PRE-GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Moncton Wildcats

Game Day
Brunswick News Rivalry Cup: Game Four
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Moncton Wildcats
Tonight, December 31, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
Moncton Coliseum

Visiting Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 33-6-1-0 (1st in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 5-2 Win vs PEI on Tuesday
Leading Scorer: Nicholas Petersen: 32-24-25-49
Notes: The Saint John Sea Dogs will be without their captain Mike Thomas tonight. He is serving the third game of a three game suspension he got for taking his helmet off during a fight. He had an eventful game in Moncton last time, including some chats with Wildcat fans… Jonathan Huberdeau will miss the game because he is playing for Team Quebec at the World Under-17’s in Timmons, Ont. He has one goal and one assist against Moncton and scored a shootout goal against Louis Domingue… Stanislav Galiev leads all rookies in scoring with 10 goals and 30 assists. In three games against Moncton, he has a team high two goals and has added an assist… Nicholas Petersen has three assists against Moncton… Danick Gauthier has a 100% shooting percentage. He has one goal on his only shot… Steven Anthony is a -4 in three games against the Cats… rookie defenseman Pierre Durepos is a Shediac native and played for the Moncton Hawks last season… the Dogs have the most wins of any team in the QMJHL with 33… sit first overall in the Atlantic division, the QMJHL, and second in the BMO CHL Top 10 Rankings… goaltender Marco Cousineau is expected to make his Saint John debut tonight. In three games played against Moncton with the PEI Rocket, he is 0-3 with a 4.52 GAA and 0.871 save percentage… Saint John is a league best 17-3-1-0 on the road this season but are 0-1 in Moncton. They have also scored the most road goals with 91… 9-1-0-0 in their last 10 road games and have won two straight (Halifax and Bathurst)… Nicholas Petersen is a league best +40… because the league only allows three 20-year-olds on each team, Karel St. Laurent will backup Cousineau… 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games and have won three straight… have yet to lose after the holiday break.

Home Team: Moncton Wildcats
Record: 23-11-1-2 (2nd in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 4-3 Win at Acadie-Bathurst on Tuesday
Leading Scorer: Nicolas Deschamps: 33-20-30-50
Notes: The Wildcats have six NHL drafted players on their roster: Randy Cameron (Detroit), Mark Barberio (Tampa Bay), David Savard (Columbus), Gabriel Bourque (Nashville), Nicola Riopel (Philadelphia) and Nicholas Deschamps (Anaheim)… the Moncton Wildcats have been hit hard with injuries of late. Tuesday night in Bathurst they were missing nine players - two defensemen and seven forwards. All seven forwards would normally play on the club's top three lines. The Wildcats had eight rookies among the 12 forwards in their lineup… two top prospects for the 2010 NHL entry draft will be on the shelf according to News 91.9’s Les Stoodly. Brandon Gormley is expected to miss the game and possibly the next few. Kirill Kabanaov is still recovering from a broken wrist and rejoined the club last week… Scott Brannon is out with a concussion, Matt Brown is out for a month, Andrew Roski is recovering from surgery and will miss the rest of the season, Dillon Donnelly is at the World Under-17’s, and Ted Stephens is recovering from a concussion… the Wildcats acquired Gabriel Bourque from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar for a first round pick and Raphael Bussieres. Bourque will not be in the lineup because he is playing Team Canada at the World Juniors… the Wildcats also acquired Chicoutimi star Nicolas Deschamps for two draft picks, Matthew Bissonnette, and Jeremy Barriault. Deschamps has been on a tear since joining the Wildcats and scored on his first shot on his first shift in Halifax last Sunday. In two games, he has two goals and four assists. His 50 points on the season is good for sixth in league scoring… Randy Cameron has a team high five points, two goals and three assists, against Saint John this season. David Savard also has five points – all assists… Daniel Pettersson is a team high +3 against the Dogs… Moncton is 12-4-0-0 at home this season and are 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 games there… have won five straight home games... goaltender Nicola Riopel makes his first home appearance since rejoining the Wildcats a couple weeks ago.

Saint John vs Moncton:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
3-2-1-0-0-4
Home: 2-2-0-0-0-4
Road: 1-0-1-0-0-0
Goals For: 10
Goals Against: 12

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 match is game four of the 2009-2010 Brunswick News Rivalry Cup Challenge. Saint John currently leads the challenge 5.5 – 4.5.
• 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 other game was held at the Moncton Coliseum, a game that saw the Wildcats end the Sea Dogs’ 22-game winning streak with a 7-3 win.
• The last time these two teams met on December 13, Moncton scored almost every way possible. They scored a shorthanded goal, a power play goal, an even strength goal, and a penalty shot goal. The penalty shot goal came while shorthanded.
• Ted Stephens was recently named the Yukon territories 2009 athlete of the year.
• The newly acquired Gabriel Bourque tied a Canadian junior team record with seven points (three goals and four assists) in a single game as the Canadians defeated Latvia 16-0 on Boxing Day.
• Matthew Bissonnette has yet to report to the Sagueneens after being traded from the Wildcats. He is a prospect for the 2010 NHL entry draft and has reportedly asked for a trade.
• Star goaltender Nicola Riopel will no doubt get a large ovation tonight at the Coliseum in his first game back in Moncton. He was the QMJHL’s MVP last season and was a first team all-star.

Important Info:
Venue: Moncton Coliseum
Capacity: 6,450
Arena Guide: http://www.qmjhlarenaguide.com/wildcats.htm

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, 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.