PRE-GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Rouyn-Noranda Huskies

Game Day
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Rouyn-Noranda
Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Dave Keon Arena

Visiting Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 50-10-1-0 (1st in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 9-3 win at Val-d’Or last night
Leading Scorer: Mike Hoffman: 50 GP-40 G-36 A-76 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).
Notes: Saint John is first on the Atlantic, first overall in the QMJHL, and are ranked second in country this week after five straight weeks at number one… coming off a rather convincing victory in Val-d’Or last night as they won 9-3. Michael Kirkpatrick and Zach Phillips both had two goal nights while Marco Cosuineau stopped 18 pucks for the win… Karel St. Laurent will likely get the start in goal today after Cousineau played Wednesday in Gatineau and last night. He has a record of 16-4 with a goals against average of 2.71 and save percentage of 0.902… became the first team in the league this year to acheive 50 wins and 100 points. Both are franchise firsts… 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games and have won three straight against the teams frim Val-d’Or, Gatineau, and Rimouski… this is the fifth straight game for Saint John in which they have played a Quebec based team. They are 3-1… this ends a three game Quebec road trip, their last of the season. They are 2-0 so far on the trek. They have one more three gamer in the last week of the season when they are in Cape Breton, PEI, and Moncton… the Sea Dogs will likely reach 300 goals scored by the end of next week. In 61 games this year, Saint John has scored a league high 285 goals… Saint John is a league best 25-4-1-0 on the road this season. They are 9-1-0-0 in their last 10 games away from Harbour Station and have won six straight. It is the longest active road winning streak… Mike Hoffman is on a three game point scoring streak. In that span, he has three goals and one assist… Zach Phillips has been the hottest Sea Dog of late. In his last two games, the 17-year old has four goals and three assists… Danick Gauthier of all people has a team high three goals against the Huskies this season… Michael Kirkpatrick has a team high three assists versus Rouyn-Noranda this year… Kevin Gagne is a team high +5 in two games against the Huskies.

RECORDS READY TO BE SMASHED
SAINTJOHNSEADOGS.COM
In the team record watch, Michael Kirkpatrick is seven assists shy of Chris DiDomenico’s franchise-best mark of 56 headed into today’s action, while superstar sniper Mike Hoffman is now only two back of Scott Howes’ single-season goals record of 42 with seven games remaining on the 09-10 campaign. Kirkpatrick (27G-49A) and Hoffman (40G-36A) are both tied for seventh place onthe QMJHL scoring list with 76 points apiece.

Home Team: Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
Record: 37-20-2-3 (1st in Telus Western Division)
Last Game: 4-1 Win vs Val-d’Or on Thursday
Leading Scorer: Gabriel Levesque: 61 GP-22 G-55 A-77 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Steven Delisle (Columbus), Nicolas Deslauriers (Los Angeles), Jean-Sebastien Berube (New Jersey), Jordan Caron (Boston), Philippe Cornet (Edmonton), and Patrice Cormier (Atlanta)
Notes: The Huskies sit sixth overall in the league with 79 points and are first in the Telus West division. They are 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 games and have won four straight games… Rouyn-Noranda has the fourth best power play in the league with a percentage of 24.4… owners of the third best penalty kill in the league with a percentage of 83.1. They sit behind Moncton and Victoriaville for tops in the league while playing shorthanded… have allowed the fourth most shorthanded goals against with nine… have the fourth best home record in the QMJHL with a record of 21-7-1-2. They are 8-1-0-1 in their last 10 games at Dave Keon Arena and have won four straight games… Nicolas Deslauriers and Pier-Luc Giguere both have three game point scoring streaks… Philippe Cornet leads the team in goals with 26. He is second in team scoring with 72 points… former Team Canada captian Patrice Cormier will miss the game after he was suspended for the rest of the season by the QMJHL because of his elbow to the head of Rempart Mikael Tam… Jeff Desjardins has a team high three points (one goal and two assists) against Saint John this year… no player has scored more than a single goal in two games against the Dogs earlier this season… Desjardins and Cornet are a team worst -6 versus the Sea Dogs this season… former Acadie-Bathurst Titan goalie Nicholas Champion is 14-5 since joining the Huskies at the deadline. He is 0-2 against Saint John this year with a goals against average of 4.98.

HUSKIES APPEALING FOR A SECOND TIME
CBC SPORTS/THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Friday announced they would appeal centre Patrice Cormier's suspension for a second time. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's board of governors have submitted three potential candidates for an independent arbitrator, who will then begin the appeals process with a hearing expected in the coming weeks.

"The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies have exercised their right to appeal, which is a right granted to them by the league's constitution," QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau said in a statement. "The right exists as a last resort."

Courteau had rejected the Huskies' initial appeal after QMJHL disciplinarian Raymond Bolduc suspended the 19-year-old Cormier for the balance of the season, including playoffs, following his elbow to the head of Quebec Remparts defenceman Mikael Tam in a Jan. 17 game. After hearing the testimonies of Cormier and Huskies head coach and general manager André Tourigny along with the position and arguments of the team and its legal counsel, Courteau concluded, "Patrice Cormier's gesture was very violent and susceptible of inflicting severe damage to the victim.

"The decision is consistent with the need to establish new and more severe disciplinary standards to dissuade players from taking these actions."

Courteau added Bolduc's decision to suspend Cormier is "justified, reasonable and consistent with the league's new policy."

Cormier, who is from Moncton, N.B., was only in his third game with Rouyn-Noranda when the hit on Tam took place. Rimouski acquired him along with fellow Canadian world junior teammate Jordan Caron for two 17-year-olds and a package of draft picks. A former New Jersey Devils prospect, Cormier was part of a Feb. 4 trade that saw the Devils pick up Ilya Kovalchuk from Atlanta.

Saint John vs Rouyn-Noranda:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
2-2-0-0-0-4
Home: 2-2-0-0-0-4
Road: 0-0-0-0-0-0
Goals For: 12
Goals Against: 5

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
2-1-1-0-0-2
Home: 1-0-1-0-0-0
Road: 1-1-0-0-0-2
Goals For: 7
Goals Against: 11

All-Time- Not Including This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
8-3-4-1-0-7
Home: 4-1-2-1-0-3
Road: 4-2-2-0-0-4
Goals For: 24
Goals Against: 42

STATION NATION FACTS:

• Rouyn-Noranda and their funky bus have already played in Saint John twice this season as part of a double header. The Huskies lost both games 6-2 and 6-3.
• In 1996, the Rouyn-Noranda “Huskies” were born. They enjoyed one of their best season in 1997-98 as they finished second in the overall standings thanks to a club-record 43 wins in 70 games. The following year, Mike Ribeiro (167), James Tremblay (135) and James Desmarais (132) would become the third batch of forwards to finish 1-2-3 in the scoring standings.
• The 2007-08 season was exceptional as the Huskies registered 97 points in 70 games, finishing 1st in the overall standings. Although heavy favourites, they were defeated in the QMJHL final by the Gatineau Olympiques. Their playoff run included a four game sweep of the Sea Dogs in the semi-finals.

AROUND THE TOWN
WIKIPEDIA
Rouyn-Noranda (2006 population 39,924) is a city on Osisko Lake in northwestern Quebec, Canada. The city of Rouyn-Noranda is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of Quebec of the same name. Their geographical code is 86.

Since 1966, Rouyn and Noranda constitute the capital of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region. It is also the seat of public university UQAT since 1983.

The population tends to increase or decrease dramatically depending on the economic situation. The city's population dropped by 5 per cent between the 1996 and 2001 census, before increasing slightly by 0.8 per cent for the 2006 census. This more closely parallels the demographic patterns of Northern Ontario than those of Quebec during this period. Rouyn-Noranda also has other cultural affiliations with Northern Ontario, being the only municipality in Quebec that holds a membership in the Francophone Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

THE RINK
Venue: Dave Keon Arena
Capacity: 2,150
Average Attendance: 1,935
Arena Guide Info: http://www.qmjhlarenaguide.com/huskies.htm
Notes: Rink dimensions are 190 X 85… Rouyn-Noranda city council has voted as of June 2009 to expand the QMJHL's smallest arena. No details have yet been announced.

MEDIA
Saint John Media: Radio- News 88.9 FM (www.news889.com)
Live Video Streaming: www.qmjhl.mytelus.com
Post-Game Coverage: www.stationnation.blogspot.com

TWITTER
Follow Station Nation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for in game updates from tonight’s game.