101 REASONS TO LIKE THIS SEASON

STATION NATION POST-GAME
FINAL: Sea Dogs 9, Foreurs 3

VAL-D’OR – For the first time in franchise history, Saint John’s point total will read three digits.
With their 9-3 blowout win in Val-d’Or on Friday night against the Foreurs, Saint John picked up point number 100 and 101 as well as win number 50 – also a franchise first. Their previous highest point total came in 2007-08 when they captured 89 points while playing a 70 game schedule.

Saint John got better as the game progressed and bounced back from a rough outing Wednesday night in Gatineau. Sporting the exact same lineup as their game against the Olympiques, Marco Cousineau made 18 saves to pick up his 23rd win of the year.

Zach Phillips and Michael Kirkpatrick had two goal nights for the Sea Dogs. Nicholas Petersen, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nicholas Pard, Mike Hoffman and Nathan Beaulieu added singles for the winners. For Phillips, he has now scored four goals and three assists in his last two games.

The non-victorious home team from the “Valley of Gold” had a two goal performance Jonathan Hazen. Jean Francois Leblanc added a single.

Saint John went 1/4 on the power play while Val-d’Or went 1/6.

It was a fairly even first period of play. Saint John had the first power play of the game at 2:07 when Alex Filiatrault knocked Nicholas Pard’s stick out his hands. On the man advantage, Saint John had lots of pressure but few shots early on. Kevin Gagne had two shots but could not beat Jacob Chouinard.

Val-d’Or captain Simon Lacroix let a good shot go from the slot but was stopped. That caused a mad scramble in the crease but was kept out by Marco Cousineau. On the play, Stephen MacAulay went to the box but the Foreurs struggled on the power play and couldn’t get set-up to get any shots off.

Simon Despres had a good chance when he wristed a shot but was stopped by Chouinard. Then Despres had another good chance when he was left all alone in the slot area but hit the post.

Nicholas Petersen and Mike Hoffman entered the zone on a two-on-one chance. Petersen had the puck and used Hoffman as a decoy when he let a wrist shot go that beat Chouinard short side to make it 1-0 Sea Dogs at 16:33.

On the following shift, Hoffman carried the puck into the zone and went down to the icing line. He centered a back hand pass to Stanislav Galiev in front but was robbed by the pad of Chouinard.

At 18:29, Zach Phillips continued his hot play. The 17-year sat in front of the goal and simply used his stick to put in the puck that was thrown in front. This came thanks to some strong forechecking to allow Phillips to be parked in front.

Shots after 20 minutes were 9-8 for the visitors.

Simon Despres took a penalty to open the period at 0:38. Danick Gauthier had a great shorthanded chance on a wrap around but sent his backhand shot just wide of the post. That was followed by Mike Thomas getting called at 1:25. After two good stops by Cousineau, Hoffman went in on a breakaway but was robbed by the pad of Chouinard.

Hoffman then got called at 2:18 for a trip to give the Foreurs a long five-on-three. On the power play following a time-out, Vincent Couture sent a cross crease pass to Jonathan Hazen who was left alone. Cousineau dove to make the save but Hazen went roof-daddy to make it a 2-1 game.

With Val-d’Or still on the power play, Couture had a great chance but sent the shot wide.

Then it was Saint John’s chance at a five-on-three power play with two Foreurs players in the box. Hoffman had a shot stopped as Chouinard was in good position. Then Michael Kirkpatrick sent a cross ice pass to Hoffman but he hit the post. Finally, Pard finished off the power play by hitting Saint John’s third post of the game.

Nathan Beaulieu laid a big hit on first overall pick Olivier Archambault by the Sea Dogs bench. Couture was stopped again by Cousineau in front as the Val-d’Or played was snake bitten in the second period.

After Yann Sauve took a slashing call at 8:23, the Foreurs struggled again to get their power play setup. Archambault sent a cross ice feed but nobody was there to accept the puck on the best chance of the man advantage.

Beaulieu made it a 3-1 game when he took a drop pass from Galiev at 10:48 to beat Chouinard just inside the post on a hard shot. Then Hoffman made it 4-1 along the goal line as he sent a shot that sneaked just inside the post at 14:58.

Val-d’Or managed to keep it close when Jean-Francois Leblanc scored at 16:47. His backhand managed to get through a large amount of traffic and beat the Saint John net minder five-hole to make it 4-2.

But a pass through a maze of traffic made its way to the stick of Kirkpatrick at 17:41 and beat Sean Coulton, who replaced Chouinard following the Beaulieu goal, to make it 5-2 Sea Dogs after two periods.

Shots in the second were 9-6 for the home team.

Saint John got a power play chance early in the third period when Mathieu Leduc got called after taking down Jonathan Huberdeau. On the power play, Huberdeau got his revenge by deking around a few Foreurs players and beating Coulton in front to make it 6-2.

Just over three minutes later at 5:17, Hazen found the back of the net to make it a three goal game again. The play happened after a dump in was centered by the Foreurs with Hazen beating Cousineau high glove side.

Jurco had a great chance following the goal but was stopped by Coulton with the chest.

A point shot was stopped by Coulton at 6:22 but the rebound bounced up to Pard. The 19-year old swatted the puck in but looked like it may be waived off because of a high stick. The goal was reviewed and it was ruled that Pard didn’t have his stick over the crossbar so it became a 7-3 game.

Pard was hauled down by a Foreurs and was awarded a penalty shot at 6:41 but sent his shot high and over the net.

As everybody turned on the tube to watch Team Canada, Mike Thomas hit the post but deflected in off the skate of Phillips for his second of the game. The goal was reviewed but the call stood.

Saint John ended the scoring at 15:39 when Kirkpatrick beat Coulton from a beautiful cross ice pass from Petersen to make the final score 9-3 Sea Dogs.

Shots in the third were 18-4 Saint John.

SCRATCHES: Steven Anthony missed his third game with a groin injury while Gabriel Bourret was a healthy scratch. Val-d’Or was missing nine regulars and only dressed 15 playes.

NEWS 88.9 TOP DOG: Zach Phillips

NOTES: Tim Roszell returned after a game off due to Team Canada hockey. If you blinked, you probably missed the post-game… Christian Morin returned to Val-d’Or for the first time since being traded to Saint John during the holiday trading period… Mike Hoffman scored his 40th goal of the year and is only two back of tying Scott Howes’ team record… Nathan Beaulieu became the first defenseman to reach double-digits in goals.

NEXT GAME: Up next for the Sea Dogs (50-10-1-0) is a Saturday afternoon contest versus the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies at Dave Keon Arena (puck drop – 5pm AST).