Thursday, February 16, 2012

POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 10, Rocket 1


A collection of recaps from last night’s 10-1 Saint John Sea Dogs win over the PEI Rocket…

Our recap. The win was Saint John’s 10th straight, making the Dogs the first Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team to crack the 40-win mark.

The Telegraph-Journal’s recap. Paywalled.

The Guardian’s recap. “Not a good game. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know why we didn't show up,” said Alex Noël.

News 88.9’s recap. Featuring Tim Roszell’s goal calls.

The Q Spot’s recap. "It was really tough on all of us. Obviously you don't want to lose in front of your home crowd, especially 10-1.” – Josh Currie

The Canadian Press’ recap. At Charlottetown, Huberdeau opened the scoring just over four minutes into the first, and Saint John ended the period with a 4-0 lead.

SN Live Blog Replay. Another eventful day for Maxime Villemaire.

MISSING IN ACTION: Forwards Jason Cameron (serving the third game of a four-game suspension), Aidan Kelly (flu), and Devon Oliver-Dares (collarbone) were all out of the lineup for Saint John on Wednesday night. They were also without defenseman Ian Saab (serving an automatic one-game suspension).

WECOME BACK: Ryan Tesink was back in the Sea Dogs’ lineup on Wednesday after missing the past few games with a knee tweak. He had a solid return, recording two assists, three shots, and a +2 rating.

STREAK: Saint John has now won 10 straight games which is the longest streak in the league this season. They have not lost since January 12 when they fell 4-1 at home against Shawinigan.

FIRST PERIOD: The first period was a wild one. It saw four goals, three fights, and a goaltending change to go along with a plethora of penalties issued. PEI fired just three shots on net in the period while Saint John registered four goals.

MAGIC 10: Interesting note from News 88.9’s Sea Dogs blog.

A team has only scored 10+ goals three times this season in the QMJHL. Saint John has done it twice – both against the Rocket – while Quebec did it once.

It just wouldn’t be the second half of a season without some huge blowout win over PEI.

VS PEI: The Sea Dogs improved to 6-0-0-1 against the Rocket this year while PEI fell to 1-6-0-0 against Saint John. They meet for the last time this regular season on March 2 at Harbour Station.

HUBERDEAU: Jonathan Huberdeau is on a quite a roll right now. Huberdeau had two goals and two assists in last night’s win, giving him 19 goals and 30 assists in just 25 games this year. He’s been on a tear of late, recording seven goals and four assists in his past four contests.

COYLE: Charlie Coyle continued his domination of the Q on Wednesday, scoring once and adding two assists. He now has nine goals and eight assists in 11 games with Saint John. He has registered a point in each of his last six games, compiling four goals and seven assists over that span.

COOPER: Oliver Cooper scored for the first time since January 7 on Wednesday, recording his 10th marker of the season in the first period. He also added an assist in the game, giving him 10 goals and 13 assists in 50 games this season.

VILLEMAIRE: Maxime Villemaire had an eventful game on Wednesday. He fought Wes Herrett in the first period, scored two goals in the second period, and then dropped the gloves with Alex Gallant in the middle frame as well. It looked as though Villemaire had been thrown out of the game initially because he took part in his second fight of the game. But since Gallant received an instigator penalty, Villemaire was able to return. The Sea Dogs forward did however receive a double minor for head-butting.

Villemaire took to the ice in the third period, causing all sorts of confusion about why he was allowed to return. The Gatineau Olympiques were probably furious…

FIGHTS: Ah, yes, the fights. Along with Villemaire’s two scraps, Stephen MacAulay and Jimmy Oligny dropped the gloves in the first period just after Charlie Coyle had given Saint John a 3-0 lead. Then at 15:20 of the opening frame, the world stood still as Alex Gallant and Grant West squared off for round three. The two produced another terrific fight.

We’ll post the videos when they become available.

This was simply a nasty, nasty game. The teams combined for 37 penalties and 92 total penalty minutes.

HIGHLIGHTS: Courtesy of the Rocket’s YouTube page.



NOTES: Worst part of weekday games? Listening to the ‘this day in history’ segment on the Rick Howe Show before the pre-game show begins. Brutal… every Saint John player had a plus rating. Nathan Beaulieu and Charles Roussel were each a team high +4… Alex Noel managed to be a +1 for the Rocket… Jason Seed, Spencer MacDonald, and Stephen MacAulay were the only Saint John players without a point… Maxime Lagace allowed four goals on eight shots before getting pulled… the Rocket had just eight shots through 40 minutes. The Sea Dogs had seven goals over the span.

STANDINGS: Shawinigan fell 5-4 in overtime against Baie-Comeau last night, meaning the Sea Dogs are now one-point up on the Cataractes for first place. Both teams have 12 games remaining with every one of them being very important. Gotta love it.

The Cataractes play in Baie-Comeau on Friday and in Chicoutimi on Saturday.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Quebec Remparts Friday night at 8pm at Harbour Station in a game that can be seen live on Sportsnet.

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