PRE-GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Moncton Wildcats

Game Day
Brunswick News Rivalry Cup: Game Three
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Moncton Wildcats
Today, December 13, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
Moncton Coliseum

Visiting Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 30-4-1-0
Last Game: 6-4 Win at Acadie-Bathurst last night
Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick: 34-12-27-39
Notes: Saint John has won 22 consecutive games entering today’s tilt. The streak is third all-time in the QMJHL and CHL history books… this is the third game of a three-in-three road trip through Atlantic Canada. They played in Charlottetown on Friday and were in Bathurst last night… both wins over the Wildcats have been close ones. On September 27 Jonathan Huberdeau undressed Louis Domingue in the shootout. Then on October 17 Mike Hoffman scored seconds into overtime… Michael Kirkpatrick is coming off a hat trick last night… Mike Thomas and Nicholas Pard dropped the gloves last evening… the October 17 game versus Moncton at Harbour Station was win number one of 22 straight for Saint John… expect to see the best goaltender in the league at the moment, Marc-Antoine Gelinas, in net… Yann Sauve, of all people, leads the Sea Dogs with three points scored against the Wildcats this season. He also has a team high six penalty minutes… Saint John has not played in Moncton yet this season. That includes pre-season action… "We know there's going to be lots of emotion in this game and fans will be on the edge of their seat,” said Wildcats GM Bill Schruman. “There will be lots of Sea Dogs fans with high blood pressure. There will be nurses with tables set up on the mezzanine to check people's blood pressure.''… ranked second in the country this week in the CHL Top 10 and first in the Station Nation rankings… Mike Hoffman is fourth in goals scored in the league with 21… Stanislav Galiev is first in rookie scoring with 34 points… Nicholas Petersen, Yann Sauve, and Kevin Gagne are one – two – three is +/- ratings… a league best 15-2-1-0 on the road this season.

Home Team: Moncton Wildcats
Record: 19-10-1-2 (2nd in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 3-2 Win at Halifax on Friday
Leading Scorer: Scott Brannon: 30-19-10-28; David Savard: 30-4-25-29
Notes: The Wildcats have three NHL drafted players on their roster: Randy Cameron (Detroit), Mark Barberio (Tampa Bay), and David Savard (Columbus)… the Cats have been hot of late winning five straight contests… according to L’Acadie Nouvelle, Matt Brown, Pierre-Marc Lessard, Kirill Kabanov and Andrew Roski will not play… highly touted Russian import Kirill Kabanov was forced to have wrist surgery last month in Baltimore. He is not expected to be back until February. He’s projected to go number two in the 2010 NHL entry draft by many… another high touted player, Brandon Gormley, will not play either. He is at Team Canada’s World Junior selection camp. He is projected to go in the top five of the upcoming NHL entry draft… Davis Savard has a team high three points – all assists – against Saint John this season… 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 games… sit 20 points back of Saint John for first place in the Atlantic division… 10-4-0-0 at home this season… 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 home games and have won three straight at the Coliseum… David Savard and Simon Jodoin are a team high +10… Wildcats play-by-play man Les Stoodley said Wednesday on “The Drive” on News 88.9 that “we want drown the Sea Dogs.”… goaltender Louis Domingue is expected to be a top draft pick in the upcoming NHL draft but has struggled this season. He is 9-9 with a GAA of 2.84… the Wildcats recently signed free agent goaltender Shane Owen and he has impressed so far. In seven games he’s 6-1 with a GAA of 2.00. He shutout the PEI Rocket last week.

Saint John vs Moncton:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
2-2-0-0-0-4
Home: 2-2-0-0-0-4
Road: 0-0-0-0-0-0
Goals For: 7
Goals Against: 5

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
8-2-6-0-0-4
Home: 4-1-3-0-0-2
Road: 4-1-3-0-0-2
Goals For: 19
Goals Against: 31

All-Time- Not Including This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
32-11-19-2-0-24
Home: 16-7-8-1-0-15
Road: 16-4-11-1-0-9
Goals For: 96
Goals Against: 139

Station Nation Facts:

• Today’s game is game three of the 2009-2010 Brunswick News Rivalry Cup Challenge. Saint John currently leads the challenge 5.5 – 2.
• Past results this season have been 4-3 Saint John in a shootout and 3-2 Sea Dogs in overtime. Both games were at Harbour Station.
• The Moncton Coliseum Complex is Atlantic Canada's top entertainment and trade show facility, with a drawing power of 1.4 million people within a three hour drive. Moncton attracts the best international shows, sporting events, concert performances and trade shows.
• Worlds will collide today in Moncton. Saint John leads the league in goals scored with 155. The Wildcats have allowed the fewest amounts of goals this season with 84.
• In 2008-09, the Wildcats’ defence was extraordinary. Their goaltender, Nicola Riopel, was outstanding. Riopel finished the regular season with the best goals-against-average in League history (2.01).
• The team’s notables over the years include: Sébastien Roger, Jean-François Damphousse, Steve Bernier, Corey Crawford, Ted Nolan and Nicola Riopel.

Important Info:
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Arena Guide: http://www.qmjhlarenaguide.com/wildcats.htm

Saint John Media: Radio- News 88.9 FM (www.news889.com)
Live Video Streaming: www.qmjhl.mytelus.com
Post-Game Coverage: www.stationnation.blogspot.com, Telegraph-Journal, Times & Transcript

TWITTER
I will be tweeting during today’s game @station_nation. I’ll have the latest updates and stats so be sure to follow us this afternoon.