Tuesday, October 13, 2009

AN UGLY LOSS ON THE ISLAND

STATION NATION POST-GAME
Charlottetown, P.E.I. – Just two days after shutting out the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles the Sea Dogs were on the other side of the 4-0 loss, losing 4-0 to the PEI Rocket on Tuesday night.

It was an embarrassing game all around for Saint John. Their high octane offense, including the return of Mike Hoffman, was shutout. Marc-Antoine Gelinas who was praised after his weekend efforts did not show up to play.

It was an uneventful first period. PEI got the better scoring chances of the two teams outshooting Saint John 13-6 and had two power plays.

Mike Thomas got into a round of fisticuffs with PEI tough guy Brandon Wright. Both players got in some good punches in the split decision. It was Thomas’ first fight since September 23, the game he got an aggressor penalty and a six game suspension following a scrap.

Marc-Antoine Gelinas had to be replaced by Karel St. Laurent at 8:32 because of an equipment problem. He returned at 11:16, just in time for a Saint John penalty kill in which he robbed Benjamin Casavant in front of the goal.

The Rocket took over in the second period that began with Jarred Struthers taking a high shot on Gelinas after Nathan Beaulieu lost the puck in his skates.

Yann Sauve skated in from the blue line and took a hard snapshot that Rocket net minder Marco Cousineau had trouble with but made the save.

Joel Champagne opened the scoring at 8:51 when he beat Gelinas and snapping his shutout streak. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect took a nice pass from Ben Duffy that fooled a Saint John defender and one timed a shot pass the right side of Gelinas. That made it 1-0 Rocket.

Jordan Escott scored his team leading seventh goal at 10:29 to make it 2-0 for the home side. A nice three way passing play with his line mates Chris Doyle and Jarred Struthers was enough to beat Gelinas.

Tomas Jurco was hammered by Jordan Southorn and was slow to get up. This is the second time in three games Jurco was laid out by an opposing player. Michael Ward destroyed the Slovak at the end of Saturday’s game in Cape Breton.

Benjamin Lecomte tried to place a big hit on Chris Doyle but missed. That caused a crowd with everybody grabbing a dance partner. After all of this Kevin Gagne was given a misconduct among other penalties to both squads.

The Rocket made it 3-0 at 18:14. Benjamin Casavant scored from a long range bad angle shot that fooled Gelinas and went in between his glove and shoulder.

PEI outshot the Sea Dogs 23-16 after two periods of play.

Karel St. Laurent replaced Gelinas in net for Saint John in the third. Gelinas allowed three goals on 19 shots. All of this in the wake of Jake Allen trade rumors.

Simon Despres lowered the boom on Brandon Street with a huge hit along the boards to try and spark the flat Sea Dogs offense.

Jordan Southorn’s initial shot was blocked in front of the goal but Cody Linteau dug it out and buried it to make it 4-0 Rocket at 6:05. That was Linteau’s first career QMJHL goal.

With Adam Polasek in the box at 11:50, the Sea Dogs had a number a good scoring chances with none better than Steven Anthony who tipped a pass just over the net. Cousineau was not tested that much but was solid when needed.

Chris Doyle came in alone behind the Saint John defense but was stopped by the glove of Karel St. Laurent.

Marco Cousineau took a shot in the neck but was okay to continue and record the 4-0 shutout win for PEI for his first shutout of the 2009-10 campaign.

PEI outshot Saint John 32-25 over three periods. Saint was 0/5 while PEI went 0/3 on their respective power plays.

NOTES: The attendance was 1,706… this was the first game in PEI as a QMJHL head coach for Gerard Gallant. He is a Summerside native… Mike Hoffman made his return to the Saint John line-up. He had four shots and was 6/8 in faceoffs… the Sea Dogs trip to PEI was delayed a day because the confederation bridge was closed due to high winds… Steven Anthony was moved off the top line half way through the game. The new line of Hoffman-Kirkpatrick-Petersen was formed… this was a big loss for Saint John standings wise. Moncton will likely take possession of first in the Atlantic division with two games this week… this was an impressive win for the Rocket who played one of their worst games of the season on Sunday, a 2-1 loss against Lewiston… this was the first time the Sea Dogs have been shutout this season… PEI is now 2-0-0-0 vs Saint John this season and have outscored the Sea Dogs 10-1… the Sea Dogs go a successful 3-2-1-0 on their six game road trip.

NEXT GAME: Moncton Wildcats vs Saint John Sea Dogs on Saturday, October 17, 2009, at 7:00 pm at Harbour Station.

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