PRE-GAME: Game One vs PEI

GAME DAY
2010 Presidents Cup Playoffs – Round One
Game One: PEI Rocket vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Friday, March 19, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Harbour Station

PRE-GAME PREVIEW
Here we go again.

Just two years after the Saint John Sea Dogs swept the Prince Edward Island Rocket out of the post-season, the two meet again under similar circumstances. The Sea Dogs, regular season champions, are the clear favourites. But PEI, the underdog, has been a pain in the paws of the Dogs all year.

Saint John barely won the season series 5-3 over the fourth place finishers in the Atlantic division. But with the post-season set to begin, regular season victories and loses are no longer important.

In game one of the 2008 playoffs, Saint John blew up the Rocket 10-4 at Harbour Station. Last season in Cape Breton, the Dogs dropped a heartbreaker in overtime, eventually leading to a four game sweep by the Eagles.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
The consensus pick for this series is Sea Dogs in five games.

KNOW THE TEAMS

Visiting Team: PEI Rocket
Regular Season Record: 35-25-2-6 (4th Atlantic, 8th QMJHL)
Record vs Saint John: 3-5-0-0
Record on the Road: 18-11-0-5 (7th)
All-Time Playoff Record: 19-33-0
Power Play: 19.6% (10th)
Penalty Kill: 81.0% (7th)
Leading Scorer: Samson Mahbod (52GP-20G-44A-64P)
Expected Starting Goaltender: Evan Mosher (21-13 record, 3.13 G.A.A., 0.904 SV%)
NHL Draft Picks: Jordon Southorn (Bufflao), and Benjamin Casavant (Washington)

Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Regular Season Record: 53-12-1-2 (1st Atlantic, 1st QMJHL)
Record vs PEI: 5-3-0-0
Record at Home: 26-7-0-1 (3rd)
All-Time Playoff Record: 8-10-0
Power Play: 24.3% (5th)
Penalty Kill: 78.8% (10th)
Leading Scorer: Mike Hoffman (56GP-46G-39A-85P)
Expected Starting Goaltender: Marco Cousineau (25-19 record, 2.82 G.A.A., 0.919 SV%)
NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).

HEAD-TO-HEAD THIS SEASON
Saint John won the season series 5-3.

Sep 23, 2009: PEI Rocket 6 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 1
Oct 13, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 0 @ PEI Rocket 4
Oct 18, 2009: PEI Rocket 2 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 5
Dec 02, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 4 @ PEI Rocket 1
Dec 11, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 4 @ PEI Rocket 1
Dec 29, 2009: PEI Rocket 2 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 5
March 2, 2010: PEI Rocket 3 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 1
March 12, 2010: Saint John Sea Dogs 4 @ PEI Rocket 0

Rocket Leading Scorer vs Saint John: Benjamin Casavant (8GP-4G-2A-6Pts)
Sea Dogs Leading Scorer vs PEI: Nicholas Petersen (7GP-5G-5A-10Pts)

TALE OF THE TAPE
Sep 23, 2009: Matthew Hobbs vs Mike Thomas
Oct 13, 2009: Brendan Wright vs Mike Thomas
Oct 13, 2009: Louis-Philippe Lacroix vs Benjamin Lecomte
Dec 11, 2009: Brendan Wright vs Mike Thomas

CRAZY FACT
The Rocket left PEI yesterday at 2:00 pm after a 10:00 am practice.

Facts like this one only come across us every seven months.

SAINT JOHN LINE-UP NOTES
Mike Thomas is suspended for this game and tomorrow’s game due to a six game suspension.

Aiden Kelly left Sunday’s game after being elbowed in the head by Scott Trask. He left the match and never returned.

Marco Cousineau is expected to start in goal.

COACHES CORNER
Rocket head coach Eric Lavigne in the Times & Transcript:

"We know that Saint John has a very solid offensive team," said Lavigne. "We're going to have to find a way to stop their best players. We have to avoid turnovers. That's the key against that team. If you have turnovers against them, they're going to kill you. We're going to have to play the system perfectly."

Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant in the Times & Transcript:

"We're anxious to get the playoffs started. P.E.I. plays well against us. They battle hard, they've got good goaltending, they've got solid defence and they've got some veteran players upfront. I think it will be a good series."

FLASHBACK FRIDAY
A very brief look at the 2008 playoff series between the two teams:

“(They) still have good players,” said P.E.I. defenceman Jordon Southorn to The Guardian, one of two Rocket players remaining from 2008. “Same (defence), less (Alex) Grant. They have young players and veterans like (Mike) Hoffman. More experience is the league is the difference.”

Gone from the 2007-08 Sea Dogs edition is Scott Howes, Christopher DiDomenico, Ryan Sparling, Alexandre Picard-Hooper and Alex Grant. The quintet combined for 93 points in 14 games that year as the Dogs swept P.E.I. in four games and went on the President’s Cup semifinals. Remaining are defencemen Simon Després and Yann Sauvé, and forwards Mike Thomas (out for games one and two because of a league suspension), Michael Kirkpatrick (83 points) and Steven Anthony (41 points).

MACAULAY IS READY
“They (PEI) play well against us,” Stephen MacAulay told Metro Halifax. “They’re a good, structured team, they play hard, and we can’t take them lightly, that’s for sure.”

A HISTORIC NIGHT
Tonight's match will feature a special pre-game ceremony in which QMJHL Commissioner Gilles Courteau will present the Sea Dogs with the 2009-10 Jean Rougeau Trophy as regular season champions as well as the Luc Robitaille Trophy as the highest scoring team in the league.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Guardian reporter Charles Reid is taking his show on the road this weekend. He will bless Rocket fans with a live blog from Harbour Station. If you can’t go to the game – read it.
• This is only the fifth playoff series in Sea Dogs franchise history. All-time in game one games, they are 2-1-1. They have never lost a game one on home ice.
• One fourth of the Sea Dogs’ regulation loses have come against the Rocket.
• There is a Rocket fan bus coming to this game. For those staying back on the Island, there is a live video webcast taking place in Charlottetown.
• The PEI/Montreal Rocket franchise has won only one playoff series in their history.
• Saint John has not lost more than two straight games all year.

MEDIA RELATIONS
Newspapers: Saint John- Telegraph-Journal; PEI- The Guardian
Radio: Saint John- News 88.9; PEI- peirocket.com
Video: Telus Webcast
Post-Game Highlights: SeaDogsTV

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

AFTER THE BUZZER
Game two goes tomorrow night at 7:00 pm at Harbour Station.

SCHEDULE
GAME ONE – Friday, March 19: 7:30pm @ Harbour Station
GAME TWO – Saturday, March 20: 7pm @ Harbour Station
GAME THREE – Tuesday, March 23: 7pm @ Charlottetown Civic Centre
GAME FOUR – Wednesday, March 24: 7pm @ Charlottetown Civic Centre
*GAME FIVE – Friday, March 26: 7:30pm @ Harbour Station
*GAME SIX – Sunday, March 28: 4pm @ Charlottetown Civic Centre
*GAME SEVEN – Tuesday, March 30: 7pm @ Harbour Station
*If Necessary