SEA DOGS POST-GAME NOTEBOOK

SEA DOGS –ROCKET GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: PEI 2, Saint John 7
Saint John Goals: Jonathan Huberdeau (3, 4, 5), Mike Thomas (1, 2), Stanislav Galiev (2), and Danick Gauthier (2)
PEI Goals: Benjamin Casavant (3) and Jonathan Bonneau (2)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Marco Cousineau (4-1-0)
Losing Goaltender: PEI – Evan Mosher (1-4-0)
News 88.9 Top Dog: Jonathan Huberdeau

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Rocket: 1/6, Sea Dogs: 1/4
Shots on Goal: Rocket: 5+10+14=29, Sea Dogs: 19+11+11=41
Attendance: 4,252

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Aiden Kelly missed the game because of a concussion, Nicholas Pard missed his second straight game with a shoulder injury, and Steven Anthony missed his fourth straight game with groin injury. Anthony could be seen on the ice celebrating with his team mates after the game.

In other injury news, Kevin Gagne was hit in front of the Rocket crease in the second period. He did not play again in the game.

SEA DOGS ADVANCE
With a 7-2 win last night at Harbour Station against the Prince Edward Island, the Saint John Sea Dogs advance to the second round of the post-season for only the second time in the teams five-year history.

The Port City squad won the series four games to one.

Saint John will play the lowest seeded team that moves on to the next round. That game goes Friday at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station.

A GAME WELL PLAYED
Game five was the best game played by Saint John in their opening round series against PEI. In the past four games it may have been the offence, or the defense, or a combination of the two that held the Sea Dogs’ back from domination. But on Friday night, the team finally played to their full ability.

“We just played the game like we can. In the last two games we didn’t play our game,” said Jonathan Huberdeau to The Guardian following the game. “Just (kept) it simple.”

The Sea Dogs played a full 60-minute game and held control for most of the affair. Saint John outshot the Rocket 41-29 in the tilt, including a 19-5 margin in the first period.

HELLO HUBERDEAU
Jonathan Huberdeau has shown up for the playoffs.

The rookie scored his second career hat trick and first in the post-season on Friday night. The first year players three goals was all that was needed for Saint John as PEI could only muster two goals.

Huberdeau played on a line with Michael Kirkpatrick and Nicholas Petersen. Along with a goal in each period, “Joe” also had an assist.

His third goal was a tip in from a point shot that just squeaked in past Evan Mosher in the Rocket cage. Nobody in the building realized Huberdeau got a stick on it, resulting in not hats being thrown.

PETERSEN AWAKENS
Entering last night's game, Nicholas Petersen was off to a slow start in the playoffs following a solid regular season. His play resulted in the Sea Dogs coaching staff moving him to the second line from the first line where he has played all season.

The move seemed to work as the Pittsburgh Penguin prospect was all over this game. The 20-year old recorded four assists, had six penalty minutes, was a +5, and had three hits.

With Petersen on the second line with Michael Kirkpatrick and Jonathan Huberdeau, Tomas Jurco made the jump to the first line with Mike Hoffman and Stanislav Galiev.

THE GOODBYES
The last 10 seconds of the game were a wash as neither team really cared about the puck. Both teams gathered in their respected creases after the horn blew, with the PEI Rocket listening to a speech given by somebody amongst the huddle.

Yann Sauve led the long row of handshakes and really clogged up the line with lots of talk with several of the PEI players.

At the end of the line stood former Rocket goaltender Marco Cousineau, who started the season with PEI following a trade from Drummondville. Following the handshakes with his ex-team mates, Cousineau skated over to the bench to shake hands with the Rocket bench staff.

STRANGE ANNOUNCEMENTS
There were some bizarre announcements at Harbour Station last night. The first came when it was announced that roads were slippery due to falling temperatures. The other came with 1:25 left in the third period, when it was declared that second round playoff tickets would go on sale on Saturday. Again, this was with over a minute remaining in the game.

Also, the woman (whose name we always forget) who does the intermission junk was not there to start the game.

THOMAS THROWS DOWN THE HAMMER
Captain Mike Thomas of all people scored two goals in this game. The first came off a nice shot in the slot that went over the glove of Mosher. The second came when a Nathan Beaulieu point shot went off him and in late in the third period.

Andrew McGilligan, who chose the three stars, made it clear on the News 88.9 post-game show that he was not chosen as a star because they were submitted early in the third.

COUSY LIGHTS IT UP
Marco Cousineau was credited with an assist on Danick Gauthier’s end-to-end third period goal. It is not the first time a goaltender has been awarded a point in the playoffs though, with Travis Fullerton also getting an assist in the 2008 post-season.

TRIBUTE TIME
Station Nation gives a salute to all the PEI Rocket fans who made the trip to Saint John for all three games at Harbour Station over the past week. They were very loud with their “let’s go Rocket” chants and delayed goal celebrations.

The large group, who according to Charles Reid’s live blog consisted of around 125 fans, stood by the visiting bench tunnel prior to each game. Of course, that partly came to an end last night when a Harbour Station employee told a young fan to stop placing his hand on the glass. Heaven forbid.

SEADOGSTV HIGHLIGHTS


CHSJ NEWS HIGHLIGHT
The last few minutes of the game in its entirety:


QUICK HITS
The dancing legend “Brendan” was back at Harbour Station after a week off. He just didn’t have the passion he had last week though, even with his face painted in blue and black… Aliant handed out player cards again. So far the set includes Mike Hoffman, Nicholas Petersen, and Marco Cousineau. All three played in the league final last year… there was a moment of silence before the game following the death of two season ticket holders… Alexandre Leduc was back again last night. If you are wondering why he has been in Saint John so much, Tom Roszell said his girlfriend still lives in the city… former Sea Dog Francois “Go-Go” Gauthier was at the game… Sea Dogs fans did an excellent job all series long at taunting Rocket net minder Evan Mosher… Telegraph-Journal sports columnist Peter McGuire celebrated a birthday… speaking of T-J, there was no game story in today’s paper because the game did not end by press time. Very odd… the "good-bye" chants began around the 10-minute mark of the third period… Tweet Photo from last night’s victory celebration via "scottclementssj."

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs take on the lowest seeded team that moves on this Friday at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station in game one. Tickets to this game and game two which takes place on Saturday are on-sale now.