Wednesday, May 9, 2012

PLAYOFF GAMEDAY: Round 4, Game 3 - at Rimouski

GAMEDAY
Round 4, Game 3
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Rimouski Oceanic
Tonight at 8:30pm
Radio: News 88.9 | Webcast: Telus | TV: None | Live Blog: SN
Colisee Rimouski – Rimouski, Que.


SERIES STATUS
Saint John leads the best-of-seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Championship Series 2-0.

PREVIEW
RIMOUSKI, Que. – The 2012 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Championship Series shifts to Rimouski with Game 3 between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Rimouski Oceanic being played tonight at the Colisee. Game time is 8:30pm Atlantic.

The Sea Dogs enter tonight’s contest with a 2-0 series lead after back-to-back 3-2 wins at Harbour Station over the weekend. The first ended with Zack Phillips scoring in the second overtime period and the second was won on a Charlie Coyle penalty shot.

Saint John struggled in Game 1 but played a much better game on Saturday. Although it ended as a one-goal game, the Sea Dogs could have easily won that match by two or three goals.

The Oceanic, who came close to winning Game 1 thanks to several dangerous chances in overtime, were only able to fire 16 shots on goal in Game 2 compared to the Sea Dogs’ 32. Although they didn’t score, Saint John got off to a good start on Saturday, outshooting Rimouski 14-4 in the opening frame.

The President’s Cup final now shifts to Rimouski for the next two games at minimum. A Game 5, if necessary, would be played in the Quebec city as well.

The Oceanic are 5-3 at home this post-season and have outscored opponents 39-27. In the regular season they were 24-9-1-0 at home and outscored opponents 136-113. One of those regular season home wins was a 4-3 victory over the Sea Dogs.

Saint John is 5-1 on the road in the playoffs and have outscored opponents 30-15. They had their troubles playing in the hostile environment of the Georges Vezina Centre last round, going 1-1 with both contests needing overtime.

It will surely be a rowdy crowd tonight in Rimouski, but the Sea Dogs have won big games in these kinds of environments before and they are capable of doing it again.

A Sea Dogs win tonight will give them a stranglehold on the series. An Oceanic win and they have life in this thing.

PLAYOFF NUMBERS
Saint JohnRimouski
Record14-112-7
Home Record9-05-3
Road Record5-17-4
Goals For/Game5.59 (1st)3.70 (6th)
Goals Against/Game2.20 (1st)2.85 (4th)
Shots For/Game36.12 (2nd)31.17 (4th)
Shots Against/Game26.19 (3rd)27.52 (5th)
Overall PP29.9% (1st)20.3% (10th)
Home PP39% (1st)28.2% (6th)
Road PP15.4% (11th)11.4% (13th)
Overall PK87.7% (1st)78.3% (8th)
Home PK82.1% (7th)78.7% (9th)
Road PK96.2% (1st)77.8% (6th)
PIM/GAME16.2 (9th)16.5 (8th)
Attendance5,522 (3rd)4,211 (4th)

LEADING SCORERS – PLAYOFFS
Rimouski
PlayerGPGoalsAssistsPoints
Alexandre Mallet1991524
Alex Belzile1971623
Petr Straka1991221

Saint John
PlayerGPGoalsAssistsPoints
Charlie Coyle15151732
Zack Phillips1582129
Stanislav Galiev15121527

GOALTENDERS - PLAYOFFS
Rimouski
GoaltenderRecordGAASV%
Jacob Gervais-Chouinard10-4-1-03.010.893
Carl Hozjan2-2-0-01.710.930

Saint John
GoaltenderRecordGAASV%
Mathieu Corbeil14-0-1-02.200.916
Sebastien Auger0-0-0-0- - -- - -

PLAYOFF SERIES
GAME ONE – Rimouski 2, Saint John 3 (2OT)
GAME TWO – Rimouski 2, Saint John 3
GAME THREE – Wednesday, May 9: 8:30 p.m. @ Colisee de Rimouski
GAME FOUR – Thursday, May 10: 8:30 p.m. @ Colisee de Rimouski
*GAME FIVE – Saturday, May 12: 5 p.m. @ Colisee de Rimouski
*GAME SIX – Monday, May 14: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*GAME SEVEN – Wednesday, May 16: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*If necessary

SEASON SERIES
October 8, 2011 – Rimouski 2, Saint John 8


November 2, 2011 –Saint John 3, Rimouski 4

WELCOME BACK
The Sea Dogs will welcome back their captain tonight as Jonathan Huberdeau returns from a two-game suspension. Huberdeau will play in his first game since Game 5 of the semifinals against Chicoutimi which was played on April 28 at Harbour Station.

Huberdeau has nine goals and nine assists in 13 playoff games this year. He sits fifth in team scoring with 18 points.

GAME 3
Saint John has had success in Game 3 of the President’s Cup final before.

In 2010, the Sea Dogs beat the Moncton Wildcats 6-4 at Harbour Station. Danick Gauthier had a goal in that game.

Last year, the Sea Dogs beat the Gatineau Olympiques 5-0 in Game 3. Gauthier, Stephen MacAulay, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aidan Kelly, and Mike Thomas had goals in that game. The Sea Dogs outshot Gatineau 35-17.

NOTES

  • This is the first President’s Cup final to be played in Rimouski since 2005.
  • Charlie Coyle leads the league in playoff scoring with 32 points in 15 games. Zack Phillips is second with 29.
  • Jerome Gauthier-Leduc leads all defensemen in playoff scoring with 17 points in 19 games.
  • Coyle has a league best 15 goals.
  • Phillips has a league high 21 assists.
  • Coyle has five game winning goals in the playoffs.
  • Pier-Luc Pelletier is second in penalty minutes with 36.
  • Coyle is a league best +25.
  • Peter Trainor is third in rookie scoring with 17 points in 19 games.

ELSEWHERE
In the OHL, the London Knights are in Niagara for Game 4 of the OHL Championship Series. The Knights lead that series 2-1.

NEXT GAME
Game 4 of the Oceanic-Sea Dogs series is tomorrow night at 8:30pm. The game will be broadcast on TVA Sports.

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