Prior Issue (Archive)
Harbour Town Hockey
A Saint John Sporting Tradition

Hockey has a long and distinguished history in Saint John. From the the powerhouse teams of yesteryear like The Saint John Beavers, to the Calder Cup winning Flames and todays hard-hitting Sea Dogs.

Clayton ‘Nick’ Nicolle played with Saint John Hockey teams from 1946 until 1960 except for one year when there was no Saint John team so he played with the Fredericton team. “We won 3 or 4 Maritime Championships. I played with the Saint John Beavers and it was claimed that was the best team that ever played out of Saint John up to that time. Our coach was Peanuts O’Flaherty. They were all either juniors going up to the National League or they were on their way back down. They all got paid pretty well, considering the time, so you couldn’t call them amateurs but they weren’t professionals either - it was called semi-professional whatever that meant. We won the Atlantic Canada championship and the Alexandra Canadian Championship. It was a big league in those days.”

Through the intervening years, hockey continued to be a major attraction in Saint John but in 1993, it took a prestigious turn when the Calgary Flames placed their minor league franchise in the City.

Ken Moore, Business Operations Manager explains. “They moved in here from Salt Lake City and the Flames had a tremendous run that lasted for 10 years. In year 9 of the 10 years, they won the Calder Cup which is emblematic of the league championship for the American Hockey League, that was a huge deal. Then year 10 occurred, and a whole bunch of things came into play that caused the franchise to fold - economics, the high exchange rate on the American dollar, the fact that the League had expanded in the United States into such centres as Houston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and we are Saint John, New Brunswick and are out here all by ourselves.”

The gap was filled by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League which had already established a major foothold in the Maritimes with teams nearby. These are the Moncton Wildcats, Acadie-Bathurst Titans, Prince Edward Island Rocket, Halifax Mooseheads, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, St. John’s Fog Devils and on the US side Lewiston MAINEiacs.

David Turk, Executive Director of the Sea Dogs describes their playing schedule, “We play within the eastern conference and we have a schedule that is weighted to play with the teams near us more often than the teams that are in Quebec. But each of the Quebec 10 teams actually visit Saint John once a year and we visit them once a year and that is where the road trips come in,”

Harbour Station is an ideal venue for the Sea Dogs. It is located in the centre of Saint John on land that was once the site of two former railway stations - the Union Depot was constructed in 1884 and was replaced in 1933 by Union Station. Harbour Station is New Brunswick’s centerpiece for sporting and entertainment events. Since opening in 1993, the facility has derived immense satisfaction from providing great entertainment to all its patrons. Harbour Station has permanent seats for 6200 people. One of its greatest assets is its connection by indoor walkways to many amenities in the uptown core.

“We play top rate quality hockey here”, says David Turk. “In our first year as a franchise, we drafted Alex Grant from Antigonish, N.S. He is a big fellow, 6'2" and was drafted first overall, in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. This year, we once again had the first pick overall and we picked a big defenseman from Quebec, Yann Sauve - at 6'3" he is another big fellow.”

For visitors to Saint John coming to a Sea Dogs game, is a chance to spend an evening watching top notch hockey in a comfortable environment. Tickets are usually available. For information on the games or to purchase a ticket, call Harbour Station at (506) 657-1234 or check out their web page: www.saintjohnseadogs.com

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