Saturday, January 2, 2010

TONIGHT'S GAME CANCELLED

SAINT JOHN – Tonight’s Quebec Major Hockey League game between the Moncton Wildcats and Saint John Sea Dogs at Harbour Station has officially been cancelled due to bad weather in southern New Brunswick.

The decision came at just after 2:30 on the Sea Dogs’ official Twitter page.

The Sea Dogs posted on their Facebook page just before noon today that the two teams would make a decision by 2:00 pm. 2:00 became 2:20 and then 2:40 before the official announcement was made.

News 88.9 Meteorologist Richard Zurawski says we can expect up to 20 centimetres of snow and winds gusting up to 120 kilometres an hour when all is said and done.

Environment Canada has issued winter storm and wind warnings for the Greater Saint John area, with winter storm, wind, and storm surge warnings for the Moncton region.

The Sea Dogs’ website reports that a new date for this game will given in the “near future.” No information about game tickets has been given. Fans will likely have the chance to return tickets for a refund if they wish.

The cancellation is both good and bad for the Sea Dogs. Today was supposed to be their portion of the holiday food drive. With the food drive worth five points, and attendance included in the Rivalry Cup this season, it’s good for the Sea Dogs because those numbers would have likely been down due to the weather.

The bad side of it for Saint John is the fact that Moncton is missing nine of their regular players. The game could be rescheduled for later this season when those players are all back and healthy.
This is the first time in Sea Dogs franchise history they have had to postpone a home game. They have had one road game postponed, last season in Halifax, because of weather similar to todays.

Earlier this season, the Sea Dogs' had a game in PEI was delayed 45 minutes because high winds closed our old foe the Confederation Bridge to high sided vehicles.

But on November 18, 2007, one of the most memorable games in franchise history took place at the Georges-Vezina Centre in Chicoutimi. With the Sea Dogs up 4-0 and going into the second intermission, a snow storm knocked the power out and forced News 88.9’s Tim Roszell to use his cell phone to explain the situation to listeners. The game was finished from the third period on on Sunday, November 18. The Sea Dogs blew the four goal lead but won the game thanks to Chris DiDomenico who scored at 4:22 in overtime.

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