PRE-GAME: Rimouski Oceanic vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Game Day
Rimouski Oceanic vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Today, February 21, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Harbour Station

Visiting Team: Rimouski Oceanic
Record: 30-23-4-2 (2nd in Telus East Division)
Last Game: 6-1 Win at PEI last night
Leading Scorer: Felix Lefrancois: 59 GP-32 G-41 A-73 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Gleason Fournier (Detroit)
Notes: The Oceanic are coming off a 6-1 blowout win in Charlottetown last night over the Rocket. Captain Felix Lefrancois led the way with two goals and one assist. Philippe Tremblay made 21 saves in net… Matthew Dopud could get the start in net for Rimouski today. The former Sea Dog was drafted by Saint John in fifth round of the 2006 QMJHL entry draft. He played in nine games in his rookie season with the Dogs as he backed-up Travis Fullerton in the second half. He had a 2-5 record to along with a 4.81 GAA and 0.853 save percentage. He was released by Saint John on September 2, 2008… this season, Dopud is 19-15 with a 3.67 GAA and 0.884 save percentage… have allowed the sixth most goals of any team in the league this with 232 against… 6-4-0-0 in their last 10 games and are coming off a win… have the fourth worst penalty kill in the league with a rating of 76.1%… have allowed the fourth most shorthanded goals in the league with nine against in 59 games… the Oceanic have the second best power play in the league with a rating of 26.3%. Moncton has the best in the QMJHL with a rating of 27.2%… 13-13-2-2 in the road this year but are 4-6-0-0 in their last 10 road contests… Retr Straka leads all rookies with 57 points this year. That is just one point better then Stanislav Galiev of the Sea Dogs. Straka is, however, a –5 while Galiev is a +34… Jakub Culek is fifth in rookie scoring with 43 points… Patrick Delisle-Houde has the only Rimouski goal against Saint John this season… no Rimouski player has a plus rating against the Dogs while three different players are a –3.

Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 47-10-1-0 (1st in Atlantic division)
Last Game: 3-1 loss vs Shawinigan last night
Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick: 57 GP-25 G-48 A-73 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).
Notes: First in the Atlantic division, first overall in the league and ranked number one in Canada for the fifth straight week… coming off one of their worst loses of the season last night as their magical offensive well ran dry. Nicholas Pard had the only goal for the Dogs… head coach Gerard Gallant sent a message to his club after the loss last night by dragging his players back on to the ice for a bag skate after the building was empty… Saint John switched their line combinations up throughout the game. The biggest difference saw Steven Anthony up on the top line with Mike Hoffman and Nicholas Petersen. It didn’t work though with Stanislav Galiev returning to his natural environment to start the third period… Stephen MacAulay missed the game last evening after taking a big hit in Halifax Wednesday. Kevin Gagne is still believed to be nursing a groin injury and has missed two straight games… the Sea Dogs now have the second best home record and sit a point back of Drummondville. They are 24-6-0-0 at Harbour Station this year. 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 home games but have lost two straight (Cape Breton and Shawinigan)… Simon Despres and Nicholas Petersen both have two goals each against Rimouski this year… Mike Hoffman and Michael Kirkpatrick both have a team high three assists against the Oceanic… in two games with Val-d’Or against Rimouski this season, Christian Morin has 11 penalty minutes.

Saint John vs Rimouski:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
1-1-0-0-0-2
Home: 0-0-0-0-0-0
Road: 1-1-0-0-0-2
Goals For: 6
Goals Against: 1

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
3-0-3-0-0-0
Home: 1-0-1-0-0-0
Road: 2-0-2-0-0-0
Goals For: 8
Goals Against: 15

All-Time-Not including this season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
9-4-4-1-0-9
Home: 4-2-1-1-0-5
Road: 4-2-1-1-0-4
Goals For: 28
Goals Against: 38

STATION NATION FACTS

• A limited number of seats remain available for this match, which has been designated "Journée Des Francofans." As of Friday morning, only 800 tickets remained for this contest.
• The Sea Dogs have not had a sold-out game since game five of the 2008 quarterfinals against Bathurst. Their last regular season sell-out came way back in March of 2008.
• Saint John defeated Rimouski on November 1 - Halloween night at the Colisee – by score of 6-1.
• Here is strange fact: Mike Hoffman is the only player in league history to have the last name Hoffman.
• There are only three home games left for Saint John after this contest.

THE RINK
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Year Built: 1993

MEDIA
Saint John Media: Radio- News 88.9 FM (http://www.news889.com/)
Live Video Streaming: http://www.qmjhl.mytelus.com/
Post-Game Coverage: http://www.stationnation.blogspot.com/, Telegraph-Journal, L'Advantage Votre Journal, Progres-Echo
Post-Game Highlights: www.youtube.com/seadogstv

TWITTER
Station Nation will be tweeting during tonight’s game. You can follow us or follow along at www.twitter.com/station_nation.