PRE-GAME: Halifax Mooseheads vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Game Day
Halifax Mooseheads vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, December 17, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
Harbour Station

Visiting Team: Halifax Mooseheads
Record: 7-25-1-2 (6th in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 6-1 loss at Moncton on Tuesday
Leading Scorer: Tomas Knotek: 34-17-15-32
Notes: The Mooseheads have no NHL draft picks… 2-7-1-0 in their last 10 games… losers of three straight… despite their record, Halifax has been playing much better of late. The rebuilding Moosehead squad got off to a miserable start… sit six points out of a playoff spot… last overall in the QMJHL… have the fourth worst penalty kill in the QMJHL with a rating of 74.4%... the Moose have allowed the third highest amount goals this season with 146… have the worst road record in the league at 1-16-0-1. They have been outscored 48-90 over the 18 contests… they have lost 14 straight road games… their only road win came on October 3 in Val-d’Or (of all places)… defenseman Jamie Bishop is a St. Stephen native and was called up last week. He had been playing this season with the Saint John Vito’s… there are two former Sea Dogs on the Mooseheads roster. Defenseman Pascal Amyot who has been involved in trade rumors is one of them. He has four goals and 13 assists in 35 games this season. He was traded to Halifax last year in exchange for the Mooseheads’ Euro pick, a pick used to draft Stanislav Galiev… the other former Dog is Matthew Stoddard. He joined the Moose as a free agent this past summer. In 27 games he has one goal and four assists… Travis Randell, Carl Gelinas, and Gerrad Grant are the only players to score against Saint John on the Mooseheads’ roster… Knotek will not play tonight or the next seven games because he will be playing for team Czech Republic at the World Juniors. “I’ve been too scared to look (to find out how many games he’ll miss),” said Mooseheads head coach Cam Russell to Metro. “You’re losing your captain, you’re losing your best player on a team that hasn’t generated a lot of scoring. It’s a big hole.”… Gabriel Desjardins sat out of the Halifax Mooseheads’ lineup last night with a minor shoulder injury but could return tonight… German rookie Konrad Abeltshauser is playing for Germany at the Pool B world junior hockey championship in France... 16-year-old defenseman Trey Lewis was recalled from Midget AAA Miramichi yesterday and will play tonight.

Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 30-5-1-0 (1st in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 7-3 Loss at Moncton on Sunday
Leading Scorer: Nicholas Petersen: 28-20-20-40
Notes: Saint John is coming off their first loss since October 13 in Charlottetown. The Sea Dogs had won 22 straight contests entering Sunday’s tilt which is the third longest in QMJHL history… sit atop the Atlantic division with a 16 point lead over Moncton for first… one of only three teams not in double digits in the loses category… ranked second in the CHL Top 10 this week for a fifth straight week… third worst penalty kill in the QMJHL with a rating of 74.2%... the Sea Dogs allowed two shorthanded goals on Sunday. One was not officially a S.H.G. because it was on a penalty shot… have scored the most goals in the league this season with 158… have the best home record at 15-2-0-0… they have won a team record 13 straight games at Harbour Station and have outscored opponents 79-44 over 17 contests… scratch Olivier Ouellet from the Dogs’ lineup. He left the team a month ago due to personnel reasons. He has four assists against Halifax this season… forward Steven Anthony hasn’t scored since November 29 versus Quebec. He has a team high four goals against the Moose this season… goaltender Marc-Antoine Gelinas is coming off his first loss in 15 games.

Saint John vs Halifax:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
3-3-0-0-0-6
Home: 2-2-2-0-0-4
Road: 1-1-0-0-0-2
Goals For: 13
Goals Against: 3

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
8-5-3-0-0-10
Home: 4-2-2-0-0-4
Road: 4-3-1-0-0-6
Goals For: 32
Goals Against: 28

All-Time- Not Including This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
26-11-13-1-1-24
Home: 13-6-6-1-0-13
Road: 13-5-7-0-1-11
Goals For: 86
Goals Against: 103

Station Nation Facts:

• Halifax has scored 98 goals all season while Saint John has allowed 97 goals against.
• On October 24, Marc-Antoine Gelinas and the Sea Dogs shutout the Mooseheads on Pink in the Rink Night at the Metro Centre. He made 40 stops in the 4-0 win.
  Saint John has only lost two straight games once this season. All of their regulation loses have been by three goals or more. They are: 6-1 loss vs PEI, 5-2 loss vs Victoriaville, 7-4 at Montreal, 4-0 at PEI, and 7-3 at Moncton. They have one overtime loss which was a 5-4 defeat in Shawinigan.
• The Mooseheads hosted the 2000 Memorial Cup in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Mooseheads junior franchise was founded in 1994–95 when they first enter the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as the first team in the Maritimes which includes Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The Mooseheads franchise was sold in 2003 former NHL player Bobby Smith bought the franchise from Mooseheads Breweries.
• Thursday's home game has been designated the second Golden Year Gala of the season, with special discounted seats available for fans aged 60 and older. The newest issue of Prospects Hockey Magazine will also be given away at Harbour Station on Thursday.

Important Info:
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297

Saint John Media: Radio- News 88.9 FM (http://www.news889.com/)
Live Video Streaming: http://www.qmjhl.mytelus.com/
Post-Game Coverage: http://www.stationnation.blogspot.com/, Telegraph-Journal, Chronicle Herald, Metro Halifax
Post-Game Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/user/seadogstv, http://www.youtube.com/user/7johnmoore

Twitter: Station Nation will be tweeting @station_nation all game long with in game updates.