PRE-GAME: Game One vs Gatineau

GAME DAY
2010 Presidents Cup Playoffs – Round Two
Game One: Gatineau Olympiques vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Friday, April 2, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Harbour Station

SERIES STATUS
This is game one of the best-seven-of-seven quarterfinal matchup.

PRE-GAME PREVIEW
For only the second time in their short five year history, the Saint John Sea Dogs enter the second round of the post-season.

The Dogs go into the best-of-seven quarterfinal matchup as the clear favourites over the Gatineau Olympiques. Saint John won the Jean Rougeau Trophy as regular season champions while the Olympiques finished below .500.

Saint John has destroyed Gatineau in their three regular season matchups, outscoring them 17-5 and recording two shutouts.

Gatineau will enter the game on an emotional high as they are coming off a thrilling double overtime win in Montreal on Tuesday night. In fact, Le Droit is reporting that many of the players are still in shock over the stunning events that occurred in the game seven affair.

But it is back to business for the ‘Piques, and they’ll need their “A” game if they are going to defeat the Dogs.

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: 4-3
Record at Home: 1-2
Record on Road: 3-1
Power Play: 33.3%
Penalty Kill: 71.4%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Denis Kindl (6GP-3G-3A-GPts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 214-160

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% (11th)
Penalty Kill: 82.1% (6th)

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: 4-1
Record at Home: 2-1
Record on Road: 2-0
Power Play: 29.2%
Penalty Kill: 82.1%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Tomas Jurco and Nicholas Petersen (5GP-2G-5A-7Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 12-11-0

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)

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

CRAZY FACT
This is crazy enough for us.


SAINT JOHN LINEUP NOTES
Aiden Kelly will not play due to a concussion... Steven Anthony is questionable with a groin injury and has not played so far in the playoffs… Nicholas Pard is questionable with a shoulder injury… Kevin Gagne will not play tonight or tomorrow due to a knee injury.

Saint John still has call-up Chuckie Schembri on their roster. They have also called up forward Will Johnston and defenseman Tyrone Sock.

Johnston is not eligible to play due to a MJAHL suspension.

EPIC GAME
Editors Note: The following appeared in “Sea Dogs Post-Game Notebook” on January 25 following an 8-0 Sea Dogs win the day before.

This game was a miss match on paper but the result of the game was absolutely insane. Saint John dominated the game from start to finish, and as the second period shots show – everywhere in between.

"(Sunday) was a real good effort for us,'' Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said to the Telegraph-Journal. "We played a full 60 minutes and controlled the play throughout the game. It was a real dominating performance.''

Gallant told Le Droit that he thought this was one of the best games played all season for the Sea Dogs, mentioning the fact that the team was coming off an ugly 6-4 loss in Montreal the day before. He also said that his team skated very well and played with a lot of intensity even when the score was so lopsided.

Jean-Francois Plante of Le Droit smartly pointed out that if Saint John had no goaltender through the first two periods, Gatineau would have led the game 7-6 heading into the third. That’s incredible when you think about.

BETWEEN THE PIPES
SAINTJOHNSEADOGS.COM
Overage goaltender Marco Cousineau posted a perfect record of 3-0 against Gatineau during the regular season while recording a G.A.A. of 2.00 and a SV% of 0.924. Backup net minder Karel St-Laurent, meanwhile, earned a shutout at Gatineau’s expense back on December 5 at Harbour Station.

Gatineau starter Maxime Clermont finished his regular season campaign with a record of 24-31, 2.81 goals against average, and a 0.897 save percentage. Clermont took all three loses for the ‘Piques against Saint John with a GAA of 6.06 and save percentage of 0.841.

HE’S BACK
From the “Brendan McNeil dance fan page:”

Brendan will be back danceing the first game off the seacond round off the 2010 play offs GO SEA DOGS GO !!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Gatineau mascot Hully can defy all laws of physics.
• Saint John is 1-0 all-time in round two, game one games.
• 846 people have confirmed they are not attending this game on Facebook.
• Saint John’s only playoff loss this year has come on home ice.
• Mike Hoffman and Gerard Gallant are fresh off their Golden Puck Awards ceremonies. No Gatineau player or coach won an award or was named to an all-star team.
• This is a 2-3-2 playoff format, meaning the first two games are at Harbour Station, the next three in Gatineau, and the final two back in Saint John.
• Saint John has never won a playoff game against a Quebec based team.
• The last time Gatineau came to Harbour Station, teddy bears hit the ice.

THE RINK
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Playoff Average Attendance: 4,234
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 4,140

MEDIA RELATIONS
Newspapers: Saint John- Telegraph-Journal; Gatineau- Le Droit, Ottawa Citizen
Radio: Saint John- News 88.9; Gatineau- Tag Radio X
Video: Telus Webcast
Post-Game Highlights: SeaDogsTV

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

AFTER THE BUZZER
These two teams do battle in game two Saturday night at Harbour Station at 7:00 pm.