Saint John Sea Dogs

Saint John Sea Dogs
founding	2005
history	Saint John Sea Dogs since 2005
Stadion	Harbor Station
Location	Saint John , New Brunswick
Team colors	navy blue, black, white, silver
league	Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Quebec
division	Maritime Division
Head coach	Danny Flynn
Team captain	Jonathan Huberdeau
General manager	Mike Kelly
Memorial Cups	2011
Coupes du President	2010/11 , 2011/12 , 2016/17

The Saint John Sea Dogs are a professional Canadian junior hockey team from Saint John in the Province of New Brunswick , in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play. The franchise plays its home games in Harbor Station .

history

The Sea Dogs were founded in autumn 2005 after the Saint John Flames had left the American Hockey League and thus a gap in ice hockey in Saint John had arisen that could be closed with a new junior team. His first and second season in the LHJMQ ended the new team in eighth place in the LHJMQ Eastern Division, which did not entitle them to participate in the play-offs.

In December 2006, the Sea Dogs fired their player Dave Bouchard after he refused to sign a flag for Canadian troops in Afghanistan . Coach Jacques Beaulieu later stated that although there were problems with this player, any player who refused to sign would have been fired. ("It wouldn't matter who it would have been. It could have been one of our best players, our first round pick.") Bouchard later stated that he thought that a teammate had already signed for him.

In the 2007/08 season , the Sea Dogs succeeded in their third season for the first time qualifying for the finals. In the playoffs, the team reached the semi-finals, in which they failed in four encounters against the Huskies de Rouyn-Noranda . After the first round in the 2008/09 season , head coach Jacques Beaulieu was relieved of his office and Gerard Gallant hired as his successor. Under whose leadership the team surpassed in the 2009-10 season for the first time the mark of 100 points in the regular season and was at 109 points, the best team in the regular season . Both offensively and defensively, the team had improved a lot compared to the previous seasons and was successful with 309 goals in the regular season, for which the Sea Dogs were awarded the Trophée Luc Robitaille . On December 12, 2009, the team won the 22nd season game in a row. As a result, the team achieved the third-longest winning streak in the history of the league and the fourth-longest within the Canadian Hockey League . The record within the CHL with 25 victories in a row are jointly held by the Kitchener Rangers (1984) and the Éperviers de Sorel (1973/74). In the playoffs, the team only failed in the finals for the Coupe du Président against the Moncton Wildcats .

The Saint John Sea Dogs had submitted their application for a possible 2012 Memorial Cup in Saint John , New Brunswick , in September 2010 . In April 2011, the selection committee awarded the contract to host the competition to the Shawinigan Cataractes , which also prevailed against the candidacies of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and Halifax Mooseheads .

During the 2010/11 season , Yann Sauvé , who played for the Vancouver Canucks , made his debut as the first drafted player in franchise history in the National Hockey League . The Sea Dogs kept their performance at a consistently high level in the 2010/11 season and on March 10, 2011, with the 54th win of the season, exceeded the team's record number of points from the previous season ahead of time and again scored at least 300 goals. The regular season ended the team with 58 wins and thereby set the league record of the Éperviers de Sorel (1973/74) and the Draveurs de Trois-Rivières (1978/79) for most wins of the season. In the history of the CHL, only the Victoria Cougars won more matches in the 1980/81 season (60 wins) and the London Knights in the 2004/05 season (59 wins). The Sea Dogs did not lose a home game during regular time this season, making for a first in the history of the LHJMQ. Of the 34 home games, only two ended in defeat, both in overtime.

In the playoffs, the team won one after the other against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles , Tigres de Victoriaville , Lewiston MAINEiacs and Olympiques de Gatineau and won the championship of the LHJMQ for the first time. In the decisive sixth final game against the Olympiques de Gatineau, the team won 3-2 with a goal in the second overtime , the winning goal scored Alexandre Beauregard . Following this game, Jonathan Huberdeau was awarded the Trophée Guy Lafleur as the most valuable player in the playoffs . Because of this success, the team took part in the Memorial Cup for the first time . After beating the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors in the final , the team won the 2011 edition of the tournament of the same name and secured the most important trophy in Canadian junior ice hockey. Jonathan Huberdeau was awarded the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the Tournament . In the 2011 NHL Entry Draft , a total of five players were selected from the team, with Jonathan Huberdeau in third overall position, Nathan Beaulieu (17th) and Zack Phillips (28th), three players being selected in the first round.

The following season 2011/12 was also crowned with success, the Sea Dogs finished the regular season for the third time in a row as the team with the highest points in the league, making them the first team in league history to win the Jean Rougeau Trophy for the third time in a row won. Danick Gauthier with 47 goals in the regular season and goalkeeper Mathieu Corbeil-Thériault , who booked 37 wins of the season, set new franchise records. The Harbor Station was busy with an average of 4561 visitors. The attendance was thus slightly higher than the 2010/11 championship season, when an average of 4478 visitors were registered. In the first playoff game of the 2011/12 season in March 2012, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles were defeated 13: 4 in front of a crowd of 4917 visitors in the Harbor Station, the home team scored eight goals in the second period, setting a league record. The American Charlie Coyle was the first player in team history to score six points (three goals, three assists) in a playoff game. A day later, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles were again clearly defeated, 8: 1 was the final result and Charlie Coyle was again the most successful player with five points.

Season statistics

season	Sp	S.	N	SON	OTN	Pt	Pct%	T	GT	placement	Play-offs
2005/06	70	15th	47	6th	2	38	0.214	174	325	8th East Division	not qualified
2006/07	70	20th	47	2	1	43	0.286	209	337	8th Eastern Division	not qualified
2007/08	70	41	22nd	3	4th	89	0.586	265	238	2nd Eastern Division	Semifinals
2008/09	68	34	30th	2	2	72	0.500	222	232	3rd Atlantique Division	First round
2009/10	68	53	12	2	1	109	0.779	309	187	1st Atlantic Division	final
2010/11	68	58	7th	2	1	119	0.875	324	165	1st Maritime Division	master
2011/12	68	50	15th	3	0	103	0.757	298	180	1st Maritime Division	master
2012/13	68	23	44	1	0	47	0.346	173	271	5th Maritime Division	First round
2013/14	68	19th	44	3	2	43	0.316	165	255	6th Maritime Division	not qualified

Legend for season statistics: GP or SP = total games; W or S = victories; L or N = defeats; T or U = tie; OTS = wins after extra time ( overtime ); OTN or OL = overtime defeats; SOS = shootout wins; SOL or SON = Shootout Losses; P = points; Pct% = wins in%; GF or T = goals; GA or GT = goals conceded

Franchise records

Career

	Surname	number
Most games	Mike Thomas	288 (in five seasons)
Most goals	Michael Kirkpatrick	108
Most templates	Jonathan Huberdeau	153
Most of the points	Jonathan Huberdeau	257 (104 goals + 153 assists)
Most penalty minutes	Mike Thomas	470
Most wins as a goalkeeper	Sebastien Auger *	51
Most shutouts	Mathieu Corbeil-Thériault	6th

* active player; Status after the end of the 2013/14 season

season

	Surname	number	season
Most goals	Danick Gauthier	47	2011/12
Most templates	Jonathan Huberdeau	62	2010/11
Most of the points	Jonathan Huberdeau	105 (43 goals + 62 assists)	2010/11
Most points as a rookie	Christopher DiDomenico	75 (25 goals + 50 assists)	2006/07
Most points as a defender	Nathan Beaulieu	52 (11 goals + 41 assists)	2011/12
Most penalty minutes	Brett Gallant	192	2006/07
Most wins as a goalkeeper	Mathieu Corbeil-Thériault	37	2011/12

Former players

The following players who were active for the Sea Dogs played in the National Hockey League during their career :

• Nathan Beaulieu
• Thomas Chabot
• Charlie Coyle
• Simon Després
• Stanislav Galiev
• Brett Gallant
• Eric Gélinas
• Alex Grant
• Matthew Highmore
• Mike Hoffman
• Jonathan Huberdeau
• Mathieu Joseph
• Tomáš Jurčo
• Yann Sauvé

The players who were selected in the NHL Entry Draft during their time in Saint John also include Christopher DiDomenico , Zack Phillips and Felix Schütz .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hockey player fired for not signing flag for troops. CBC, December 18, 2006, accessed March 25, 2012 . 
2. ↑ Sea Dogs' Winning Streak Hits 22 Games With 6-4 Victory Over Titan. OurSports Central, December 12, 2009, accessed March 25, 2012 . 
3. ^ Longest Winning Streak. (No longer available online.) Canadian Hockey League, archived from the original on May 18, 2011 ; accessed on June 5, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Sea Dogs submit Letter of intent to host 2012 Memorial Cup. Saint John Sea Dogs, September 16, 2010, accessed March 25, 2012 . 
5. ^ The Canadian Press: Shawinigan chosen as host of 2012 Memorial Cup. The Star, April 7, 2011, accessed March 25, 2012 . 
6. ↑ Shootout victory sets new team wins record. Saint John Sea Dogs, May 10, 2011, accessed March 25, 2012 . 
7. ↑ Most Wins, One Season. (No longer available online.) Canadian Hockey League, archived from the original on May 18, 2011 ; accessed on June 5, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ QMJHL: Despres' four points leads Sea Dogs to victory. TSN, March 20, 2011, accessed March 25, 2012 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} Yearly attendance for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL. hockeyDB, accessed March 25, 2012 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b} Jamie Tozer: Sea Dogs See Attendance Increase. Station Nation, March 5, 2012, accessed March 25, 2012 . 
11. ↑ Dogs Rewrite Record Book in Blowout. Saint John Sea Dogs, March 24, 2012, accessed March 25, 2012 . 
12. ↑ ^{a b} Game Summary: Friday March 23, 2012 - Cape Breton vs. Saint John. (No longer available online.) Québec Major Junior Hockey League, March 23, 2012, archived from the original on April 23, 2012 ; accessed on March 25, 2012 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ↑ Game Summary: Friday March 24, 2012 - Cape Breton vs. Saint John. (No longer available online.) Québec Major Junior Hockey League, March 24, 2012, archived from the original on March 28, 2012 ; accessed on March 25, 2012 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Official website
• Saint John Sea Dogs in the HockeyDB