Friday, April 23, 2010

ONE WIN AWAY


STATION NATION RECAP
FINAL:
Sea Dogs 6, Tigres 1

VICTORIAVILLE – The Saint John Sea Dogs are one win away from the Presidents Cup Final.

The Sea Dogs blew out the Victoriaville Tigres on Friday night at Colisee Desjardins by score of 6-1. Saint John dominated the play from start to finish, scoring a goal in the first two minutes and the last.

The win comes at a pivotal for the Dogs. Following a 6-3 loss to the Tigres on Tuesday night, there was some doubt on whether or not the Sea Dogs could handle the hostile crowd. But as they showed tonight, Saint John can indeed overcome a little adversity.

Marco Cousineau was outstanding in net, stopping 39 of 40 shots and earning first star honors.

Nicholas Pard scored a pair while singles came from Michael Kirkpatrick, Mike Hoffman, Stanislav Galiev, and Chuckie Schembri.

Kevin Poulin picked up the loss for the Tigres, facing 33 shots. Emmanuel Boudreau scored the lone Victoriaville goal.

Saint John went 1/5 on the power play while Victoriaville went 1/3.

FIRST PERIOD
Saint John made it 1-0 quickly in the first at 1:51. Nicholas Petersen let a shot go from just above the faceoff dot to the side of Kevin Poulin. His blast hit the cross bar, deflecting and sitting in the crease for a waiting Michael Kirkpatrick.

Not long after at 5:59, the Sea Dogs opened up a 2-0 lead. Nicholas Pard found the puck off a clean faceoff win, firing the disc through the wickets of Poulin to double Saint John’s lead.

Nathan Beaulieu had a solid chance following Pard’s marker, trying a wraparound shot but was stopped by Poulin.

Samuel Groulx headed off at 7:02 for interference. On the power play, Simon Despres wired a point shot that was stopped by Poulin, followed by Stanislav Galiev being stopped down low. The Sea Dogs had good control on the man advantage but had few shots.

Chuckie Schembri went to the sin bin at 10:03. Joel Chouinard let a big shot go from the point during the two minute span but was stopped. Like Saint John, the Tigres had good control of the puck but few shots.

Olivier Jannard had a partial break moments later but a Saint John defenseman cought up to him, forcing him to simply swing a weak shot on Marco Cousineau. Travis McIsaac was then stopped twice in close, followed by the PEI native making a nice move with the puck in front of Cousineau but could not beat the sharp Sea Dogs goaltnder.

Petersen almost set up Kirkpatrick again when he sent a pass from the point to the streaking Sea Dog but had the pass broken up by Poulin.

McIsaac was handed a five minute major and game misconduct for slew footing Stephen MacAulay at 19:40, giving the Dogs a long power play. Before the period ended, Mike Hoffman wound up and released a shot that broke a pane of glass behind the Tigres’ goal.

Shots in the first were 16-8 Victoriaville.
SECOND PERIOD
11 seconds were added on to start the second because of the first frame glass break.
When the second period officially began, the Sea Dogs could not manage to get anything going on their power play chance. The five-on-four ended when Simon Despres got called for tripping. The best chance for either team on the four-on-four came on a Kirkpatrick wrist shot, forcing Poulin to make a quick pad save.

Guillaume Goulet broke in moments later but Pierre Durepos made a nice play to force the Tigres right winger to lose the puck. Chris Doyle then fed Goulet at the side of the goal but he shot wide with Cousineau way out of his crease. Victoriaville’s short pressure filled spout ended with Joel Champagne firing a backhander into the glove of Cousineau.

Saint John started to gain momentum with Galiev making a nice play to find Tomas Jurco down low at the side of the goal. The Slovak had lots of time but he fanned on the shot.

Goulet headed to the box at 13:13 after he took down Jonathan Huberdeau in front of his own net. On the man advantage, Petersen did some nice work along the boards to keep the puck under Sea Dog control. The 20-year old fed his former line mate Hoffman who fired a wrist shot that beat Poulin to make it 3-0 for the visitors.

Just over three minutes later at 17:43, Galiev sucked what little life was left out of the Tigres faithful. The Russian let loose a powerful drive that stung Poulin in the chest. The puck squirted into no man’s land, where Galiev picked up his own puck and dished the disc into the net.

Victoriaville didn’t quit though. Andrej Nestrasil made a beautiful deke around several Saint John players to enter the zone. He kept the puck and tried a cross crease pass to Philippe Maillot but he could not get a shot off.

Shots in the middle stanza were 12-10 Tigres.

THIRD PERIOD
Just 1:54 into the third period, Stephen MacAulay sent a blind backhand pass through the Victoraiville crease. Pard was sitting at the other end, depositing his easiest goal of the season to make it 5-0.

Yann Sauve got called for high sticking at 2:17. On the power play, Emmanuel Boudreau threw the puck in on Cousineau. The puck hit something in front and beat the Saint John goaltender low. The goal went under a short review but was ruled to be legal.

The Tigres were sparked a little bit by the goal, forcing Cousineau to come out of his crease and snag the puck with his trapper moments after the goal. That momentum ended when Pier-Luc Pelletier took a roughing call at 7:10. Saint John didn’t seem to try to much on the P.P. and sat on their lead.

The pace of the game began to slow down after the power play.

Boudreau went to the box for the Tigres at 15:53. While shorthanded, Philip-Michael Devos centered for Phillip Danault who was alone in front but could not get a shot off.

With the power play over, it was an unlikely source scoring for the Sea Dogs. Schembri was fed with a breakaway pass at the blue line at 18:00. The 19-year old tough guy made a nice move to the backhand to beat Poulin upstairs and to cement a 6-1 Saint John win.

Shots in the third period were 13-12 Saint John.

NOTES: Station Nation will have Post-Game Notebook tomorrow.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs can book a trip to the Presidents Cup Final tomorrow in game five at Colisee Desjardins. Note that the start time is 5:00 pm.

MOVING ON UP: The Moncton Wildcats advanced to the QMJHL Final tonight following a 4-2 win in Drummondville.

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