Pre-Season Game Day 3: at Moncton

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

FREDERICTON - You're not going to believe this, but the Saint John Sea Dogs play... the Moncton Wildcats tonight.

For the third time in four days, the Sea Dogs and Wildcats will battle in Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League pre-season play. The two met on Wednesday in St. Stephen where the Wildcats posted a 4-1 win and on Tuesday in Moncton where they fought to a 1-1 tie.

Tonight, the two teams will travel to Fredericton to play at UNB's Aitken Centre, which is notable for a couple reasons. This is a Wildcats "home" game, which makes sense given that UNB legend Gardiner MacDougall is Moncton's head coach. But the Aitken Centre will be the Sea Dogs' secondary home this season with the team playing three regular season "home" matches in the building.

Both teams still have quite a few bodies at training camp, so we could see some more lineup adjustments tonight.

Game time is 7 p.m.

Radio/TV/Stream: None/None/Wildcats YouTube maybe?

Pre-Season Records: The Sea Dogs 0-1-1 this pre-season for one point while the Wildcats are 1-0-1 for three points.

2024-25 records: The Sea Dogs finished 21-43-0-0 for 42 points (sixth Maritimes/10th Eastern/17th QMJHL) last season while the Wildcats were 53-9-2-0 for 108 points (first Maritimes/first Eastern/first QMJHL).

2024-25 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 2-6-0-0 against the Wildcats last season while Moncton went 6-1-1-0.

Last meeting: Wednesday night in St. Stephen where the Wildcats defeated the Sea Dogs 4-1. Simon Binkley, Charles-Olivier Giguere, Jack Hayne and Grayden Robertson-Palmer all scored for Moncton. Angelo Fullerton scored Saint John's lone goal. Victor Regis allowed a goal on seven shots in the first half of the game for Moncton while Will Cole stopped all nine shots he faced in the second half. On the Saint John side, Anthony Alessi allowed three goals on 17 shots in the first half while Jase MacPherson allowed a goal on 18 shots in the second half.

Sea Dogs reassign eight more

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs' training camp roster is now down to 44 players.

The Sea Dogs reassigned another eight players on Thursday. The cuts come after the Sea Dogs fell 4-1 to the Moncton Wildcats in pre-season play on Wednesday.

The following players have been released:

Forwards

Madison Bouchard

Ryan Hodkinson

Cole Renaud

Elliot Tozer

Dax Vader

Defensemen

Matas Janulis 

Julien Lacroix 

Goaltender 

Anthony Alessi

All eight players appeared in at least one pre-season game with the Sea Dogs. Renaud, Tozer, Janulis and Alessi all played in Wednesday's contest. Alessi allowed three goals on 17 shots in the first half of the game.

Renaud (sixth-round), Lacroix (10th-round), Bouchard (10th-round) and Tozer (12th-round) were all selected by Saint John in the 2025 QMJHL Entry Draft and were long shots to crack this year's squad. Janulis, an American, was a 13th-round pick of the Sea Dogs in 2024.

Hodkinson, Vader and Alessi were all free agent invites.

A total of 18 players have been released since Saint John's training camp opened last weekend – but there has yet to be a big surprise. 24 forwards, 14 defensemen and six goaltenders remain in camp. An updated roster can be found here.

The Sea Dogs play two more pre-season games this week, both of which will be in Fredericton. On Friday the Sea Dogs take on the Moncton Wildcats (again) at the Aitken Centre and on Saturday they'll face the Newfoundland Regiment at Willie O'Ree Place.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-1

FINAL: Moncton 4, Saint John 1

ST. STEPHEN, NB - A four-goal second period pushed the Moncton Wildcats to a 4-1 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs in Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League pre-season play on Wednesday.

Simon Binkley, Charles-Olivier Giguere and Jack Hayne all scored less than two-minutes apart in the middle frame to give the Wildcats a commanding lead. Grayden Robertson-Palmer added another Moncton goal late in the frame.

Angelo Fullerton scored Saint John's only goal – which also came in the second period – converting on a breakaway.

The first period – which had some big hits – was fairly close with shots 8-5. The Sea Dogs got into some penalty trouble in the opening frame but were able to escape with no damage.

The penalty trouble continued early in the second which led to Moncton's opening goal at 5:15. The Wildcats finished the night 2/5 on the power play while the Sea Dogs went 0/3.

Shots ended 35-16 in favour of the Wildcats. Shots in the second period were 14-3 in favour of Moncton.

For Moncton, Victor Regis allowed a goal on seven shots in the first half of the game. Will Cole stopped all nine shots he faced in the second half.

On the Saint John side, Anthony Alessi allowed three goals on 17 shots in the first half. Jase MacPherson allowed a goal on 18 shots in the second half.

Both teams, as you would expect at this point of training camp, dressed lineups with only a handful of players with any significant amount of QMJHL experience. 

Sea Dogs release four more from camp

ST. STEPHEN, NB - The Saint John Sea Dogs announced a few roster moves on Wednesday.

The following four players were all released from the team's training camp roster:

Forwards 

Niko Baljak 

Dylan-Alec Chery 

Tristan Gravenor 

Defensemen 

Brian McFadden

All four played in Tuesday night's pre-season game in Moncton.

Chery, 17, was a 12th-round pick of Saint John in the 2024 QMJHL Entry Draft. The Blainville native spent last season in the United States.

McFadden, also 17, was a seventh-round pick of Saint John in 2024. The Massachusetts native spent last season playing US prep school hockey with Thayer Academy along with the East Coast Militia under-16 team. He is expected to return to Thayer for another season.

Baljak and Gravenor were both attending Saint John's training camp as free agents.

This is the second round of cuts the Sea Dogs have made. On Tuesday, forwards Bryce Cunningham, Ben Cross and Carter McIllwraith; defensemen Frederick Bourque and Joshua Henry; and goaltender Vladislav Bryzgalov were all released.

Saint John now has 52 players remaining on their camp roster.

The Sea Dogs were back in pre-season action on Wednesday, facing the Moncton Wildcats in St. Stephen. They also play this weekend, taking on the Wildcats on Friday at Fredericton's Aitken Centre and Newfoundland on Saturday at Fredericton's Willie O'Ree Place.

Pre-Season Game Day 2: vs Wildcats

ST. STEPHEN, NB - The Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats are in action again tonight.

After playing to a 1-1 tie in Moncton last night, the Sea Dogs and Wildcats head south for a pre-season contest at St. Stephen's Garcelon Civic Center. Game time tonight is 7 p.m.

The Sea Dogs defeated the Charlottetown Islanders 4-1 in St. Stephen last year. Matthew Ferdinand, Jonah Leard, Charles-Antoine Lavalleé and Florian Schenk all scored in that game. Luciano Ruggiero and Jack Flanagan split the win in net.

Prior to last year's visit, the Sea Dogs hadn't played an exhibition game in St. Stephen since 2019 when they lost 4-2 to the Halifax Mooseheads.

Both the Sea Dogs and Wildcats still have fairly large camp rosters, so there is a good chance we'll see very different lineups tonight. 

Radio/TV/Stream: None/None/None

Pre-Season Records: Both the Sea Dogs and Wildcats are 0-0-1 following a 1-1 tie last night.

2024-25 records: The Sea Dogs finished 21-43-0-0 for 42 points (sixth Maritimes/10th Eastern/17th QMJHL) last season while the Wildcats were 53-9-2-0 for 108 points (first Maritimes/first Eastern/first QMJHL).

2024-25 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 2-6-0-0 against the Wildcats last season while Moncton went 6-1-1-0.

Last meeting: Last night at Avenir Centre where the two teams battled to a 1-1 tie. Simon Binkley scored for Moncton while Dax Vader replied for Saint John. Jacoby Weiner and Victor Regis split the game for Moncton while Rhett Stoesser and Eric Young played for Saint John. Shots ended 44-39 in favour of the Wildcats.

Recap: Sea Dogs tie 1-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Moncton 1

MONCTON - The Saint John Sea Dogs opened the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League pre-season with a 1-1 tie against the Moncton Wildcats on Tuesday.

Free agent forward Dax Vader scored Saint John's lone goal, which came in the second period. Free agent netminder Rhett Stoesser allowed a goal on 21 shots in the first half of the game while returnee Eric Young stopped all 22 shots he faced in the second half.

The Wildcats outplayed the Sea Dogs in the first period, leading 1-0 on a Simon Binkley goal. Shots were 18-12 in favour of the Wildcats.

The Sea Dogs were able to turn things up a notch in the second period, leading to Vader's goal. Much of the offensive pressure on the night was produced by the top line of Natan Éthier, Alexis Gauthier and Brayden Campbell.

After a scoreless third period, the game headed to an entertaining overtime period with both teams having a few good chances. The game didn't go to a shootout, instead ending in a 1-1 tie.

Shots ended 44-39 in favour of the Wildcats.