Sea Dogs path this season mirrored past rebuilds

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In the cyclical game of organizational development in the QMJHL, the second year of any rebuilding process can be more difficult than the first.

Many top players linked to a previous title run have been dealt before or during the second year, which is a campaign firmly focusing on the future.

That was the case for the Saint John Sea Dogs in their two previous paths after winning QMJHL titles and it happened again in 2023-24 campaign as the team distances itself from the 2022 Memorial Cup title.

The Sea Dogs finished with a 20-39-5-4 record for 49 points, five fewer than last year but on par with other rebuilds. In 2017-18, after winning the President’s Cup the year before, the Dogs recorded 39 points and followed with 32 the next year.

In 2012-13, after winning consecutive league titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12 as well as the 2011 Memorial Cup, Saint John posted 47 points, four more than they did the next season.

The Dogs wrapped up their season this week with a four-game series loss to the Drummondville Voltigeurs using a lineup loaded with players in their 16-year-old and 17-year-old campaigns.

The port city squad struggled early, found its game prior to Christmas but a series of moves at the holiday break with an eye in the future led to a tough semester of work in January, February and mid-March,

The group later found its stride in the final two weeks of the regular season, gaining seven of 10 points available at one stretch to earn a post-season berth with the 16th and final playoff position.

Against Drummondville, they pierced together two solid periods in each of Games 1-3 and were deadlocked after one period of Game 4 before the older stronger opponents seized control each time.

“Obviously we’ve made a lot of changes at the break and it was a really big uphill battle from there just because of the sheer numbers of young players on the team and guys getting acquainted to the league,” said head coach Travis Crickard. “I am really happy that the guys were able to battle through all that and find some real good desperation in the last six games in the regular season to get into playoffs and just experience it.”

The team restocked its draft capital with moves that included former players Peter Reynolds, Vince Elie, Noah Reinhart, Mathis Gauthier and Cole Burbidge and enter this year’s draft with two of the top eight picks in Round 1 and three No. 1’s next year.

The Dogs put together a 4-7-1-2 start, which Crickard says he would like to have back as he implemented structural aspects to their style of game that did not take hold.

He tossed that approach after about a month and the team eventually hit their high point of the season with an 8-5-2-0 run prior to the Christmas trade period through the veterans’ production and the continued emergence of players such as Eriks Mateiko, who was selected to skate on the CHL Top Prospects game in Moncton this past January. An injury kept him out of the playoffs.

“It didn’t really work out the way I thought it would (at the start) and it probably cost us some wins,” he said. “We changed and things started to look really good. The last 15 games before Christmas break, we were .500 and things were looking up.”

Earning the position – and the tough experience that followed when they were outscored 25-8 by Drummondville – will pay dividends, Crickard says.

“Talking to the young guys, they are ‘Wow, it is so much faster, so much more physical.’ So it just gives them an idea of where they need to get to.”

Egan Beveridge, the team’s top pick in last year’s draft, recorded a team high four assists against Drummondville. Pavel Simek, the team’s top pick in the 2022 Import Draft led the squad in playoff points with five and shots on goal with 17.

In all, the playoff roster consisted of four 16-year-olds and eight 17-year-olds.

The loss ended the junior careers of Drew Elliott, Brody Fournier and Patrick Leaver, who made the most saves in the regular season and through the first four games of the playoffs.

Now the stage is set for evaluations and meetings, and a look to 2024-25 where the younger players will still face tough challenges but will have that experience of this past campaign.

“I think everyone thought going into the series that every game probably would be a final score like it was (in Game 4, 8-1 Drummondville),” he said. “But I’m really happy with the way the guys stuck with it and worked. That is the thing Sly (Drummondville coach Sylvain Favreau) said when we were shaking hands, ‘Not a lot of experience, not a lot of skill, but you guys just didn’t stop working.’ I’m happy to hear that.”