit Red Wings forward ineligible to play for the rest of the tournament.

Veleno had been playing on Team Canada's top line with Sammy Blais and Milan Lucic. He finished the tournament with two goals and three assists in five games.

The loss of Veleno didn't seem to hurt Canada too much who, after finishing second in Group B behind Switzerland, went on to defeat Finland in the quarterfinals and Latvia in the semis. On Sunday, Blais, a former member of the Victoriaville Tigres and Charlottetown Islanders, scored twice to help Canada defeat Germany 5-2 to win gold.

Other QMJHL alumni on Team Canada included goaltender Samuel Montembeault along with defensemen Justin Barron, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and MacKeznie Weegar. Andre Tourigny was the team's head coach.

Other Sea Dogs alumni who played in this year's tournament included Swiss netminder Robert Mayer and Czechia defenseman Jakub Zboril.

QMJHL Entry Draft getting closer

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The 2023 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Entry Draft takes place in two weeks.

The QMJHL website has confirmed the draft order for this year's event, which will take place in Sherbrooke on Saturday, June 10 beginning at 11 a.m. Atlantic. The first-round will be broadcast by Eastlink TV and streamed on CHL TV. 

The Sea Dogs are currently scheduled to make their first pick in the second-round, 30th overall. Saint John, at this moment, only has three picks in the first four rounds.

Here's where Saint John is currently picking - which could obviously change come draft day.

Round 2, 30th overall (via Baie-Comeau)

Round 2, 33rd overall (via Moncton)

Round 4, 72nd overall (via Victoriaville)

Round 6, 98th overall

Round 10, 170th overall

Round 11, 188th overall

Round 13, 224th overall

Round 14, 242nd overall

American Draft - Round 1, 4th overall

American Draft - Round 2, 22nd overall

Sea Dogs general manager Anthony Stella recently told the Telegraph-Journal (paywall) that his goal "is to acquire as many picks as possible."

Saint John has had quite a bit of success with second-round picks over the years, especially in recent times where the team has been able to sway NCAA-focused players to take the major junior route.

The Moncton Wildcats own the first overall pick. Forward Caleb Desnoyers is widely considered to be the best player available.