STATION NATION RECAPFINAL: Rocket 3, Sea Dogs 1
SAINT JOHN – Perhaps round one of the post-season isn’t going to be so easy.
The Saint John Sea Dogs put in a blah performance against the Prince Edward Island Rocket and fell 3-1 on Wednesday night at Harbour Station.
The Sea Dogs have only 11 loses in 63 games this season. Three of those loses have been against the Rocket. The two teams will likely meet each in round of the playoffs.
With the lose, the Sea Dogs fail to clinch both the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Atlantic division title and regular season crown. They will try again Friday night against the Moncton Wildcats at Harbour Station.
Saint John just could never get anything going in this game. The Rocket always seemed to be that one step quicker and trapped the Sea Dogs’ high octane offense in neutral zone for most of the game.
Evan Mosher was terrific in the Rocket crease and made 37 saves on the night. Much of the shots on the Rocket goal were not amazing scoring chances but Mosher stood tall and made some great saves with the leather and pads.
Former Rocket net minder Marco Cousineau was never greatly challenged but allowed two goals while the third was an empty netter. The first goal was on screen shot that he had no chance at while the second caught him a bit out of position.
Saint John’s offensive guns did not come play and snoozed for much of the game. The top line of Nicholas Petersen, Stanislav Galiev, and Mike Hoffman struggled to get anything working on offense. Hoffman had a team high seven shots while Petersen only had one and was a -1. Galiev had four shots and had his bell rung in the third period when he tried to deke through the Rocket defense.
The first period was a back-and-forth affair with both teams playing relatively similar despite Saint John outshooting PEI 12-8. Both had some pressure and a couple good scoring chances but could not score.
The Rocket made it 1-0 at 4:43 of the second period with Hoffman in the box. With a lot of traffic in front of Cousineau, Matthew Hobbs let a wrist shot go from the point that went beat the Saint John goaltender blocker side.
Saint John would tie the game at 9:06 on the power play. Kevin Gagne had the puck at the point and blasted a shot on goal that was deflected into the pads of Mosher. The disc squirted into the blue point via five-hole where Steven Anthony batted the puck home to make it a 1-1 game.
Shots in the middle frame were 16-9 Saint John.
The Sea Dogs fell asleep in the third period. The number two team in Canada had trouble entering the zone through a stingy Rocket defense core. When they did enter the zone, PEI gained control rather easily and cleared the puck.
The Rocket took the lead back at 6:58. Michael Stinziani broke in on a small breakaway and went forehand-to-backhand on Cousineau but was stopped. The rebound dribbled to his side where Samson Mahbod scooped up and delivered the loose puck to make it a 2-1 game.
Saint John managed to get some pressure on the Rocket after the goal but couldn’t find the back of the net. It was clear at times that key players began to operate as individuals.
PEI put the nail in the Sea Dogs’ coffin at 19:20 with Cousineau on the bench for an extra attacker. Yet another turn-over in the offensive e zone allowed Mahbod to pot his second of the game into the empty net.
Yann Sauve pushed Josh Currie dangerously into the end boards with seven seconds left in the game. He got up and took a penalty shot but Cousineau made the pad save to make the final score 3-1.
Shots in the third were 10-10 for a game total of 38-27 in favour of Saint John.
PEI was 1/4 on the power play while Saint John went 1/3.
NOTES: See Station Nation tomorrow for Sea Dogs Post-Game Notebook.
NEXT GAME: Up next for the Sea Dogs is a Friday night showdown with the Moncton Wildcats at Harbour Station (puck drop – 7:30pm). This game has officially been sold out, with a limited number of standing-room-only tickets available at the arena box office (657-1234).
Last night was the second Sea Dogs game i've seen in a few weeks and both games were highly disapointing. The first game was Feb. 20th which was a loss and last night which was another loss. In both games the Sea Dogs played horribly, with the only high points usually coming in the dying minutes of the third periods. Both times I brought an american friend with me who was bored most of the time. This could be because of the lack of hitting with a more European style of hockey or perhaps the lack of effort from the home team on the ice. This is a great Eastern Canadian team who apparently is doing extremely well but not when i've seen them. Lastly I was also disapointed with the lack of enthusiasm in the stands, it was so qiuet in Harbour Station until a goal was finally scored then it died right down again, and once again this could be because of the lack of effort on the ice. The Sea Dogs need to start playing with a little fire and start cycling the puck around more in the offensive zone. In no way shape or form am I blaming any lack of effort on the play of Cousineau who played as well as he could both games getting caught out of position a little bit. In order for the Sea Dogs to walk away with a championship they need a 100% effort everynight with no excuses and never looking past the game at hand. I still believe they can win it but they need to get the kinks out before the playoffs.
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