ROCKET SHOT DOWN IN GAME ONE

STATION NATION RECAP
FINAL: Rocket 3, Sea Dogs 8

SAINT JOHN – Starts don’t get much better than this.

The Saint John Sea Dogs opened up their 2010 playoff run with a convincing 8-3 victory over the Prince Edward Island Friday night at Harbour Station. Saint John now owns a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven first round series between the two.

The Sea Dogs dominated the Rocket in all aspects of the game for most of the affair. The effort proved to some doubters that Saint John is indeed set for the playoffs, despite some shaky games in the last month.

Saint John used a balance attack to earn the victory. The Dogs’ depth was too much for the Rocket to handle, who got away from their game plan the moment after the puck drop. PEI, 3-5-0-0 against the Port City squad this season, was able to beat Saint John earlier this month at Harbour Station because of a nicely executed neutral zone trap. That didn’t happen tonight.

Scoring for the regular season champions were Mike Hoffman, Jonathan Huberdeau, Stanislav Galiev, Nicholas Pard, Nathan Beaulieu, Tomas Jurco, Michael Kirkpatrick, and Pierre Durepos.

The Rocket, fourth place finishers in the Atlantic division, got goals from Louis-Philippe Lacroix, Michael Stinziani, and Jimmy Oligny.

Sea Dogs net minder and former Rocket Marco Cousineau was sensational in goal after an average performance against the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday. Cousineau was terrific early in the first period when PEI had several good chances and great pressure.

Evan Mosher appeared nervous in the PEI crease and had trouble handling the puck. His predecessor, Wendell Vye, didn’t do much better in net.

Saint John outshot PEI 41-31.

FIRST PERIOD
After Saint John killed off an early Yann Sauve penalty, they went on a power play of their own at 2:28 when Jonathan Bonneau got called for tripping. On the power play, Hoffman took a point shot that went through a massive amount of traffic in front. The puck hit something on the way to Mosher and went upstairs at 4:13. 1-0 Dogs.

Then the Rocket began their best attack of the match. Jared Stuthers was robbed by the pad of Cousineau. Following that play, the journey man himself - Michael Stinziani, was stopped twice by the pads in front as PEI turned up the heat.

Stinziani took a goalie interference penalty at 12:08. Saint John had some excellent pressure on the power play but couldn’t find the back of the net. The best chance came when Mosher denied Kirkpatrick with the leather.

Then Saint John put on a clinic.

Tomas Jurco sent a wrist shot on goal that simply confused Mosher. His baffles lead to a huge rebound to the other side of the cage, giving Huberdeau a wide open net to make it 2-0 at 15:06.
Samson Mahbod almost put Hoffman in a wheelchair as he just missed a huge open ice hit at the blue line. While all the players stood in awe of the event, Stanislav Galiev was left all alone in the slot and wired a shot past Mosher’s glove to make it 3-0.

Simon Despres got called for roughing at 16:50. But on the penalty kill, Hoffman and Pard broke loose on a two-on-one. Hoffman fed a streaking Pard who slipped the disc past Mosher down low to make it 4-0 after 20 minutes.

Shots in the first were 16-11.

SECOND PERIOD
Play slowed down in the second period. Kirkpatrick was left all alone in front early on but was stoned by the pad of Mosher as the third year Sea Dog ran out of room. PEI went back the other way a few plays later on a two-on-one but Beaulieu made a great play with his stick to stop the pass. Zach Phillips almost scored soon after but tried to make one-too-many dekes and was stopped easily in front.

Beaulieu made it 5-0 Saint John at 11:06 on a big shot just inside the blue line to continue the Sea Dogs’ goal scoring onslaught.

But at 14:26, Lacroix picked up a loose puck at the faceoff dot in the Sea Dogs end and sent a hard wrist shot that beat Mosher to make it 5-1.

After Galiev got called for elbowing, Stinziani scored to make it 5-2 at 17:26, igniting the Rocket fans who were on hand for this one. The play started after some nifty moves in front by Mahbod, feeding Stniziani at the side of the goal.

But the Sea Dogs responded at 17:52. Mosher had no idea what was going on and sat on his hands and knees at the side of the net. Jurco picked up the puck and swiftly carried the puck around the net and threw it in front. The puck hit a defenseman’s skate and went in to make it 6-2 Saint John.

Shots in the second were 15-10 Dogs.

THIRD PERIOD
On the power play, Kirkpatrick netted his first of the post-season at 0:59. The man called “Kirky” went low blocker side on the newly entered Wendell Vye to make it 7-2.

Struthers almost got the Rocket’s third goal but was made a fool of by the pad of Cousineau who made a Frogger like lateral move to make the stop.

A whole mess of junk happened at 7:25 with gloves, sticks, and bodies flying everywhere. Out of all of this, the Rocket were given a power play which was eventually killed off.

On the man advantage again, Station Nation fan Pierre Durepos scored on a blast from the point that when off the post and in. Nice shot Pierre.

Jimmy Oligny ended the scoring summary on the power play. The puck was deserted at the hash marks where Oligny picked up the puck and fired one past Cousineau to make it 8-3. The Saint John goalie flipped at the official, saying the goal wasn’t legit because he was interfered with. The goal stood however.

Pard had the last good chance late in the third on a breakaway but was stopped by the pad of Mosher on a weak wrist shot.

That would be all as the Dogs took game one by score of 8-3. Shots in the final frame were 10 apiece.

PEI went 2/6 on the power play while Saint John went 3/5.

NOTES: See Station Nation tomorrow for more on the pre-game ceremony, quotes, game stats, news, notes, and more on tonight’s game.

NEXT GAME: These two teams will meet for Game Two of their opening round series at Harbour Station on Saturday night at 7:00 pm.