Game DaySaint John Sea Dogs vs Moncton Wildcats
Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Moncton Coliseum
Visiting Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 53-11-1-2 (1st in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 4-0 win at PEI on Friday
Leading Scorer: Mike Hoffman: 55 GP-46 G-39 A-85 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 in the Atlantic, first overall in the QMJHL, and are ranked second in country this week for the third straight week… Mike Thomas is serving the third game of a six game suspension that he received the last time his team played Moncton. Alex Wall, the victim of the hit, has concussion like symptoms… leading scorer Mike Hoffman missed Friday’s game because of the flu. He was not even in the building for the game… Steven Anthony played on Friday against the PEI Rocket but was suffering a bad case of the flu. He didn’t play much in the third period… Kevin Gagne went back to Saint John on Thursday due to the flu while his team headed to Charlottetown… Saint John is coming off a dominant 4-0 road win over the PEI Rocket on Friday. Marco Cousineau shutout the Rocket to pick up his third S.O. of the season. Four different players scored for the Sea Dogs while the Rocket’s power play went 0/8… 6-2-0-2 in their last 10 games and are coming off a win… the Sea Dogs can win the Luc Robitaille Trophy today for most goals scored by a team in the regular season. Unless Drummondville scores eight goals and Saint John scores none, the Sea Dogs will win it for the first time… Saint John will finish the regular season as the team with the best road record. They have a record of 27-4-1-1 with one of their four regulation loses coming in Moncton on December 13. Saint John is 8-1-0-1 in their last 10 road games and are coming off a win… Tomas Jurco needs one goal to tie and two goals to break the Sea Dogs’ rookie goal scoring record. Chris DiDomenico scored 25 in his rookie season in 2006-07… of all people, Yann Sauve leads the Sea Dogs in scoring against the Wildcats with eight points. His five assists is also a team high… Mike Hoffman has scored a team high four goals against Moncton in six games. His overtime winner is the only game winning goal that any Sea Dog has scored against Moncton this year… Simon Despres, who had a huge hit and a fight Wednesday in Cape Breton, has a team high 18 penalty minutes against the ‘Cats… the pairing of Nathan Beaulieu and Yann Sauve are both a +7 against Moncton this year. Despres is a team worst -4… Saint John is 4-2-0-1 against Moncton this year. Three of their four wins have been courtesy of the shootout while the fourth came off an overtime win… Saint John is 2-0-0-0 all-time on national television.
FAN CHALLENGE TONIGHT
Fans heading to Moncton for tonight’s game with Sea Dogs stuff on will be asked to parade around the ice in the first intermission. They will be counted, and if Saint John has more fans then Moncton brought to Harbour Station just over a week ago, they will pick up two Rivalry Cup points.
There is some confusion over how many fans Moncton brought in. The Sea Dogs reported right after the challenge that 191 fans hit the ice. But Wild Willie’s Facebook page said there was over 300. Then the Wildcats thanked over 500 fans for attending the game in Saint John.
STREAKING
Tomas Jurco (three goals and two assists) and Zach Phillips (one goal and five assists) are both on four game point streaks. Nathan Beaulieu, Mike Hoffman, and Nicholas Petersen are on three game streaks.
Home Team: Moncton Wildcats
Record: 47-14-2-4 (2nd in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 4-0 loss vs Cape Breton on Friday
Leading Scorer: Nicolas Deschamps: 63 GP-39 G-56 A-95 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Nicola Riopel (Philadelphia), Randy Cameron (Detroit), Mark Barberio (Tampa Bay), Nicolas Deschamps (Anaheim), David Savard (Columbus), Gabriel Bourque (Nashville), and Kelsey Tessier (Colorado).
Notes: Sit second in the Atlantic division, third overall in the league, and are ranked sixth in BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 this week… unless Moncton surrenders 20 goals today, they will win the best defensive squad again this year with only 162 goals against… 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 games and are coming off a loss… the Wildcats are coming off a 4-0 loss to Cape Breton on Friday night at the Coliseum. Moncton struggled all game in a penalty filled affair. Olivier Roy was not the starting goalie in the Eagles’ crease… have the best power play in the league with a 26.8% scoring rate. They have scored 99 power play goals on 369 chances… Moncton last defeated Saint John at Harbour Station on March 5 by score of 4-3 in a shootout. Saint John has one more shootout loss since then… Moncton has the third best penalty kill in the league with a rating of 83.3%... with a win today, Moncton can leapfrog Saint John for the second best home record in the QMJHL this year. At the Coliseum this season, the Cats are 25-6-0-2. They are 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 home games and are coming off a loss… despite having the best overall power play in the league, Moncton has only the fifth best P.P. on home ice with a rating of 25%... they do, however, have the best home penalty kill with a rating of 86.6%... Randy Cameron (three goals and six assists) and David Savard (nine assits) both have a team high nine points against the Sea Dogs this year… Daniel Pettersson and Marek Hrivik both have four goals against Saint John this year… Scott Brannon is a team worst -5 against the Dogs while Pettersson is team high +6… Moncton has yet to lose in regulation to the Sea Dogs and are 3-0-1-3 against them this year… Moncton has a penalty kill rating of 90.6% against the Dogs… 13 of Moncton’s 28 goals against Saint John have been on the power play.
TV JINX
Moncton was blown out the last time they played on National television. Moncton fell 7-0 on March 1 to the Shawinigan Cataractes on the tail end of a road trip last season. The Cataractes went on to lose the Presidents Cup final.
INSANE STAT TIME
Neil Hodge takes his share of criticism in the Times and Transcript, but he had some of the most disturbing stats ever seen yesterday.
Moncton is 24-7-2-6 lifetime versus Saint John in the regular season. They've never met in the playoffs. Saint John has just seven regulation time wins in 39 lifetime games between these clubs. What's more, the Sea Dogs haven't managed a regulation time win against the Wildcats in their past 15 meetings.
PRE-GAME GARBAGE
There will be a pre-game ceremony to honor the three 20-year Wildcat players who will play in their last ever QMJHL regular season game tonight.
Also expected to be done before the game is the Brunswick News Rivalry Cup presentation. Moncton won the challenge for a second year in-a-row.
Saint John vs Moncton
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
7-4-2-0-1-9
Home: 4-2-1-0-1-5
Road: 3-2-1-0-0-4
Goals For: 25
Goals Against: 28
Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
8-2-6-0-0-4
Home: 4-1-3-0-0-2
Road: 4-1-3-0-0-2
Goals For: 19
Goals Against: 31
All-Time- Not Including This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
32-11-19-2-0-24
Home: 16-7-8-1-0-15
Road: 16-4-11-1-0-9
Goals For: 96
Goals Against: 139
PAST RESULTS THIS SEASON
Sep 27, 2009: Moncton Wildcats 3 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 4 in SO
Oct 17, 2009: Moncton Wildcats 2 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 3 in OT
Dec 13, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 3 @ Moncton Wildcats 7
Dec 31, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 4 @ Moncton Wildcats 3 in SO
Jan 06, 2010: Moncton Wildcats 5 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 3
Feb 06, 2010: Saint John Sea Dogs 5 @ Moncton Wildcats 4 in SO
March 5, 2010: Moncton Wildcats 4 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 3 in SO
Five of the seven games between the two have gone to extra time with Saint John coming out on top four of the five times.
TALE OF THE TAPE
HOCKEYFIGHTS.COM
Jan 06, 2010: Scott Trask vs Mike Thomas
THE RINK
Venue: Moncton Coliseum
Capacity: 6,803
Average Attendance: 4,572
Arena Guide Info: http://www.qmjhlarenaguide.com/wildcats.htm
MEDIA
Saint John Media: Radio- News 88.9 FM (http://www.news889.com/)
Television: Rogers Sportsnet, RDS, NHL Network (US)
Live Video Streaming: http://www.qmjhl.mytelus.com/
Post-Game Coverage: http://www.stationnation.blogspot.com/, Times & Transcript
Post-Game Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/user/WildcatsTelevision
Follow Station Nation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for in game updates from tonight’s game.
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