PRE-GAME: Montreal Junior vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Game Day
Montreal Junior vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, January 9, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Harbour Station

Visiting Team: Montreal Junior
Record: 20-18-0-3 (3rd in Telus Western Division)
Last Game: 4-1 Win at Halifax last night
Leading Scorer: Nicholas Chouinard: 40 GP – 16 G – 18 A – 34 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Jean-Francois Berube (Los Angeles)
Notes: Montreal did some shopping and selling during the holiday trading period. The Junior acquired Marc-Andre Levasseur from Chicoutimi for a third rounder… the Junior traded defenseman Alex Wall to the Moncton Wildcats and a third round pick for Dillon Donnelly and a European draft pick… one of the biggest deals of the entire deadline was the Jake Allen trade. Montreal traded the star goaltender to Drummondville for two first round picks… Montreal traded Pierre-Antoine Dion to Cape Breton for Patrick Lapostolle and a second round pick… J.F. Berube, the teams only NHL draft pick, is now the team’s starting goaltender after the Allen trade. In 20 games played in this season, he is 8-9 with a goals against average of 2.94 and save percentage of 0.900… Montreal’s record of 20-18-0-3 is a surprise. Most publications predicted Montreal to finish in the bottom of the league standings but are currently sitting in 11th place in the QMJHL… 6-3-0-1 in their last 10 games and have won two straight games… this is the third game of an Atlantic division road trip. They defeated Cape Breton 4-1 on Wednesday night and Halifax by the same score last night at the Metro Centre… have the league’s second worst power play with a rating of 14.7%... Montreal has the best penalty kill in the entire league and is running at 85.7%... 7-9-0-2 on the road this year… 3-5-0-2 in their last 10 road games and have won two straight on their current road trip… Eliezer Sherbatov and Nicholas Chouinard both have three points against Saint John this season.

Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 35-7-1-0 (1st in Atlantic division)
Last Game: 3-1 Win vs Cape Breton last night
Leading Scorer: Nicholas Petersen: 35 GP – 25 G – 26 A – 51 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 is questionable for tonights game after suffering an upper body injury on New Year’s Eve in Moncton. He has missed the last two games… Gabriel Bourret will not be in the lineup this evening. He is back home in Quebec after a death in his family… Mike Hoffman now sits second in league goal scoring with 28 markers. He scored last night… the Sea Dogs had the league’s worst penalty kill entering last night’s game against Cape Breton. That has improved to third worst with a rating of 74.8% after keeping the Eagles to 0/6… 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 games and have won one straight game… this is the third game of a five game home stand for Saint John. They are 1-1-0-0 so far… have scored the second most goals of any team in the league with 187 – only two goals behind Drummondville… have allowed the second fewest goals in the league with 117… have the best home record at 17-4-0-0 this year… 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 home games and are coming off a 3-1 win over the Eagles last night… Nicholas Petersen leads the league in +/- with a rating of +40… in four games with Val-d’Or this season, Christian Morn has two goals against Montreal… Michael Kirkpatrick has a team high two assists against the Junior… Stanislav Galiev is the only Sea Dog with a plus rating against Montreal. Three players have a zero rating.

Saint John vs Montreal:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
1-0-1-0-0-0
Home: 0-0-0-0-0-0
Road: 1-0-1-0-0-0
Goals For: 4
Goals Against: 7

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
3-1-2-0-0-2
Home: 2-1-1-0-0-2
Road: 1-0-1-0-0-0
Goals For: 8
Goals Against: 9

All-Time-Not including this season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
As Montreal and St. John’s
23-8-15-0-0-16
Home: 11-6-5-0-0-12
Road: 12-2-10-0-0-4
Goals For: 73
Goals Against: 86

As St. John’s
20-7-13-0-0-14
Home: 9-5-4-0-0-10
Road: 11-2-9-0-0-4
Goals For: 65
Goals Against: 77

Station Nation Facts:

• Tonight’s game is the return of former Sea Dog captain David Stich, who was traded to the Junior earlier this season. The trade had to happen because Stich takes up both a European spot and overage spot. Stich was drafted in the 2006 CHL Import Draft. He played 172 games with Saint John and recorded 14 goals and 46 assists. His point total had nothing to do with his success as he was a fan favourite because of his shot blocking and rough play.
• The Montreal Junior and Saint John Sea Dogs are 2005 expansion cousins after Junior broke into the league as the St. John’s Fog Devils. During the 3rd season of their history, the Fog Devils, property of the Dobbin Family, were sold to Mr Farrel Miller. The new owner of the franchise transfers the team in Montreal (QC) for the start of the 2008-09 season. The Montreal Junior Hockey Club will play its home games at the Verdun Auditorium.
• On October 2, the Sea Dogs fell 7-4 to the Junior in Montreal. The Sea Dogs had a 2-1 lead early in the first period but allowed three Montreal goals in under two minutes, causing Marc-Antoine Gelinas to get the pull in net. Yann Sauve, Alexandre Leduc, Zach Phillips, and Steven Anthony all had goals for Saint John. The Dogs outshot Montreal 34-25.

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: www.youtube.com/seadogstv

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