Burns excited for Memorial Cup

Saint John Sea Dogs to host CHL tournament in 2022

Brady Burns is pumped to know the Saint John Sea Dogs will host the next Memorial Cup.

The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) awarded the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team the 2022 hosting rights on Wednesday.

“It's kind of a dream come true,” said Burns, a 19-yearold forward from Port Williams. “Every CHL player wants to be able to play in the Memorial Cup. Knowing that we're going to get that opportunity is surreal.”

The Quebec Remparts were the other team to submit a bid to host the CHL championship, which rotates through the three leagues on a regular schedule. Burns found out they were the host team on Wednesday morning after arriving in Toronto from Edmonton. He was on his way home from attending the Oilers' rookie camp.

“It's an unreal feeling,” he said. “It's going to be a really exciting year. It's a once-in-alifetime opportunity . ...

“I am just really excited to get back to Saint John tomorrow and get back to work.”

Burns is one of four 19-year-olds on the Sea Dogs' roster who made the team as 16-year-olds in 2018 as Saint John began rebuilding after winning the President Cup in 2017 as QMJHL champs. The others were defencemen William Villeneuve, Jeremie Poirier and Charlie Desroches plus forward Josh Lawrence.

“It's really exciting news for us because we've paid our dues in this league,” Burns said, noting they have grown up together and forged great friendships. “We've had a couple of tough years where things didn't go our way.”

The Sea Dogs underachieved during the Covid-19-shortened 2020-21 campaign, finishing 15-14-3-1 and placing second to the Acadie-bathurst Titan in the New Brunswick round-robin portion of the league's playoffs.

“We didn't come close to the standards we set at the start of the year, and I think this year is more (about) redemption,” Burns said.

The Sea Dog had a busy offseason, adding overage goalie Jonathan Lemieux from Vald'or and 19-year-old sniper William Dufour from Drummondville. Gordie Dwyer also took over behind the bench.

“It's obviously an exciting day for the franchise and for the city and for myself,” Dwyer said Wednesday.

The former Charlottetown Islanders' bench boss, who has also coached in the KHL and in Europe, said the goal right now is to develop a team identity and learn how it needs to play collectively to be successful while getting better each day.

“We all ultimately have the same goal to win the Memorial Cup," he said. “June is a long way away, and there's a lot of work to be done, but we all share that collective goal here.”

Dwyer, who played 108 games in the NHL with Tampa Bay, Montreal and the New York Rangers, played in the 1995 Memorial Cup as a 16-year-old winger for a Hull Olympiques squad that featured goalie Jose Theodore and Sebastien Bordeleau. The host Kamloops Blazers won the championship with a roster that included Jarome Iginla, Nolan Baumgartner, Shane Doan, Hnat Domenichelli and Darcy Tucker.

The tournament also featured the Brandon Wheat Kings, who had defenceman Wade Redden, and Detroit Jr. Red Wings with blue-liner Bryan Berard.

While the Sea Dogs are guaranteed a spot in this season's tournament, Burns said they don't want to back into the event.

“We know we're going to be in the Memorial Cup, but we obviously want to earn our way,” he said. “We still want to win this league first. That all starts with a good start to the regular season.”

The Sea Dogs open the regular season on Oct. 1 by hosting the Islanders. Both teams are expected to be among the league's elite this year, along with the Titan, Remparts and Shawinigan Cataractes.