Monday, March 19, 2012

Sea Dogs Notebook

AWARDS
The Sea Dogs will hold their annual team awards banquet tonight at the Delta Brunswick Ballroom. The formal night will include cocktails at 6 p.m., with the dinner and awards beginning at 6:30.

The awards given out tonight are the Saint John Airport Academic Player of the Year, Tim Hortons Most Improved Player, Irving Oil Team Player Award, Scotiabank Community Service Award, Alpine Three Stars Award, Children’s Wish Foundation Fan Choice Award, and the Pepsi Top Scorer Award.

Three awards, the Bell Aliant Most Valuable Player, the Grant Thornton Rookie of the Year and the Sun Life Global Investments Top Defenceman, will be handed out after the conclusion of the Sea Dogs playoff run.

All the info can be found on the Sea Dogs website. 

PHILLIPS
Last week, Sea Dogs forward Zack Phillips was named the winner of the Myer and Jack Budovitch Award as Fredericton's athlete of the year for 2011.

It was quite a year for Phillips. He attended the CHL/NHL Top Prospects, helped the Sea Dogs win the President’s Cup and Memorial Cup, and was selected in the first round of the National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild.

Although the site has not been updated in a while, more info on the award can be found on the Fredericton Sports Investment website.

UP NEXT
The second season begins on Friday at 8pm at Harbour Station as the Sea Dogs host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in Game One of their best-of-seven first-round series. Note that this is an 8pm start because of the Sportsnet broadcast.

Game Two will played on Saturday at 7pm at the Station. The full schedule has not been released yet, but Games Three and Four will likely be played the following Tuesday and Wednesday in Sydney.

Tickets are available at the Harbour Station box office, by calling 506-657-1234 or online at www.tickets.harbourstation.ca.

COLD TEAM
The Screaming Eagles were named this week’s “cold team” by Patrick King of Sportsnet.

“The Screaming Eagles limped into the playoffs with three straight losses, two of which came against the Saint John Sea Dogs, the team they will now face in the opening round,” writes King. “Cape Breton won just two of their final 12 games, both against the P.E.I. Rocket, the only team in the league that did not make the playoffs. Both losses to Saint John were somewhat close, which should give the Screaming Eagles some confidence.”

These are some rough times in the CB.

TWO POINTS
The Sea Dogs finished with an unofficial record of 51-15-0-3 because of the win that was stripped by the league following the Maxime Villemaire incident.

At the end of the day, the two points that Saint John lost and the two points that the Gatineau Olympiques gained changed nothing in the overall standings. Saint John finished first overall with 103 points, six points ahead of second place Shawinigan. Gatineau finished in 14th with 62 points, one-point back of 13th Baie-Comeau and six points ahead of 15th Rouyn-Noranda.

Gatineau will play the surprising Blainville-Boisbraind Armada in the first-round.

OVERTIME
The Sea Dogs and the Val-d’Or Foreurs were the only teams in the league this season to not suffer an overtime loss. This is the first season that the Sea Dogs have not lost an OT game in their history.

Saint John won two games in OT this year while seven others headed to a shootout. The Dogs were 4-3 in shootouts this year.

JURCO
Last week, Hockey’s Future named Tomas Jurco the Detroit Red Wings’ fourth best prospect.

“Jurco is having a career year with the Saint John Sea Dogs, scoring 68 points through 47 games with the team,” writes Brandon Peleshok. “In addition, he is playing in more high traffic areas, and showing that he can withstand the physical rigors of the game. At his current rate of development, Jurco could find himself at the top of the prospect list in the following years.”

COYLE VID
Here’s a John Moore interview with Charlie Coyle.



Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

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