PRE-GAME: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Game Day
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Today, February 14, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Harbour Station

Visiting Team: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Record: 31-20-2-3 (3rd in Atlantic division)
Last Game: 3-2 loss at Saint John on Friday
Leading Scorer: Luke Adam: 44 GP-39 G-31 A-70 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Olivier Roy (Edmonton), Mathieu Brodeur (Phoenix), Jacob Legace (Buffalo), Luke Adam (Buffalo), Maxime Legault (Buffalo), and Ashton Bernard (New Jersey).
Notes: Edmonton prospect Olivier Roy has struggled against Saint John this season. He is 0-4 against the Dogs with a 3.21 goals against average to go with a 0.901 save percentage. He would have played another game against Saint John but had to go home after his grandmother died… have allowed the third fewsest amount of goals of any team in the league this year with 159. That is 14 goals more than Saint John has allowed… 15-10-1-2 on the road this year and are 0-3-0-0 in Saint John. They are 4-6-0-0 in their last 10 games away from home and have lost two straight… the Eagles have been outscored 11-7 at Harbour Station this year… Luke Adam leads the league in goals with 39. He scored Friday against the Sea Dogs… Jacob Legace leads Cape Breton in assists with 32. Since being traded from Chicoutimi, he has only one goal and nine assists… Adam leads the Eagles with six points (two goals, four assists) against Saint John… Nick McNeil has a team high three goals against Saint John. The Eagles have only scored 12 against the Dogs and have been shutout once… Stephen Horyl has scored two goals on just eight shots in five games against the Dogs… Cape Breton does not have any New Brunswicker’s on their current line-up. They have 10 from Nova Scotia and one from Prince Edward Island… have played three straight games on the road with stops in Charlottetown and Halifax last weekend... 5-5-0-0 in their last 10 games and have lost two straight.

Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 46-8-1-0 (1st in Atlantic division)
Last Game: 3-2 Win vs Cape Breton on Friday
Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick: 54 GP-24 G-47 A-71 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).
Notes: Nathan Beaulieu is questionable for today’s match with an ankle injury… Stephen MacAulay will not play because he has gone home after his grandmother passed away… Saint John is first in the Atlantic division, first overall in the QMJHL, and are ranked number one in the country for the fourth straight week… the Sea Dogs are on a seven game winning streak. It is the biggest streak since their epic 22 wins that ended on December 13 in Moncton… Mike Hoffman, Nicholas Pard, and Zack Phillips all scored in the Sea Dogs’ 3-2 win over Cape Breton on Friday… Saint John has the most wins of any team in the league with 46. That is eight more than Victoriaville and Drummondville who have 38… 9-1-0-0 in their last 10 games… have scored the most goals of any team in the league with 257 in 55 games. That is an average of 4.67 goals per game… have scored 77 power play goals in 300 chances. Good for fourth in the league… Saint John allowed two power play goals against the Eagles in six chances on Friday. They have a penalty kill rating of 77.6%... 61 of Saint John’s 145 goals against have been while the team has been shorthanded… have the best home record in the league at 24-4-0-0. They are 9-1-0-0 in their last 10 games at Harbour Station and have won eight straight… have yet to allow a shorthanded goal at home this year. They have scored four shorties this year, including Mike Hoffman’s goal on Friday… a perfect 6-0-0-0 against the Eagles this season and are 3-0-0-0 at home. They play one more time after today’s game in Cape Breton… Stanislav Galiev continues to leads rookies in scoring with 54 points in 54 games – good for one point per game… Hoffman has scored the third most goals at home this year of any other player in the league with 20… Hoffman was the only Sea Dog player to extend his point streak on Friday. The Ottawa prospect now has gotten a point in 14 straight games. In that span, he has 10 goals and 15 assists… Michael Kirkpatrick leads the Sea Dogs in scoring against Cape Breton with one goal and seven assists… not one player has a minus rating against the Eagles… Danick Gauthier has team high 12 penalty minutes against the Eagles.

Saint John vs Cape Breton:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
6-6-0-0-0-12
Home: 3-3-0-0-0-6
Road: 3-3-0-0-0-6
Goals For: 24
Goals Against: 12

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
8-2-4-1-1-6
Home: 4-1-2-1-0-3
Road: 4-1-2-0-2-4
Goals For: 20
Goals Against: 34

All-Time-Not including this season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
26-8-13-1-5-22
Home: 13-3-6-1-3-10
Road: 13-5-7-0-2-12
Goals For: 65
Goals Against: 93

STATION NATION FACTS:

• Sunday’s contest will feature several Valentine’s Day-themed promotions, including candy and flower giveaways. A post-game autograph session will also be staged, with special 4-for-40 ticket packages available for purchase.
• This is the second game of two straight games at Harbour Station between these two teams. It is also the last game these two play in Saint John pending a possible, but unlikely, playoff matchup.
• Kenny McNeil hosts a decent 30 minute pre-game show on 103.5 FM The Eagle out of Sydney. Check it out online if you can’t go to the game tonight.
• "I think the effort was there,'' Cape Breton head coach Mario Durocher said after Friday’s game. "We were physical and that's what we wanted to do. We have a big team and we have to create the battles in the corner by dumping the puck and finishing our checks. We didn't build this team to be pretty. We built this team to use our big bodies. I think tonight was good playoff preparation for us. We can build on (our effort.) ''

PAST RESULTS THIS SEASON
Sep 13, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 4 @ Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 3
Sep 19, 2009: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 4 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 5 in OT
Oct 10, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 5 @ Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 2
Oct 11, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 4 @ Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 0
Jan 08, 2010: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 1 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 3
Feb 12, 2010: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 2 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 3

TEENS FOR JEANS TODAY
Saint John Sea Dogs President Wayne Long has announced that the team will be holding a special clothing drive at this Sunday’s home game versus the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (Feb. 14, 4pm).

As part of Aéropostale, Incorporated’s annual Teens for Jeans campaign, the Sea Dogs will be collecting used, lightly-worn jeans prior to Sunday afternoon’s contest. This year’s campaign is being conducted in partnership with DoSomething.Org, with Aéropostale, Inc. set to match the first 100,000 pairs of jeans donated as part of the relief effort in Haiti. A total of 200,000 pairs of jeans will be collected for victims of the earthquake, with the balance set to be distributed to local homeless shelters.

“This is a very worthwhile initiative that we’re proud to lend our support to,” says Long. “We hope that Sea Dogs fans will help make this year’s Teens for Jeans campaign a success.”

AFTER THE BUZZER
The Sea Dogs travel to Halifax to face the Herd on Wednesday at 7:00 pm.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297

Saint John Media: Radio- News 88.9 FM (http://www.news889.com/)
Live Video Streaming: http://www.qmjhl.mytelus.com/
Post-Game Coverage: www.stationnation.blogspot.com, Telegraph-Journal, Cape Breton Post Post-Game Highlights: www.youtube.com/seadogstv

LIVE TWEETS
After a day off, Station Nation will be tweeting during today’s game. You can follow us or follow along at www.twitter.com/station_nation.