SEA DOGS POST-GAME NOTEBOOK

SEA DOGS – OCEANIC GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score/OT: Rimouski 2, Saint John 3
Saint John Goals: Nicholas Petersen (35), Simon Despres (9), and Mike Hoffman (38)
Rimouski Goals: Patrick Delisle-Houde (16), and Ryan Kavanagh (16)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Karel St. Laurent (16-4-0)
Losing Goaltender: Matthew Dopud (19-16-0)
News 88.9 Top Dog: Stanislav Galiev

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Oceanic 1/5, Sea Dogs 1/4
Shots on Goal: Oceanic: 7+15+7+0=29, Sea Dogs: 17+13+16+1=49
Attendance: 6,128

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Stephen MacAulay missed the game because of a shoulder injury and Kevin Gagne is still out with a groin injury.

Steven Anthony missed because of a groin injury and was not a healthy scratch like many believed. The News 88.9 post-game show on Saturday said that Anthony broke his stick over the boards and left while the rest of the team was bag skating. It now appears his actions may have come out of frustration over the injury.

THIS WAS YOUR WAKEUP CALL
After making his players play an extra 15 minutes after Saturday nights 3-1 loss in the form of a bag skate, head coach Gerard Gallant got his players to wakeup for this one.

The Sea Dogs got things going early and showed that they were here to compete for a win unlike Saturday night against Shawinigan. Saint John out shot Rimouski 17-7 in the first 20 minutes.

"I thought the first period was great,'' Gallant said to the Telegraph-Journal. "We really played hard, but in the second and third we got back to some bad habits that I didn't like. We turned some pucks over.''

Saint John just didn’t have the same energy after the first period, and fought a back-and-forth battle for the rest of the game.

OT TIME
Mike Hoffman is about as clutch as they come this side of Regina – home of Jordan Eberle.

Hoffman scored the overtime winner on the power play after a beautiful set up from Nicholas Petersen. Petersen deked around two defenseman and made Matthew Dopud commit to his play before passing over to Hoffman who scored into the empty cage.

Hoffman leads the league with 13 game winning goals which is almost half of his total of 38 markers this season.

The Sea Dogs improved to 11-1 in overtime this season.

BACK-TO-BACK FLASHBACK
After former goalie Marc-Antoine Gelinas stole the show on Saturday night, it was time for anathor former Sea Dog to take over.

Matthew Dopud played excellent in net all night long against the most offensivly talented team in the QMJHL. He no doubt fell good about his performance after the Sea Dogs released him in 2008.

Picking up first star honors meant that all six stars this weekend either play or have played with Saint John at some time.

"I liked the reaction of the crowd,''said Gelinas as everybody with a heart stood and clapped. "That was amazing.''

MASSIVE CROWD
It wasn’t a sell-out, but the crowd of 6,128 is the biggest attended game of the year. That is only 169 fans shy of a sell-out.

With three games left, Saint John is averaging 3,952 fans per game and will likely have an average of over 4,000 fans per game for the first time since 2005-06.

The crowd yesterday afternoon was the biggest since the 2008-09 home opener that was 50 fans short of capacity. Saint John has not posted a sell-out since game five of the 2008 quarterfinals against Bathurst. Their last regular season sell-out came on March 14, 2008 when the biggest crowd in franchise history watched the Sea Dogs deat the Moncton Wildcats on their last game of the regular season.

In other attendance notes, 11,304 fans entered Harbour Station this weekend for the pair of games. To put that into perspective, 12,715 watched the Sea Dogs play in Quebec City in Januray.

GETTING CLOSER
With nine games left, Saint John is 10 points ahead of Moncton for the overall lead in the QMJHL and 11 points up on Chris DiDomenico and the Drummondville Voltigeurs. The Volts have won seven straight.

On a side note, Saint John lost their 10th game on Saturday. Drummondville, last years Presidents Cup champion, had 10 loses.

"Getting the win was big for us,'' Mike Hoffman said of yesterday’s win. "We're trying to get first spot (overall).''

FRENCH FANS
In honor of it being “francofan” day yesterday at the Station, HERE is some francophone post-game coverage for you.

OUT OF TOWN
Elsewhere in the QMJHL it was Cape Breton 4 Halifax 1; Rouyn-Noranda 2 Chicoutimi 1; Moncton 4 Shawinigan 0 and Montreal 3 Gatineau 1.

Nicola Riopel (MON) - the Wildcats' goaltender has not allowed a goal in his last 162 minutes and six seconds. It's the 5th longest streak in the QMJHL history.

SEADOGSTV HIGHLIGHTS


QUICK HITS
Nicholas Petersen was on a mission on all game long. He finished the game with one goal, one assist, seven shots, a +2 rating, and took a minor penalty… Karel St. Laurent played a solid game in net. He is 2-2 in his last four games… referee Ryan Murphy’s whistle broke in the first period. He is the official that Mooseheads coach Cam Russell wasn’t to pleased with on Wednesday in Halifax… Jonathan Huberdeau’s little sister sang the national anthem. The Huberdeau family was also in the crowd… there was a lengthy pre-game ceremony involving “Francofan” day.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs travel to Gatineau for a date with the Olympiques on Wednesday at 8:30 pm AST. The last time Saint John visited, they destroyed Gatineau 8-0 and have outscored them 10-0 in two games this year.