SEA DOGS POST-GAME NOTEBOOK

SEA DOGS – OLYMPIQUES GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Saint John 8, Gatineau 0
Saint John Goals: Danick Gauthier (11, 12), Mike Hoffman (32), Tomas Jurco (16, 17), Nicholas Petersen (29), Michael Kirkpatrick (19), and Stephen MacAulay (7)
Gatineau Goals: None
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Marco Cousineau (15-15-0)
Losing Goaltender: GAT – Maxime Clermont (19-20-0)
News 88.9 Top Dog: Tomas Jurco

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Saint John 3/8, Gatineau 0/2
Shots on Goal: Saint John: 13+17+12+42, Gatineau: 7+0+8=15
Attendance: 2,696

SCRATCHES
Christian Morin missed his second straight game with what the Sea Dogs are calling an upper body injury. Aiden Kelly was a healthy scratch.

RIDICULUS DOMINANCE
This game was a miss match on paper but the result of the game was absolutely insane.

Saint John dominated the game from start to finish, and as the second period shots show – everywhere in between.

"(Sunday) was a real good effort for us,'' Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said to the Telegraph-Journal. "We played a full 60 minutes and controlled the play throughout the game. It was a real dominating performance.''

Gallant told Le Droit that he thought this was one of the best games played all season for the Sea Dogs, mentioning the fact that the team was coming off an ugly 6-4 win in Montreal the day before. He also said that his team skated very well and played with a lot of intensity even when the score was so lopsided.

GATINEAU – GET GOOD
The second period was not only awful for the Olympiques, but had to be rather embarrassing on home ice.

Gatineau failed to register a shot on goal while Saint John peppered the ‘Piques net minder Maxime Clermont with 17 in the middle frame. This was the first time in Sea Dogs franchise history that the feat has happened.

When Gatineau finally got a shot on net thanks to a dump in from center ice, the faithfull at the Robert Guertin Arena gave a loud cheer.

Jean-Francois Plante of Le Droit smartly pointed out that if Saint John had no goaltender through the first two periods, Gatineau would have led the game 7-6 heading into the third. That’s incredible when you think about.

SHUTOUT TIME
Marco Cousineau got his second shutout of the season and first as a Sea Dog on Sunday afternoon. The other was a 4-0 win over Saint John on October 3 in Charlottetown.

He only had to make 15 saves for the win – his fourth straight. Only three to four of those shots were challenging and most were in the third period when the game was already out of reach.

Since joining the Sea Dogs on News Year Eve, the Ducks prospect has a record of 5-1.

A LUMP OF COAL
What’s worse than getting a lump of coal on your birthday? How about losing 8-0 to the top team in the country on home ice.

“Hully,” the Olympiques mascot, turned 12-years old on Sunday. There was quite a celebration at center ice before the game. He was joined by a number of other mascots for the ceremonial puck drop and then had a bit of a “Wild Willy like” spaz attack before leaving.

As far as we can tell, Hully is a panda bear with a purple tint. He wore a ridiculously large hat shaped like a birthday cake.

It was the second time on the Sea Dogs’ road trip that mascots were involved in the opening faceoff.

OKAY ROAD TRIP
It ended on a solid note, but the Sea Dogs’ last three-in-three Quebec road swing of the season was anything but perfect.

Saint John barely defeated the Quebec Remparts 5-4 on Friday and then lost 6-4 to a .500 hockey team in the Montreal Junior.

"I wouldn't say I'm satisfied,'' Gallant said when asked to summarize the trip. "We got four points, but we wanted six.''

Unfortunately, Moncton went three-for-three on their road trip. Saint John’s Atlantic division lead is down to 11 points with Moncton having a game in hand.

CANADIAN PRESS RECAP
Sea Dogs 8 Olympiques 0

At Gatineau, Que., Marco Cousineau stopped 15 shots as Saint John trounced the Olympiques.

Tomas Jurco and Danick Gauthier both scored twice for the Sea Dogs (40-8-1), while Nicholas Petersen, Stephen MacAulay, Michael Kirkpatrick and Mike Hoffman added goals.

Maxime Clermont made 24 saves for Gatineau (23-20-5), before giving way to Dereck Tait, who stopped 10 shots.

OUT OF TOWN
Elsewhere in the QMJHL it was P.E.I. 2 Halifax 1 (SO); Cape Breton 2 Chicoutimi 5; and Shawinigan 5 Rimouski 0.

QUICK HITS
After breaking up the Sea Dogs' line combos in the third period on Saturday, Gerard Gallant returned his players to their natural surroundings… majority owner Scott McCain was an intermission guest on News 88.9 during the first period. He had been traveling with the team through their road trip… the Sea Dogs go 2-0 against Gatineau this season. More interesting though is the fact that Saint John shutout the ‘Piques in both games and outscored them 10-0… Tomas Jurco had his first QMJHL four point game. He has been on a tear in the second half, scoring six goals since New Year’s... Mike Hoffman has now taken over the league's goal scoring lead with a total of 32. He passed Nicolas Deschamps and Gabriel Dumont and has played five fewer games then the two.

NEXT GAME
Val-d’Or Foreurs vs Saint John Sea Dogs. Friday, January 29, 2010 at Harbour Station at 7:30 pm.

Friday’s game has been designated CHSJ Country Night. Fans are encouraged to dress in western-themed outfits. Several hundred cowboy hats will be distributed throughout the game, while popular country music will be played all evening long. One lucky fan will also win a trip to see Taylor Swift in concert courtesy of Country 94.1 FM!

Tickets to this 7:30pm contest are available by calling the arena box office at (506) 657-1234 or by visiting http://www.harbourstation.nb.ca/.