DOGS HOLD OFF OLYMPIQUES IN SERIES OPENER

STATION NATION RECAP
FINAL: Olympiques 4, Sea Dogs 7

SAINT JOHN – Even though the Gatineau Olympiques took the loss on Friday night, they finally proved they can play with the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Olympiques came back from a three goal deficient but fell 7-4 to the Sea Dogs – who a took a 1-0 lead the best-of-seven quarterfinal series.

“We're happy with the result but not our overall performance,” said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant to the team’s official Twitter page. “We'll definitely be better tomorrow."

Michael Kirkpatrick and Stanislav Galiev scored twice for Saint John while singles came from Nicholas Pard, Mike Hoffman, and Tomas Jurco. Galiev also had three assists on the night.

Adam Janosik, Mitchell Porowski, Benjamin Laliberte, and Hubert Labrie scored for Gatineau.

The two teams combined for 16 penalties on the night, with five of the 11 goals coming on the power play.

Galiev tells CHSJ News, penalties and not sticking to the game plan can lead to trouble.

Marco Cousineau faced 19 shots on the night, while Maxime Clermont was peppered with 33 in the Olympiques' crease.

It was a physical and back-and-forth first five minutes of the first period. Olivier Croteau had the best chance for Gatineau early on, sending a shot just over the corner of the cage. Yann Sauve had the best opportunity for the Dogs, being robbed by a quick pad save by Clermont.

Tomas Jurco made it 1-0 Saint John at 8:21 after he found a loose puck in front. With a considerable amount of bodies in front of Clermont, the Sea Dogs rookie released a backhander that found the back of the net to open the scoring.

Stanislav Galiev quickly made it 2-0 after he picked the puck off a defenders stick in close. Galiev kept the puck and let a weak wrist shot go that trickled through Clermont’s five hole to put the Dogs up a duce.

After the two teams exchange high sticking penalties, Saint John went to a two man advantage at 16:17. With one player remaining in the box at 17:37, Galiev fed a streaking Michael Kirkpatrick who slid one home to extend the lead to 3-0.

But with Jonathan Huberdeau in the box, Gatineau was awarded a lengthy two man advantage after Mike Thomas was given a five minute major and game misconduct for kneeing at 19:00. The victim of the hit was Hugo Laporte, who held his knee like a train had just run over it for several minutes. “Miraculously,” he returned in the second period.

Shots in the first were 9-3 Saint John.

Saint John managed to kill off both penalties to open the second, with Gatineau never having any real good chances.

At 7:20, Simon Despres headed to the box for a cross check. On the power play, Adam Janosik found a loose puck at the side of the crease and beat an-out-of-position Marco Cousineau to make it a 3-1 game.

With Zach Phillips in the box for roughing, Cousineau was hit on the mask with a shot but recovered beautifully to rob a ‘Pique with a huge pad stop. But at 13:55, Mitchell Porowski scored on a one timer from the faceoff dot to make it 3-2.

The comeback was completed at 16:12 when Benjamin Laliberte was left all alone in front and made a deke with his stick. The move fooled Cousineau, as the Gatineau right winger went backhand, five-hole to tie the tilt.

At 16:59, Alexander Beaten took a tripping penalty. On the ensuing man advantage, Nicholas Petersen set up Galiev beautifully from the behind the goal. His pass was one timed by the rookie Russian, getting his second goal of the game to make it 4-3 Saint John.

Shots in the middle stanza were 10-9 for the visitors.

Following a missed high sticking call on Petersen, Nicholas Pard ater threw a pass in front that went off the skate of Laporte in the crease and in at 2:42.

With Tye McGinn already in the sin bin, Laporte went the box at 6:40, making Harbour Station erupt in cheers. On the power play, Hoffman sent a shot off the cross bar before Petersen was denied twice at the side of the net on a great play.

With the extra man opportunity expired, Kirkpatrick scored his second of the game at 11:23. Kirkpatrick let a wrist shot go from the circle that went over the blocker of Clermont to make it a three goal game again.

While shorthanded at 14:18, Hoffman almost set-up Pard on a shorthanded chance but was stoned by a pad stack from the Olympiques goalie.

Gatineau captain Hubert Labrie tried to get his team back in the game at 14:18. With Cousineau down and out of the play, Labrie roofed a shot in the slot to make it 6-4 Sea Dogs.

The building exploded in cheers when Laporte and his Oscar award went to the box for cross checking at 14:42. But Laporte was also given a 10-minute misconduct after he ripped his arm out of the referee’s hand in somewhat violent fashion.

After failing to score on that power play, Gatineau's Christian Ouellet went to the box at 17:56. Hoffman picked up a rebound at the side of the net and dished the disc into an empty net to ice the game for Saint John, with the final score being 7-4.

Shots in the third frame were 15-6 for the home side.