Saint John Sea Dogs widen lead atop the BTN Dynamic Dozen

This actually happened, there's no lazy person's way of reproducing it, but swear to a higher power that it happened.

The Saint John Sea Dogs were down a goal through 20 minutes last Saturday vs. Acadie-Bathurst. During the intermission, their play-by-play man, Tim Roszell, played a recorded interview with Jonathan Huberdeau in which the future Hab Sea Dogs captain noted they might come out slowly in the game but would get stronger by the end of the second period. So what happened when play resumed? Saint John outshot Acadie-Bathurst across the next 20 minutes and forged into a two-goal lead en route to a win over a team who's dogged them all season. If that's not an instance of a team knowing itself, what is? On with this week's Double-D.

1. Saint John Sea Dogs, QMJHL (.568 RPI, —). Finishing off the regular season with five consecutive road games, including a game of the week-worthy trip into Shawinigan on Sunday, is a good simulation of the road Saint John will face in the playoffs. What is worth noting is that goalie Mathieu Corbeil has a 1.84 average since Jan. 1, when there were thoughts in people's heads that the Sea Dogs might tinker with their goaltending like they did when they airlifted Jacob DeSerres in last season. Granted, with the amount of time Saint John spends on the attack, the goalie doesn't have to steal games, just play at his normal level.

2. Shawinigan Cataractes, QMJHL (.559 RPI, —). Muddling through the week and getting some comeuppance courtesy Chicoutimi is no way to go through the third to last weekend of the season. The Cataractes need to win out and hope Saint John loses three times in order to finish first in the league and that probably isn't happening.

3. Portland Winterhawks, WHL (.557 RPI, +1). The Winterhawks will have to win their division and conference on the road. Essentially nothing was settled in their U.S. Division dogfight with the Tri-City Americans (see below) last week, since they split a home-and-home series. The glass-half-full outlook for Portland is that it badly outshot Tri-City in that 4-3 loss on Sunday night and the Americans got the last bounce when 35-goal man Justin Feser won it with 51.2 seconds to play.

4. Moose Jaw Warriors, WHL (.555 RPI, +1). The Eastern Conference in the WHL could well be cemented when the Warriors visit Edmonton on Wednesday night. Moose Jaw has been world-beater at home throughout the season. Their matchups with Edmonton, a big, grinding team with a dash of Quinton Howden vs. a smaller, skilled Oil Kings outfit, no doubt make for great viewing. Edmonton is on a roll and not giving up much defensively, plus it has the edge in goal with Laurent Brossoit.

5. Edmonton Oil Kings, WHL (.555 RPI, +2). New York Rangers-drafted centre Michael St. Croix needs two points to become the eighth Western leaguer to reach 100 points. That would be eight more than the next league over. That might speak to how the WHL has less parity, but it does belie the stereotype about which league is more defensive minded and which one's about offence.

The Oil Kings have been taking care of the former very well lately. They have five-game win streak going in which they have allowed a solitary goal in each contest. It's been said in this corner before, but that goes a long while in the playoffs. That speed bump they hit in mid-February seems to be behind them.

6. Tri-City Americans, WHL (.553 RPI, -3). One bit of coach-speak that must get into wider circulation is Ams coach Jim Hiller's line, "The sun is always behind the cloud." It was uttered in reference to Tri-City beating Portland on Sunday after dropping two in a row and having visions of first place flying out the window. Meantime, now that he's up to 120 points, it is time to start talking about Brendan Shinnimin as a potential Western league MVP, although such honours do not often go to overagers. The only people on the ice who touch the puck more often than Shinnimin are the linesmen.

7. Quebec Remparts, QMJHL (.552 RPI, -1). Coach-GM Patrick Roy's club is midway through a stretch of five games in 10 days. Since it doesn't involve an opponent higher than 13th overall in the Q, he's probably not going to get much sympathy. It will test the Remparts' focus; it comes across like they played down to the competition in their last outing vs. Cape Breton. Ultimately, thanks in huge part to Anthony Duclair, they got through it.

8. Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL (.546 RPI, —). The Smurfs, league scoring leader Yanni Gourde (5-foot-9) and running mates Philippe Halley (5-9) and Brandon Hynes (5-8), get to play four of their last five regular-season games at home. That might help pad their stat lines. Victoriaville is four points adrift of Quebec in the playoff race, but the benefit of not having to travel during these final two weeks should result in a better rested-and-ready team for the post-season.

9. Niagara IceDogs, OHL (.545 RPI, +1). A win at Ottawa on Friday in the fifth-to-last game of the season for both the IceDogs and 67's would effectively decide top spot in the OHL's Eastern Conference. Ottawa goalie Petr Mrazek has made 40 or more saves in each of the teams' first two tilts.

IceDogs coach-GM Marty Williamson might have a point in saying his team isn't getting enough credit. Niagara has won 21-of-25 games since Jan. 1 despite having star defenceman Dougie Hamilton and ace centre Ryan Strome each miss a significant amount of time. Playing in the Eastern Conference probably tops up their stats, but they have won 12-of-18 this season vs. the Western Conference teams who dress two goalies for each game. Meantime, the team will await word to see if important veteran Alex Friesen gets any supplemental discipline for the charging major that knocked out Erie goalie Ramis Sadikov on Sunday.

10. Plymouth Whalers, OHL (.538 RPI, +2). Their six-point week looks all the better considering they faced three goalies, Brampton's Keegan Wilson, Windsor's Jaroslav Pavelka and Sarnia's Brandon Hope, who were on their games. The Whalers, two points off the league lead but spotting London a game in hand, might be running out of rocks as far as wresting away first overall is concerned. However, they are playing very well, especially the Andy Bathgate-Jamie Devane-Alex Aleardi line.

11. Calgary Hitmen, WHL (.533 RPI, +2). A hat tip is due to the Western league schedulemaker, who has prospective playoff foes Calgary and the Kootenay Ice skedded for a home-and-home on the St. Patrick's Day weekend. A tough one-goal loss to the Ice last Saturday doesn't really dim the Hitmen's star very much. Their veteran scorers such as Jimmy Bubnick, Trevor Cheek and Cody Sylvester have been steady as rent.

12. Rimouski Océanic, QMJHL (.531 RPI, -3). The Océanic have a better goal differential (+28) than the teams immediately above and below it in the standings, but putting away lesser teams might account for why they're in seventh. (Well, that and the fact playing in a loaded division might cause a team to relax whenever it plays someone who's not a rival.) A result such as a 4-3 loss to Val-d'Or might typify that. Still, Jérôme Gauthier-Leduc and the gang can put some distance between they and rival Chicoutimi by winning on Wednesday.

The next dozen

13. Medicine Hat Tigers, WHL (.529, +1); 14. London Knights, OHL (.525, -3); 15. Saskatoon Blades, WHL (.522, —); 16. Chicoutimi Saguenéens, QMJHL (.522, —); 17. Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL (.521, +1); 18. Regina Pats, WHL (.517, +4); 19. Blainville-Boisbrand Armada, QMJHL (.516, +2); 20. Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL (.516, -3); 21. Spokane Chiefs, WHL (.512, -1); 22. Kootenay Ice, WHL (.510, +4); 23. Kamloops Blazers, WHL (.508, -5); 24. Acadie-Bathurst Titan, QMJHL (.505, +1).

Dropping out: Kitchener Rangers, OHL (24th to 26th); Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL (23rd to 30th).

Hot team: Sudbury Wolves, OHL, up 11 spots (39th to 28th).

Cold team: Sarnia Sting, OHL, down eight spots (27th to 35th).

Looking (nowhere but) up: Erie Otters, OHL (.428 RPI). The WHL's Prince George Cougars (.431) are perilously close to falling below Erie.

An explanation on rankings: Buzzing The Net uses Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) with a recency factor. RPI combines a team's record with the strength of its opponents to produce an overall rating. Our method also gives more weight to recent games. Shootout wins and losses are classified as ties for philosophical and practical reasons. All three CHL leagues are considered equivalent in quality.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (photo: The Canadian Press).