SEA DOGS POST-GAME NOTEBOOK

SEA DOGS – SCREAMING EAGLES GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Cape Breton 1, Saint John 3
Saint John Goals: Tomas Jurco (13), Mike Hoffman (28), and Zach Phillips (7)
Cape Breton Goals: Cory MacIntosh (4)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Cousineau, Marco (12-15-0)
Losing Goaltender: CAP – Roy, Olivier (18-15-0)
News 88.9 Top Dog: Mike Hoffman

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Screaming Eagles 0/6, Sea Dogs 2/5
Shots on Goal: Screaming Eagles: 14+7+3=24, Sea Dogs: 10+12+6=28
Attendance: 3,534

SCRATCHES
Saint John scratched Stephen MacAulay and Gabriel Bourret. MacAulay has been diagnosed with an upper body injury while Bourret is back home after a death in his family.

Cape Breton scratched Luke Adam, Stephen Horyl, Maxime Legault, and Steven Woodworth. Adam is back home in St. John’s and is set to return on Monday after helping Team Canada win a silver medal at the World Juniors.

A BETTER EFFORT
Coming off an awful effort on Wednesday against the Moncton Wildcats, the Sea Dogs played a much better game.

"That's the comeback effort we needed (after Wednesday night's 5-3 loss to Moncton),'' Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said to the Telegraph-Journal. "Cape Breton has a big team and they play a hard game.''

Saint John also managed to keep the lead the entire game after struggling to do so in the last two games.

THE BIG STORY
One thing stood out on this night and that was the Sea Dogs’ penalty kill.

"They had a really good night,” Gallant said about his penalty-killers. "We were definitely due for that. They're getting used to each other and they're getting in shot lanes and they're not giving teams their No. 1 set up plays, and they're taking (opportunities) away. They're a lot more aggressive in the corners. Little things change a penalty kill.''

Saint John kept the Screaming Eagles to 0/6 on the power play, a feat the Sea Dogs have done only a few times this season. Entering action last night, the Dogs penalty kill unit was the worst in the QMJHL.

"We committed ourselves to blocking shots and working hard,'' Yann Sauve said about the penalty-killing unit. "If we keep going like this on the PK, we'll do a good job. It's good for our confidence, but we have to keep working hard.''

"Our penalty killing unit was good tonight. We blocked a lot of shots and forced some turnovers."
FIGHT CARD
Will Johnston vs Kalin Paul: This was one for the ages as “Will the Thrill” took down Paul in an epic fight. Johnston used both hands at will and had Tim Roszell flipping out on the radio. According to the Telegraph-Journal, this match was expected after a 2008 pre-season tilt.

Paul never returned to the game after the bout.

Mike Thomas vs Ashton Bernard: After Bernard kneed Jonathan Huberdeau, Thomas ran over and dropped them with Bernard. It was a short tilt with not many good punches thrown.

WHAT’S UP WITH THAT
The first time a coach pulled a goaltender in the dying minutes of a game for an extra attacker, it was looked upon as bizarre. Maybe Gerard Gallant is trying to do the same thing.

With only seconds left in the first and second period and the faceoff in the Cape Breton zone, Gallant pulled Marco Cousineau for an extra attacker. The Sea Dogs couldn’t get a shot off but it was a nice try.

CANADIAN PRESS RECAP
Sea Dogs 3 Screaming Eagles 1 At Saint John, N.B., Mike Hoffman had the eventual winner as the Sea Dogs downed Cape Breton.

Tomas Jurco and Zack Phillips added singles for Saint John (35-7-1).

Cory MacIntosh answered for the Screaming Eagles (24-15-5).

SEADOGSTV HIGHLIGHTS


QUICK HITS
With their 35th win last night, the Sea Dogs have surpassed their win total from all of last season… Buffalo Sabers prospect Jacob Legace made his Cape Breton debut… Tyler MacLean, the producer for the Afternoon News with Tom Young, did the colour commentary on News 88.9 last night. That boy can talk fast!... Jonathan Huberdeau made his way back into the line-up after being away at the World Under-17 Hockey Championships. He played on a tough line with Mike Thomas and Will Johnston… before the game, Nicholas Petersen was named the Sea Dogs’ Scholastic Player of the Month… Canadian fitness guru Paul Plakas from Slice-TV's X-Weighted performed the ceremonial puck drop… Mike Hoffman is now second in league goal scoring with 28 goals – only two goals behind the Eagles’ Legace.

NEXT GAME
Montreal Junior vs Saint John Sea Dogs. Tonight, January 9, 2010 at 7:00 pm at Harbour Station.

This game will feature the 97.3 The Wave “not so” Extreme Team as well as the return of former Sea Dog captain David Stich.