PRE-GAME: Game Four - Saint John Sea Dogs vs Gatineau Olympiques

GAME DAY
2010 Presidents Cup Playoffs – Round Two
Game Four: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Gatineau Olympiques
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Robert Guertin Arena

SERIES STATUS
Saint John leads the best-of-seven quarter-final series 3-0.

PRE-GAME PREVIEW
It’s do or die time for the Gatineau Olympiques.

Following a dominating 6-0 win by Saint John, the ‘Piques are on the brink of elimination. On the other side of the ice, the Sea Dogs can lock up a trip to the final four with a win. It would be the teams second trip to the semi-finals in three years.

Marco Cousineau is coming off a shutout for the Dogs and has won six straight playoff games entering tonight’s battle. Michael Kirkpatrick and Nathan Beaulieu both had a pair of goals last night.

A win by the Sea Dogs would also mean over a week off to rest up. A lose means the two teams meet up again on Friday in game five.

PREDICTIONS
Most predictions have Saint John winning the series in four or five games.

GET TO KNOW THE OLYMPIQUES
Visiting Team: Gatineau Olympiques

Playoff Record: 4-6
Record at Home: 1-3
Record on Road: 3-3
Power Play: 26.8%
Penalty Kill: 75.4%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Alex Noel (10GP-0G-8A-8Pts) and Denis Kindl (9GP-3G-5A-8Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 214-163

Reg. Season Record: 30-33-1-4 (3rd Telus East, 12th QMJHL)
Record vs Saint John: 0-3-0-0
Record at Home: 18-12-1-3 (10th)
Record on the Road: 12-21-0-1 (13th)
Power Play: 18.2%
Penalty Kill: 82.1%

Reg. Season Leading Scorer: Tye McGinn (50GP-27G-35A-62P)

NHL Draft Picks: Hubert Labrie (Dallas)

GET TO KNOW THE SEA DOGS
Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs

Playoff Record: 7-1
Record at Home: 4-1
Record on Road: 3-0
Power Play: 29.4%
Penalty Kill: 82.4%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick (8GP-5G-10A-15Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 15-11-0

Reg. Season Record: 53-12-1-2 (1st Atlantic, 1st QMJHL)
Record vs Gatineau: 3-0-0-0
Record at Home: 26-7-0-1 (3rd)
Record on Road: 27-5-1-1 (1st)
Power Play: 24.3% (5th)
Penalty Kill: 78.8% (10th)

Reg. Season Leading Scorer: Mike Hoffman (56GP-46G-39A-85P)

NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).

HEAD-TO-HEAD THIS SEASON
Saint John won the season series 3-0.

December 5, 2009: Gatineau Olympiques 0 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 2
January 24, 2010: Saint John Sea Dogs 8 @ Gatineau Olympiques 0
February 24, 2010: Saint John Sea Dogs 7 @ Gatineau Olympiques 5

Olympiques leading scorer vs Saint John: Christian Ouellet (3GP-1G-2A-3Pts)
Sea Dogs leading scoring against Gatineau: Tomas Jurco (3GP-3G-2A-5Pts), Zach Phillips (3GP-2G-3A-5Pts) and Michael Kirkpatrick (3GP-1G-4A-5Pts)

SERIES RESULTS
Saint John leads the series 3-0.

April 2, 2010: Game One – Gatineau Olympiques 4 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 7
April 3, 2010: Game Two – Gatineau Olympiques 2 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 7
April 6, 2010: Game Three – Saint John Sea Dogs 6 @ Gatineau Olympiques 0

TALE OF THE TAPE
No fights between the two during the regular season.

CRAZY FACT
Saint John has now played six games against Gatineau this year. The Sea Dogs are 6-0 and have recorded three shutouts. Two of those shutouts came at the Robert Guertin Arena.

SAINT JOHN LINEUP NOTES
Kevin Gagne will not play due to a knee injury and did not travel with the club to Gatineau. Tyrone Sock and Aiden Kelly, both healthy, did not make the trip either.

Will Johnston is eligible to play tonight after serving his MJAHL suspension.

Mike Hoffman could possibly be suspended after he was given a game misconduct and five-minute major for charging in the first period last night. At the time of this publication, nothing has been released.

THE HIT
Mike Hoffman’s game misconduct described by the Ottawa Citzen:

Olympiques defenceman Adam Janosik was caught with an elbow to the face during the play, and Hoffman was ejected just 15 seconds into the game. Janosik played a shift and then was gone for the evening as well.

COACHES CORNER
Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant in the Ottawa Citizen:

"We had a lot of opportunity to score goals and there were a lot of specialty teams and that probably helps our team a lot more because of our skill level and our talent level.”

Gatineau head coach John Chabot in the Ottawa Citizen:

"I said it before, after the first game, that it would be nice if the teams could dictate how the games went.”

WHO TO WATCH
Gatineau – Josh Domingues
The Olympiques' only overager should be fired with his junior career about to end.

Saint John – Jonathan Huberdeau
Following a goal last night, the rookie is averaging a goal per game in the playoffs.

AROUND THE TOWN
WIKIPEDIA
Gatineau (population 242,124) is a city in western Quebec, Canada, the fourth largest by population in the province (after Montréal, Québec City and Laval).It is paired with Ottawa, the capital of Canada. It is situated on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and is located within Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census Metropolitan Area. Gatineau is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality and census division of the same name, whose geographical code is 81.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Marco Cousineau now has two shutouts in the playoffs.
• Saint John has outscored Gatineau 20-6 in the three games of this series.
• Simon Despres is coming off a four assist night. “He’s not a Dog. He’s a horse,” said Tim Roszell of the “Big Horse” after the game.
• 22 penalties ere called last night but don’t expect to see the same officiating crew tonight.
• Watch for the rough stuff tonight. Not only is Gatineau’s season on the line, but the game was chippy last night with a lot of stick work among players. Will Johnston returning to the lineup is not out of the question.
• The Dogs are 1-0 all-time in round two, game two games.
• Saint John has yet to lose a road game in the post-season so far. They are 3-0 with two shutouts.

THE RINK
Venue: Robert Guertin Arena
Capacity: 3,196
Playoff Average Attendance: 2,104
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 2,626

MEDIA RELATIONS
Newspapers: Saint John- Telegraph-Journal, L’Acadie Nouvelle; Gatineau- Le Droit, Ottawa Citizen
Radio: Saint John- News 88.9; Gatineau- Tag Radio X
Video: Telus Webcast

TWITTER
Follow Station Nation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for in game updates from tonight’s game.

AFTER THE BUZZER
Game five – if necessary – goes Friday at 8:30 in Gatineau.