THE LIGHTS GO OUT IN GATINEAU

STATION NATION RECAP
FINAL: Sea Dogs 4, Olympiques 2

GATINEAU – Down two goals in the second period, it looked like the Saint John Sea Dogs’ celebration was going to put on hold.

Then the top team in the QMJHL's regular season woke up.

Tomas Jurco, Yann Sauve, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Michael Kirkpatrick scored to finish off the Gatineau Olympiques in a 4-2 win. With the victory, the Dogs swept the ‘Piques out of the post-season and head to the semi-finals.

Saint John ran into penalty trouble in the first, leading to a difficult period that saw the Sea Dogs outshot by a significant margin. But they never gave up and battled back like all good teams do at key times.

Marco Cousineau was also solid in net, making some huge saves at key times throughout the game. One of his goals against were on a penalty shot while the other came on a breakaway.

FIRST PERIOD
Hubert Labrie laid a big hit on Stephen MacAulay at the blue line to open the first frame. After Gatineau had some pressure early on, Tomas Jurco let a wrist shot go that just went wide of the post.

At 10:02, Nicholas Petersen went nuts and attacked Hugo Laporte. A huge scrum ensued following the solo battle, with Petersen picking a four minute minor on the play. The Olympiques’ trainer came out to see Laporte, but with him being Hugo Laporte, he stayed in the game.

Gatineau had some decent pressure on the power play but no solid scoring chances. Just after the Petersen penalty expired, Hoffman headed off at 14:03 followed by Nathan Beaulieu at 14:14 for delay of game.

Saint John’s penalty kill came up huge on the five-on-three. Christian Morin went down and blocked a huge shot followed by Pierre Durepos doing the same on a Laporte point shot. With just seconds remaining in the penalties, Marco Cousineau came up huge with the leather.

At 17:42, Philippe Halley broke loose on a breakaway but was hooked bluntly by Hoffman, giving the Gatineau center a penalty shot. After stopping the original breakaway, Cousineau couldn’t stop the second. Halley beat the Saint John net minder over the blocker to make it 1-0.

Jonathan Huberdeau got the Dogs some revenge by throwing Laporte to ice at the blue line. Following the hit, the Olympiques defender headed for the dressing room and returned late in the second.

With just seconds left in the frame, Maxime Clermont almost balked in the Gatineau goal after the puck hit the back glass and bounced into the crease. But luckily for Clermont and his team, the horn sounded to end the period.

Shots after one were 15-6 Gatineau.

SECOND PERIOD
Mitchell Porowski took down Simon Despres just 53 seconds into the second to put the Dogs up a man. But Saint John was hangover from their lackluster first period and produced a awful power play. When Porowski came out of the box, he was robbed by a crease cross pad save by Cousineau.

Tye McGinn opened up a 2-0 lead at 7:55 for Gatineau. McGinn caught the Saint John defense napping and broke in alone, beating the Saint John goaltender over the glove to give Gatineau a two goal lead.

But Saint John stormed back with Jonathan Huberdeau wiring a wide angle shot on net that produced a juicy rebound and was just missed by Mike Thomas. Then Nicholas Pard was stoned on a quick wraparound chance.

Mike Hoffman let go a big point shot from along the boards at 12:55. The puck went off the stick off of Tomas Jurco and redirected past a falling Clermont to make it a 2-1 game.

Olivier Croteau took a four minute penalty at 13:40 for slashing and roughing. On the man advantage, Petersen had two good chances in close but couldn’t get a good shot off on either of them. But at 16:02, Hubert Labrie headed to the sin bin for a slash to put the Sea Dogs up two men.

Just after Saint John failed to score on the five-on-three, Yann Sauve unleashed an innocent looking wrist shot go from inside the blue line. The puck hit something in front and fooled Clermont, tying the game at 2-2 after 40 minutes.

Saint John dominated the shot clock in the second period, outshooting the ‘Piques 15-4.

THIRD PERIOD
Kirkpatrick had a good chance early in the third as he batted a high rising puck out of the air with his stick with the disc landing in the crease. Then Stephen MacAulay almost put on a show for Central Scouting as he slapped a shot right on Clermont from the slot.

As the pace picked up, Croteau was open at the side of the goal. A big point shot was let go that was rebounded right to him but he swung the puck wide.

Saint John took over from there, with Kirkpatrick almost scoring off a redirection from behind the net. Then Stanislav Galiev broke in on a partial break but Clermont played the angle beautifully to stop it with his chest.

Saint John finally took the lead at 12:07 when Jonathan Huberdeau let go a slap shot from the rim of the faceoff circle that beat Clermont short side to make it 3-2 Sea Dogs.

Stephen MacAulay took a penalty at 16:48 to give the Olympiques one last chance to save their season. With Clermont on the bench, Gatineau had some great pressure and were determined to tie the tilt. Then after Cousineau made a sprawling save, Benjamin Laliberte had a wide open cage but couldn’t handle the bouncing puck.

But at 19:26, Kirkpatrick iced the game and the series with an empty net goal from just inside the blue line.

Rather fittingly following the final buzzer, Hugo Laporte gave a big face wash to Mike Thomas with his glove.

Shots in the third were 14-3 Saint John.

NOTES: See Station Nation tomorrow for Sea Dogs Post-Game Notebook.

NEXT GAME: Game one of the third round goes Friday, April 16 at Harbour Station at 7:30 pm.