National ranking only a week away?

[dogcatcher]

National ranking only a week away?

PETER MCGUIRE
GAME ON
Published Tuesday October 23rd, 2007
Appeared on page B12

Now that the Saint John Sea Dogs have shown they can run with the pack, could a national ranking be next for the third-year franchise?

The statistics seem to back up that notion.

Saint John sits tied for third with the defending Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Lewiston Maineiaces in the East Division with a record of 8-3-0-1 for 17 points, good for sixth overall in the 18-team circuit.

As it stands, three teams in the Q are among the nation's top 10 list - the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (second at 12-3-1-0), Baie Comeau Drakkar (seventh at 9-4-0-2) and the Halifax Mooseheads (10th at 10-3-0-1). Rankings are released every Wednesday.

Two of Saint John's four losses have come to Cape Breton (on opening night) and Halifax, on the road.

The high-flying Gatineau Olympiques came to town on Saturday and the Sea Dogs skated stride for stride with them, falling 5-4 in a shootout. It was easily the most entertaining game of the season. Gatineau didn't appear on last week's top 10 list but is second overall with a record of 11-7-0-1 and 23 points.

While eight of Saint John's first 12 games have been played at Harbour Station, a couple more road wins this week - Wednesday in Lewiston and Friday in Bathurst - will certainly go a long way to vaulting the Dogs into those lofty national rankings.

SMART MOVE: Hats off to Sea Dogs coach and general manager Jacques Beaulieu for putting local standout Andrew Langan in the starting lineup for his QMJHL debut on Saturday night. Langan held his own in his handful of shifts and kept things simple by not trying to do too much. The 16-year-old will continue to practise regularly with the Sea Dogs and get plenty of valuable playing time with the Saint John Vito's of the New Brunswick/Prince Edward Island Major Midget Hockey League. Langan scored twice and added an assist in the Vito's 4-3 win over Fredericton on Sunday. Saint John actually erased a 3-0 third-period deficit on its way to its seventh win in eight starts this season.

Remember back on opening night of the Sea Dogs' first-ever game in 2005-06 when then-coach Christian La Rue decided not even to dress home-grown product Mike Neil?

That was a public relations gaffe, if ever there was one.

Beaulieu clearly understands the PR side of things when it comes to connecting with the fans. He also had 16-year-old Steven Anthony in the starting lineup for their first game in Halifax, Anthony's home town.

ENCOURAGING TREND: After eight home games, the Sea Dogs are averaging 3,914 fans per outing. After eight games last year, they averaged 3,770. Overall last season, Saint John averaged 3,839, down from 4,477 in the honeymoon season.

Saint John's expansion cousins, the St. John's Fog Devils, must be feeling somewhat of a pinch. The Fog Devils drew 4,502 for their home opener but their biggest crowd in seven games since has been 3,104. The Fog Devils, who are tied for sixth in the East with both Acadie-Bathurst and Moncton, have a record of 6-8-1-1 for 14 points and are averaging 3,086 fans per game. St. John's averaged 3,666 fans per game last year.

HURT FEELINGS: Hockey Hall of Famer and Quebec Remparts coach Patrick Roy has a long way to go when it comes to taking the next step in his coaching career, at least in the thick-skin department.

Roy apparently didn't like the tone of a recent column written by Sea Dogs' beat reporter Andrew McGilligan, who cleverly compared trying to get an interview with Roy to getting an audience with the Pope.

Roy put a call into the Sea Dogs suggesting he deserved an apology from the Telegraph-Journal.

Can you imagine if he tried to pull that stunt as an NHL head coach?

The only thing we're sorry about is the fact that Roy and the Remparts won't visit Harbour Station again this season, because there are plenty of fans who probably wouldn't mind offering their own apology, perhaps in the form of a soother.

[Gallant-Unit(14-0-3)]

oh Patty Roy, crying like always.

[elementz]

LoL. I loved the parts about Roy and Larue

[hockeyrules]

good thing you play Lewiston before the rankings come out.They're are 3-1 against teams ranked in the top 10 this year.looking foward to a great game wed night,also I think Bernier will be in net,which will make a Seadog win that much harder to come bye.good luck.

[dogbert]

Ranking? Is a Pope ranked higher than a Saint?

[juliansteed]

Well IF they can go undefeated this week it could happen but the same could be said for a lot of teams and its not like its going to be easy.

[bjindaho]

Honestly, none of the western conferences should have been ranked this week, and none should be ranked next week. But Saint John will need to go 6 of 6 this week in order to get in.

[habh8er]

2 points closer....just maybe....

[dogbert]

I remain doubtful, but that was a huge convincing road win last night against the #1 junior goalie in the world!

I think we need another convincing win in Bathurst and a good blowout against the Fog at home to get us there.

Cape Breton losing will help too. I was sure they were going to lose last night, but they found a rabbit somewhere in that hat. Big comeback.

[J4M13]

It's almost surreal, after the past two seasons, to even be debating this.

I reallyh think that if we have another 3 of 4 weekend, we can make it into the top ten.

I'm fully aware that a top ten ranking in October means very little, but given the basis for comparison the past two seasons, I'd say it's a pretty big step.

Oh, and someone please beat the Mooseheads. Second place would look nice too.