PRE-GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Gatineau Olympiques

Game Day
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Gatineau Olympiques
Today, January 24, at 5:00 pm
Centre Robert Guertin

Visiting Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 39-8-1-0 (1st in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 6-4 loss at Montreal yesterday
Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick: 47 GP – 18 G – 42 A – 60 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).
Notes: Defenseman Christian Morin is expected to miss today’s game with what the team is calling an upper body injury. He was hurt by a Dominic Savoie hit in the third period during Friday night’s 5-4 shootout win in Quebec City. He missed yesterday’s game as well… Saint John sits first in the Atlantic division, first overall in the QMJHL, and are ranked number one in the country… coming off a disappointing 6-4 loss in Montreal yesterday. Goaltender Karel St. Laurent struggled in goal and the Sea Dogs allowed two shorthanded goals in the loss… after having yesterday off, Marco Cousineau will likely get the call in the Saint John net. He hasn’t played since Friday… the Sea Dogs have scored the most goals of any team in the league so far this season with 214. They have allowed the second fewest goals against with 131… have the seventh ranked power play in the league and went 2/6 last night against the Junior – owners of the best penalty kill in the league entering the match… 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games… owners of the league’s best record at 19-4-1-0. They are 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games… Stanislav Galiev is tied for first in rookie scoring with 45 points – 11 goals and 34 assists – in 47 games played… with two goals last night, Mike Hoffman now sits second in team scoring with 58 points in just 37 games this season… Nicholas Pard leads the Sea Dogs offensively against Gatineau this season. He is the only player to score against them, registering two goals in one game… Mike Hoffman has a seven game point streak entering tonight’s game. In that span, he has five goals and eight assists… Michael Kirkpatrick had a 10 game points streak snapped last night… this is the last game of a three-in-three road trip for Saint John – the last of its kind for this season.

Home Team: Gatineau Olympiques
Record: 23-19-1-4 (3rd in Telus Western Division)
Last Game: 5-4 overtime win vs Val-d’Or yesterday
Leading Scorer: Tye McGinn: 40 GP – 23 G – 28 A – 51 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Hubert Labrie (Dallas)
Notes: Former Sea Dog Alexandre Leduc was traded to Gatineau earlier this season but is believed to have left team. He had quite a return in Saint John, checking Mike Hoffman from behind on his first shift of the game… former Sea Dog Benjamin Lecomte is reportedly no longer with the team as the well. He was sent to Val-d’Or and later to Gatineau in the Christian Morin trade. In six games in Gatineau, he had one assist… also believed to be longer with the team is Kevin Charland. Charland was traded to Val-d’Or during the 2009 Holiday trading period for the Foreurs’ first pick in the CHL Import draft – a pick that was used to draft Tomas Jurco… the only Gatineau player to record a point against Saint John this season is Alexandre Beaton, who got an assist before he was traded from Lewiston… Saint John native Ben Miller was traded to Gatineau at the deadline. In two games against Saint John this season, he is a -3… since the last time these two teams have played each other, Nicolas Boyer, Steven Delisle, Alexandre Quesnel, and Alexandre Touchette were all traded by the club… Beaton and rookie Jean-Gabriel Pageau are both on eight game point scoring streaks. Beaton has scored two goals and nine assists in that span while Pageau has registered eight goals and seven assists… 14-6-1-3 at home this season. They are 5-3-1-1 in their last 10 home games and have lost two straight games.

Saint John vs Gatineau:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
1-1-0-0-0-2
Home: 1-1-0-0-0-2
Road: 0-0-0-0-0-0
Goals For: 2
Goals Against: 0

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
3-2-1-0-0-0
Home: 2-1-1-0-0-0
Road: 1-1-0-0-0-2
Goals For: 14
Goals Against: 7

All-Time- Not Including This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
9-3-5-0-1-7
Home: 5-1-3-0-1-3
Road: 4-2-2-0-0-4
Goals For: 33
Goals Against: 40

Station Nation Facts:

• The Hockey News named the Gatineau Olympiques organization the team of the decade in the QMJHL. They made the playoffs every season and had a below 0.500 winning percentage only once.
• In 2003-04, the Olympiques changed their name from Hull to Gatineau.
• The team’s notables over the years include: Sylvain Turgeon, Sam Lang, Pat Burns, Luc Robitaille, Guy Rouleau (photo), Martin Gélinas, José Théodore, Claude Julien, Colin White, Jiri Fischer, and Maxime Talbot.
• The City of Gatineau and the Olympiques announced last year that their will be major renovations done to the arena. The plan will result in a 6,000 seat arena for the 'Piques. A time frame for the work hasn't yet been decided.
• Gatineau mascot “Hully” is celebrating his 12th birthday during today’s game.

Important Info:
Venue: Centre Robert Guertin
Capacity: 3,196
Arena Guide Info: http://www.qmjhlarenaguide.com/olympiques.htm

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, Telegraph-Journal, Le Droit

TWITTER
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