Notebook: Seed named to Team Italy

Jason Seed – a Memorial Cup champion with the Saint John Sea Dogs – has been named to Team Italy for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games.

Seed, who will turn 34 next week, has spent the past four seasons playing in Italy. Elite Prospects lists him as a Canadian and Italian dual citizen.

The Ottawa native spent parts of three seasons with the Sea Dogs, helping the club win back-to-back QMJHL titles in 2011 and 2012 and a Memorial Cup championship in 2011. He was a depth defensemen but did appear in all 17 of the team's playoff games in 2012.

Seed finished his junior career with the Maritime Junior Hockey League's Summerside Western Capitals. He went on to play four seasons at Carleton University before playing professional hockey in Europe.

Seed is likely to be the only Sea Dog alumnus playing at this year's Games. Former Sea Dogs captain Eriks Mateiko was named to Latvia's roster but he has been ruled out due to a season-ending injury.

COMING UP

The Sea Dogs are back at TD Station this weekend, hosting the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Saturday afternoon. Note that this is a 4 p.m. start.

This will be the first meeting of the season between the Sea Dogs and Phoenix. Sherbrooke features former Sea Dogs forward Chad Bellemare. They also include goaltender Kyan Labbé, who was a Sea Dogs draft pick.

This will be Saint John's last game at TD Station until Feb. 6. The Sea Dogs are in Moncton on Jan. 29 and Charlottetown on Jan. 31 before hosting the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Feb. 1 in Fredericton.

A peek at the playoff race

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

It's looking like the Saint John Sea Dogs will be – yet again – fighting for the final few playoff spots in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

The top-16 teams in the QMJHL will qualify for the post-season. The Sea Dogs currently sit 15th overall with a 16-22-4-0 record for 36 points.

With just over two months of regular season play remaining, it's shaping up to be an entertaining race, especially if the Baie-Comeau Drakkar can make a push out of the basement. We'll see how things shake down in the coming weeks.

Here's what the first-round matchups would look like if the playoffs started today. Saint John, as the ninth-place team in the Eastern Conference, would move over to the Western side and become the No. 7 seed (they have more points than Victoriaville currently).

Eastern Conference

1) Chicoutimi vs 8) Rimouski

2) Moncton vs 7) Halifax

3) Newfoundland vs 6) Quebec

4) Cape Breton vs 5) Charlottetown

Western Conference

1) Drummondville vs 8) Victoriaville

2) Blainville-Boisbriand vs 7) Saint John

3) Shawinigan vs 6) Sherbrooke

4) Rouyn-Noranda vs 5) Val-d'Or

The Sea Dogs did not qualify for the last year's playoffs, finishing with a 21-43-0-0 record for 42 points.

Saint John has not won a playoff series since 2017. They've not finished higher than 15th overall in the standings since the 2022 playoffs, where they were upset in the best-of-five first-round.

Robinson, Zubek debut with new teams

Summerside Western Capitals Facebook

MONCTON - Justin Robinson earned a win in his Summerside Western Capitals debut on Saturday.

Robinson made 20 saves in Summerside's 3-2 win over the Pictou County Weeks Crushers. Both of Pictou's goals came in the third period with one coming on a power play in the final minute.

In net for the Crushers was George Gallant, who the Capitals traded to Pictou to make room for Robinson.

The Saint John Sea Dogs traded Robinson to the Moncton Wildcats on deadline day. The Wildcats are keeping Jacoby Weiner as Rudy Guimond's backup, allowing Summerside to sign Robinson.

The Capitals, who are hosting the Centennial Cup national championship in May, currently sit first overeall in the Maritime Junior Hockey League standings with a 25-7-4-3 record.

In 19 games with the Sea Dogs this season, Robinson went 6-9-1 with a 3.97 goals against average and a .886 save percentage.

Some other Sunday news and notes...

• Defenseman Patryk Zubek, who was released by the Sea Dogs and claimed off waivers by the Newfoundland Regiment, finally debuted with his new team on Friday. The import d-man was a +3 with one shot in the Regiment's 8-4 home win over the Rimouski Oceanic.
• The Moncton Wildcats fell 7-4 to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Saturday night, a major showdown between two of the top teams in the QMJHL. The Sags led 5-1 in the second period but Moncton was able to make a game of it with a third period push.
• The Sagueneens won all three games of a challenging three-in-three through the Maritimes, defeating Halifax, Charlottetown and Moncton.
• The Sagueneens were outshot 12-2 in the third period on Saturday. Both of their shots were empty net goals. I doubt that has ever happened in league history.
• Packed house of 8,470 at Avenir Centre for Hockey Day in Canada. 
• The Wildcats and Sagueneens meet again next Saturday in Chicoutimi.
• The Cape Breton Eagles had a seven-game road trip come to an end on Sunday in Moncton, which included two games in both Shawinigan and Boisbriand along with stops in Rimouski, Drummondville and finally Moncton.
• The much hyped Ivan Ryabkin made his Charlottetown Islanders debut on Friday. In Saturday's 6-3 win over the Halifax Mooseheads, the Carolina Hurricanes second-rounder posted a goal and four assists. After posting another three points on Sunday, the Russian has an impressive two goals and eight points in three games. 
• The Ottawa 67's – one of the top teams in the OHL – won both of their games against the Gatineau Olympiques this weekend. They were close games, though, with Ottawa winning 2-1 on Friday and 5-3 on Saturday. The Sudbury Wolves, meanwhile, defeated the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 5-3 on Sunday.
• The expansion Penticton Vees, who entered the CHL Top-10 for the first time in team history last week, have now won 11 straight games. They sit second in the WHL's Western Conference behind the Everett Silvertips.
• The Medicine Hat Tigers had a 19-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday when they fell 8-5 to the Prince Albert Raiders.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Blainville-Boisbriand 5

Sebastien Gervais/Blainville-Boisbriand Armada

BOISBRIAND, QC - The Saint John Sea Dogs ended their three-game Quebec road trip with a loss on Saturday.

The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada scored three times in the first period en route to a 5-1 win over the Sea Dogs at Centre d'excellence Sports Rousseau.

Vincent Collard, Mael Lavigne, Mateo Nobert, Jan Golicic and Bill Zonnon scored for the Armada. Zach Pelletier made 29 saves in the win.

William Yared scored for Saint John. Arseni Radkov, playing against his former team for the first time, made 21 saves in the loss.

The Sea Dogs fell behind early, allowing the game's first goal just 2:51 in, and were never able to get back into it, trailing 4-0 at one point.

The Sea Dogs were playing their third game in four days. The club defeated the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday before falling 6-3 to the Val-d'Or Foreurs on Thursday.

Game Day 42: at Blainville-Boisbriand

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

BOISBRIAND, QC - A three-game Quebec road trip comes to a close today for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

After splitting the first two games of the trip, Saint John will look to head home with a winning record. The team will play their third game in four days when they visit the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada for a 5 p.m. Atlantic puck drop.

The Armada are one of the favourites to contend for a league title this season – but they've been struggling over the past few weeks, going 4-4-1-1 in their last 10 games and sliding into third in the Western Conference.

The Armada feature former Sea Dogs forwards Jacob Beaulieu and Elliott Dubé, who were both dealt during the holiday trade period.

Stream/TV/Radio: FloHockey/None/Sea Dogs Audio Network

Records: The Sea Dogs are 16-21-4-0 for 36 points (ninth Eastern/15th QMJHL) while the Armada are 22-12-5-1 for 50 points (third Western/fifth QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 6-3 loss in Val-d'Or on Thursday. Everett Baldwin, Dylan Rozzi and Olivers Murnieks all scored for Saint John. Arseni Radkov made 34 saves in the loss. The Armada are coming off a 6-1 home win over the Cape Breton Eagles on Wednesday. Justin Carbonneau and Vincent Desjardins both scored twice for the Armada while singles came from Olivier Lemieux and Mael Lavigne. William Lacelle made 25 saves in the win. 

Notebook: Mateiko done for season

Hershey Bears

Some brutal news for former Saint John Sea Dogs captain Eriks Mateiko.

Mateiko will miss the rest of his rookie American Hockey League season and the upcoming Winter Olympic Games after having surgery this week.

"Hershey Bears forward Eriks Mateiko underwent a surgical procedure to repair his right Achilles tendon yesterday afternoon following a skate blade laceration during Sunday’s game in Hershey," the team tweeted on Tuesday. "Based on the nature of the procedure, Mateiko will miss the remainder of the season."

You can the see incident below.

This is where Mateiko got injured. He turns a little awkwardly and goes down right away but note the officials scraping the ice a little at the blue line. pic.twitter.com/lUlayiV0fB

— Bears Hockey Nation (@HBHNationBlog) January 11, 2026

The 20-year-old has posted a goal and five assists in 27 AHL games. He was recently named to Latvia's Olympic roster.

TICKET DISCOUNT

This from the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation Facebook page:

The discount applies to Saint John's next home game: Saturday, Jan. 24 against the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Note that this is a 4 p.m. start.