Saint John played host to its first ever Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft on Saturday.
Eighteen teams from all over Eastern Canada were on the floor of the Port City’s Harbour Station, all vying for the best of this year’s prospects.
“We're thrilled with those picks,” says Trevor Georgie, general manager and president of the Saint John Sea Dogs. “We think all of those guys will be real good young pieces moving forward at the Sea Dogs.”
It's fair to say most in this arena had their eyes on the home team, who are this year's President Cup champions. Georgie acknowledges the 2016-17 season will be hard to beat.
“It's not going to be the same year we had this year. That was really special year here in Saint John,” Georgie says. “We came a period away from playing for the Memorial Cup, so that doesn't happen every day."
The draft has never been held in Saint John, so while teams are walking away with high hopes for next season, fans say seeing the event in person makes them the real winners.
“It's pretty exciting,” says Sea Dogs fan Rob Brown. “To hear that it's free for fans to attend, not just from around here, from Moncton, Halifax as well, it's pretty nice.”
Organizers say the draft was meant to mirror that of the NHL’s, and fans were loving it.
Tobie Bastarache was keeping a watchful eye on the Moncton Wildcats. The team had a rough season, but it also had three first round picks.
Fans are hopeful things are looking up.
“I think it's pretty good. We got some really good players, looking forward to next year. I think we'll do a lot better,” says Bastarache
The province invested $20,000 towards the cost of hosting the draft. Premier Brian Gallant says the event is worth $1.5 million in economic spin off over the course of the weekend.
“You come here and you see the fans you see the entertainment, you see the pageantry of the draft, you brought the hockey world to Saint John and the more events we can do here in Saint John to bring people to this great city the better,” says Georgie.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.