PRE-GAME: Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Game Day
Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, January 16, 2010 @ 7:00 pm
Harbour Station

Visiting Team: Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Record: 16-25-2-3 (5th in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 6-1 loss last night vs Drummondville
Leading Scorer: Eric Faille: 45 GP – 20 G – 33 A – 53 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: David Gilbert (Chicago)
Notes: 8-13-2-1 on the road this season. They are 3-5-1-1 in their last 10 road games and have lost three straight games… Taylor Lambke leads the Titan with seven points registered against Saint John this season. He is however a -8… Jonathan Lessard has a team high three goals against Saint John this year… the Titan are 0-2-0-0 in Saint John this season and have been outscored 14-3… Bathurst has only gotten one point in six games against the Sea Dogs. That point came in an opening night shootout loss against a rookie filled Saint John lineup… Bathurst was extremely busy during the trade period. The Titan traded Maxime Renaud to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar for Christopher Giroux. Giroux was then sent to the Quebec Remparts for Chicago Blackhawks prospect David Gilbert… Gilbert is the only NHL drafted Titan player. He was drafted by the Blackhawks in the seventh round on the 2008 NHL entry draft… with Nicholas Champion being traded to Rouyn-Noranda, Guillaume Nadeau is now the number one goalie… the Titan sent Cameron Critchlow and Jess Tanguy to Lewiston for Sebastien Trudeau and Luke Dillman… Bathurst acquired Andrew Wigginton from Halifax for a draft pick… they sent Remi Blanchard to Drummondville for Ryan McKiernan… they sent Derek Famulare to PEI for a draft pick… the Titan acquired Danny Chiasson from Rimouski for a draft pick… they also sent tough guy Marshal Worden down to Junior “A” Woodstock.

Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 36-6-1-0 (1st in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 4-2 Win vs Montreal last Saturday
Leading Scorer: Nicholas Petersen: 36 GP – 26 G – 28 A – 54 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).
Notes: Stephen MacAulay has not played with the Sea Dogs since New Year’s Eve in Moncton – where he left midway through the game with a “lower body injury.” He practiced on Wednesday and could play tonight… Gabriel Bourret will not play tonight after being suspended indefinitely by the Sea Dogs after breaking the team player conduct policy. Nobody was called up to replace him… Aiden Kelly will likely make his “real” season debut tonight. He was called up from the Saint John Vito’s for the remainder of the season earlier this week. He was a -1 in the Sea Dogs' season opener in Bathurst on September 11. He is the only player on the Sea Dogs' current roster without a point against the Titan this season (excluding goaltenders)… Will Johnston was sent down to the MJAHL… if Marco Cousineau gets the start in goal tonight for Saint John, he will be wearing a newly painted mask… although Nicholas Petersen leads the team in points, he doesn’t lead the team in goals or assists. Mike Hoffman leads the team in goals with 28 while Michael Kirkpatrick leads in assists with 38… Petersen does however lead the Dogs – and the QMJHL – in +/- with a rating of +41… Hoffman leads the Dogs with 10 points against Bathurst this season including seven goals… three players – Stanislav Galiev, Yann Sauve, and Kevin Gagne – lead the Dogs with six assists each against the Titan… Nathan Beaulieu is a team best +10 versus Bathurst… Kirkpatrick is on a seven game point scoring streak. In that span he has two goals and 11 assists… the Sea Dogs sit first in the Atlantic division, first overall in the QMJHL, and are ranked second in the country for the eighth straight week… 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 games and have won two straight… 18-4-0-0 at Harbour Station this season. They are 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 home games and have won two straight games… the Sea Dogs have not played since last Saturday versus Montreal.

Saint John vs Acadie-Bathurst:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
6-6-0-0-0-12
Home: 2-2-0-0-0-4
Road: 4-4-0-0-0-8
Goals For: 34
Goals Against: 16

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
8-7-0-0-1-15
Home: 4-4-0-0-0-8
Road: 4-3-0-0-3-7
Goals For: 27
Goals Against: 19

All-Time- Not Including This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
36-14-19-1-2-31
Home: 18-8-13-0-1-17
Road: 18-6-6-1-1-14
Goals For: 112
Goals Against: 141

Station Nation Facts:

• Tonight’s game is NOT the January 3, 2010 makeup game. That game will be take place in February.
• Saturday's game has been designated a Sea Dogs Night Out, with the Wave 97.3 FM Extreme Team set to energize the Harbour Station faithful as Saint John looks to move one step closer to a season-series-sweep of Acadie-Bathurst.
• The Canadian Red Cross Society will be have a booth set up on the main concourse at Harbour Station for both of this weekend's Sea Dogs home games. Cash donations will be accepted at the booth, with all proceeds set to go towards the Canadian Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Fund.
• The Titan traded Remi Blanchard to Drummondville for Ryan McKiernan during the holiday trading period. Blanchard confirmed to L’Acadie Nouvelle that Saint John made an offer to acquire him but failed. McKiernan was traded by the Volts to make room for former Sea Dog Chris DiDomenico who will be returning from injury shortly.
• Past results this season have been: 4-3 Saint John in a shootout in Bathurst, 5-2 Saint John is Bathurst, 6-1 Saint John in Saint John, 8-2 Saint John in Saint John, 6-4 Saint John in Bathurst, and 5-4 Saint John in Bathurst.

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

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
Post-Game Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/user/seadogstv

TWITTER
Station Nation will be tweeting during tonight’s game at Harbour Station. You can follow us or follow along at www.twitter.com/station_nation.