PRE-GAME: Moncton Wildcats vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Game Day
Brunswick News Rivalry Cup Game Five
Moncton Wildcats vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, January 6, 2010 @ 7:00 pm
Harbour Station

Visiting Team: Moncton Wildcats
Record: 25-11-1-3 (2nd in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 7-4 Win vs Val-d’Or last tonight
Leading Scorer: Nicolas Deschamps: 36-25-33-58
NHL Draft Picks: 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 Nicolas Deschamps (Anaheim).
Notes: The Wildcats were missing nine players, two defensemen and seven forwards, who would usually play top minutes last Thursday against Saint John. They were Dillon Donnelly, Brandon Gormley, Kirill Kabanov, Andrew Roski, Pierre-Marc Lessard, Ted Stephens, Scott Brannon, Matt Brown, and Gabriel Bourque. They all could miss today’s game as well with the exception of Brannon and Gormley who were expected to return last night… have allowed the fewest amount of goals of any team in the QMJHL with 104… the Wildcats have proven to be dangerous on the penalty kill. They had several scoring chances on Thursday against the Sea Dogs and lead the league with 10 shorthanded goals in 38 games played. Six of them have been on the road… tied with six other teams for most shootout loses this season with three… 11-7-1-2 on the road this season and are 0-0-1-1 in Saint John in two appearances earlier this season… 5-4-0-1 in their last 10 road games and have won two straight… David Savard leads the Wildcats in assists against Saint John this season with six. That is also a team high for points… Marek Hrivik leads the Cats with three goals against Saint John this year in five games… 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 and will return from the World Junior Hockey Championships on Friday… Daniel Pettersson is team high +3 against the Dogs… against Saint John, Moncton’s power play is working at 36.4%... last night’s home game versus Val-d’Or was originally scheduled for earlier season but was cancelled due to H1N1. This game is the Cats’ third in four nights… Mark Barberio was suspended for yesterday’s game after spearing a Screaming Eagle player on Sunday. He will play tonight.

Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 34-6-1-0(1st in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 4-3 Shootout win at Moncton on Thursday
Leading Scorer: Nicholas Petersen: 33-25-25-50
NHL Draft Picks: The Sea Dogs have six NHL drafted players on their roster - Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh)
Notes: Captain Mike Thomas returns to the lineup tonight after missing three games because of a suspension he got on December 18 in Halifax… Nicholas Petersen leads the league with an impressive +40 rating… Michael Kirkpatrick leads the Sea Dogs in assists with 34… Yann Sauve, Stanislav Galiev, and Danick Gauthier all have a team leading two goals against Moncton this year… Petersen has a Sea Dog high three assists against the Cats… Sauve and Galiev are a team high +3 versus Moncton… entering Thursday’s game in Moncton, Gauthier had a 100% shooting percentage against Moncton. That has now slipped to 50%... Steven Anthony is a team worse -3 against the Cats… Marco Cousineau will make his Harbour Station debut tonight for the Dogs… sit first overall in the Atlantic division, the QMJHL, and second in the BMO CHL Top 10 Rankings… 3-1-0-0 in their four games against Moncton this season… have the second best home record in the league at 16-3-0-0… they are 9-1-0-0 in their last 10 home games and won their last game at Harbour Station 5-2 over the Rocket… are 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games and have won four straight games… have scored the most goals of any team in the league with 181 goals for… Will Johnston was called up yesterday from Summerside (MJAHL) and is expected to play tonight. He will wear number 24.

Saint John vs Moncton:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
4-3-1-0-0-6
Home: 2-2-0-0-0-4
Road: 2-1-1-0-0-2
Goals For: 14
Goals Against: 15

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:

• Tonight’s game was originally scheduled for Saturday, January 2. The Wildcats headed out on their team bus but quickly turned around because of bad driving conditions, causing the QMJHL to postpone the contest.
• Tonight at around 6:00 pm, turn on your radio’s before heading inside to Harbour Station. Moncton play-by-play man Les Stoodly and Saint John play-by-play man Tim Roszell will be on “The Drive” on News 88.9 FM for their weekly Q-Talk.
• Today’s game is game five of the 2009-2010 Brunswick News Rivalry Cup Challenge. The two teams are currently tied in the challenge with 8.5 points apiece.
• 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 two games at the Moncton Coliseum saw the Sea Dogs lose 7-3 on December 13 and win 4-3 in a shootout this past Thursday.
• This is the Sea Dogs’ first home game of the New Year. The team will wear their dark jerseys from now until playoff time for all games at Harbour Station.
• Andrew Langan was sent to Woodstock (MJAHL) last week.
• Last Thursday in Moncton, Tomas Jurco and Mike Hoffman scored in the shootout as the league-leading Saint John edged the Wildcats 4-3. Nicholas Petersen, Danick Gauthier and Yann Sauve scored for the Sea Dogs (34-6-1). Nicolas Deschamps, Daniel Pettersson and Marek Hrivik had goals for Moncton (23-11-3).

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, Times & Transcript, Telegraph-Journal
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 at www.twitter.com/station_nation.