BLOWOUT AT THE STATION

STATION NATION REWIND
FINAL: Foreurs 0, Sea Dogs 11

SAINT JOHN – It was the game that came one night to late.

With the Saint John Sea Dogs giving out tons of cowboy hats on Friday night, how awesome would it have been for a Sea Dog to score a hat trick. That came tonight.

16-year old Jonathan Huberdeau is slowly become a legend in Saint John. The rookie put up a hat trick to go along with an assist as the Dogs went on to destroy the Val-d’Or Foreurs 11-0 in QMJHL action Saturday night at Harbour Station.

Huberdeau almost/sort of had a Gordie Howe hat trick when he nearly dropped the gloves in the third period. He picked up his second straight first star performance.

Saint John completely destroyed the Foreurs from start to finish, scoring in the first minute of the first period and the in the final minute of the third period. The blowout comes six days after shuting out the Gatineau Olympiques 8-0 last Sunday.

Marco Cousineau was solid in the Saint John crease and was much more active than the game against Gatineau. He bailed out his team a few times and got his second shutout as a Sea Dog. He is now 4-0 with his new jersey number, 79.

With the win, the 2009-2010 edition of the Saint John Sea Dogs is the best team in franchise history, picking up their 42nd win of the season.

Saint John owned Val-d’Or in the first period.

Danick Gauthier opened the scoring just 14 seconds into the game. Gauthier roofed a backhand shot over the shoulder of rookie net minder Jacob Chouinard to give the Sea Dogs the early 1-0 lead.

Just over a minute later at 1:28, Mike Hoffman lowered the boom on a slap shot that beat Chouinard to make it 2-0 Saint John. The goal gave Hoffman 33 on the season to extend his league lead in goals scored.

Stanislav Galiev was called for a very questionable goaltender interference call at 5:40. Galiev was pushed into Chouinard by a Val-d’Or defenseman but was still called for interference. It didn’t matter however, as Saint John had a solid penalty kill and even had a few shorthanded opportunities. Val-d'Or went 0/4 on the man advantage while Saint John went 2/6.

At 8:18 the Sea Dogs extended their lead to 3-0 thanks to Tomas Jurco. Vancouver Canucks prospect Yann Sauve let a wrist shot go from just inside the blue line. Jurco, parked in front, tipped the puck over the glove of Chouinard to give him his 18th marker of the season.

Jonathan Huberdeau and Nicholas Petersen were taken down at 12:01 and 12:59, giving the Sea Dogs a two man advantage. At 14:53, the Dogs struck again off some hard work by Gauthier. The Quebec native skated into the slot with the puck and let a shot go on Chouinard. The Foreurs goaltender lost the rebound at the side of the goal where Huberdeau slipped the puck home to make it 4-0 Saint John.

On the power play again late in the period, the Gauthier and Mike Thomas line were rewarded with some ice time and had some good chances but could not score.

Shots after one period were 13-7 for the home side.

With such dominance in the first period, why not do it all over again.

The Sea Dogs opened the period on the power play thanks to Shawn Mourtin-Boutin’s double minor for high sticking. 40 second into the middle session, a tic-tac-toe play was finished off by Galiev to make it 5-0 Saint John early on in the second.

Michael Kirkpatrick went to the box at 1:04 to make it four-on-four hockey for a short time. The Sea Dogs proved they can score then to, as Huberdeau fed Nicholas Pard. Pard came streaking down the wing and cut through the crease, unleashing a backhand that beat Chouinard to make it a six goal game.

Saint John did have a goalie in this game. Marco Cousineau started his third straight and stoned Alexandre Quesnel with a cross crease pad save.

With Cedrick Hendley in the box for high sticking at 5:00, Galiev was stopped by the pad of Chouinard in front off a nice pass from one of his line mates. That would be all on the power play as the Foreurs managed to kill it off.

Galiev missed a wide open later on and sent his shot trickling though the blue paint.

Zach Phillips was called for roughing at 15:11. Phillips was sprung out the box with a nice pass from inside the Saint John line. The Fredericton native made no mistake on the breakaway as he beat the Foreurs goaltender up high on a backhander to make it a 7-0 game.

The Dogs didn’t stop there. Huberdeau finished off a cross crease pass from a falling Petersen at 19:02. The talented 16-year old went five hole with the backhand to make it 8-0 Saint John, tying the largest goal lead they have had this season.

Saint John outshot the Foreurs 16-9 in the second period.

Chouinard showed up early in the third period after he made a nice stop on Gauthier with the pad. Then Nathan Beaulieu hit the post.

You could say it was a slow start for Saint John in the final frame as they failed to score in the first minute. But at 1:55 Kirkpatrick connected to make it 9-0 Saint John. The play started off a clean faceoff win by Huberdeau. The puck went to Kirkpatrick at the top of the circle who sent a shot through mild traffic that beat Chouinard.

At the barely touched other end, Samuel Morneau was robbed by the leather of Cousineau. He made 26 saves on the night with only six being dangerous.

Then chaos broke out between the two teams. It started after a missed call on a high stick on Huberdeau. He took his frustration out on a Foreurs player, allowing the rough stuff to begin. Everybody grabbed a partner with the tassel taking place between the two team’s benches. Out of all of that, Kirkpatrick and Huberdeau went to the box.

Out of the penalty box at 13:56, it was redemption time for Huberdeau. He went glove side corner on Chouinard to make the score 10-0 and give the rookie his first career hat trick.

With under a minute to go at 19:13, Gabriel Bourret got on the score board after he beat the Val-d’Or goaltender blocker side in the slot to make it an 11-0 final.

Saint John outshot the Foreurs 42-26 in the game.

After the buzzer, Karel St. Laurent looked like he was going to start beating on a linesman Jonathan Roy style for some reason. He left with a smile on his face.

NOTES: Lots of notes, stats, and records came out of this game. We will recap it all up tomorrow in Sea Dogs Post-Game Notebook.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs hit the road to take on Pascal Amyot and the Mooseheads in Halifax on Friday night at 7:00 pm.