GAME DAY2010 Presidents Cup Playoffs – Round Three
Game Three: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Victoriaville Tigres
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Colisee Desjardins
SERIES STATUS
Saint John leads the best-of-seven series 2-0.
PRE-GAME PREVIEW
For the Saint John Sea Dogs, a win tonight all but locks up a series win. Lose tonight, and it is an all new semi-final.
With the series shifting to Victoriaville, the Tigres will finally try to show that they can handle the Sea Dogs following two miserable games at Harbour Station. Although Victoriaville had early leads in both games one and two, Saint John outplayed them by a wide margin.
The Sea Dogs finished the regular season with the best road record in the league. They also had a 1-0 record at Colisee Desjardins, and have a perfect 4-0 road record so far in the playoffs.
The Tigres are hoping for a loud home crowd to try and boost morale this evening. The Tigres had a home record of 23-8-1-2 in the regular season and have recorded one loss and four wins in the post-season.
No matter what happens in the tilt, both teams will have an extended layoff as game four does not get started until Friday in Victoriaville.
GET TO KNOW THE SEA DOGS
Visiting Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Playoff Record: 10-1
Record at Home: 6-1
Record on Road: 4-0
Power Play: 28.2%
Penalty Kill: 85.7%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick (11GP-8G-11A-19Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 18-11
Reg. Season Record: 53-12-1-2 (1st Atlantic, 1st QMJHL)
Record vs Victoriaville: 1-1-0-0
Record at Home: 26-7-0-1 (3rd)
Record on Road: 27-5-1-1 (1st)
Power Play: 24.3%
Penalty Kill: 78.8%
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).
GET TO KNOW THE TIGRES
Home Team: Victoriaville Tigres
Playoff Record: 8-4
Record at Home: 4-1
Record on Road: 4-3
Power Play: 30.2%
Penalty Kill: 90.3%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Philip-Michael Devos (12GP-6G-10A-16Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 108-111
Reg. Season Record: 46-19-1-2
Record vs Saint John: 1-1-0-0
Record at Home: 23-8-1-2 (4th)
Record on the Road: 23-11-0-0 (3rd)
Power Play: 25.6%
Penalty Kill: 85.8%
Reg. Season Leading Scorer: Philip-Michael Devos (68GP-35G-58A-93Pts)
NHL Draft Picks: Kevin Poulin (New York Islanders), Andrej Nestrasil (Detroit), Tomas Kubalik (Columbus), Joel Champagne (Toronto), Chris Doyle (New York Rangers), Joel Chouinard (Colorado), Samuel Groulx (San Jose).
HEAD-TO-HEAD THIS SEASONSeason series tied 1-1.
September 25, 2009: Victoriaville 5 @ Saint John 2
October 4, 2009: Saint John 5 @ Victoriaville 3
Sea Dogs leading scorer vs Victoriaville: Nicholas Petersen (1GP-1G-2A-3Pts) and Steven Anthony (2GP-1G-2A-3Pts)
Tigres leading scorer vs Saint John: Andrej Nestrasil (2GP-3G-3A-6Pts)
SERIES RESULTS/SCHEDULE
Saint John leads the best-of-seven series 2-0.
GAME 1: Friday, April 16 – Victoriaville Tigres 2 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 4
GAME 2: Saturday, April 17 – Victoriaville Tigres 1 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 5
GAME 3: Tuesday, April 20 - 8pm @ Desjardins Coliseum
GAME 4: Friday, April 23 - 8pm @ Desjardins Coliseum
*GAME 5: Saturday, April 24 - 5pm @ Desjardins Coliseum
*GAME 6: Monday, April 26 - 7pm @ Harbour Station
*GAME 7: Wednesday, April 28 - 7pm @ Harbour Station
*if necessary
TALE OF THE TAPE
September 25, 2009: Alexandre Leduc vs Maxime Robichaud
September 25, 2009: Danick Gauthier vs Patrick Dore
CRAZY FACT
When leading a series 2-0, Saint John is 2-1 in game two games.
SAINT JOHN LINEUP NOTES
Kevin Gagne will likely miss tonight’s game with a knee injury according to the Telegraph-Journal Monday. The 17-year old has not played since game five of the opening round.
Aiden Kelly, Chuckie Schembri, Tyrone Sock, and Will Johnston have all been scratched in games one and two of the series.
COACHES CORNER
Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant in the Telegraph-Journal:
"They're going to play very well in that building,'' the Saint John bench boss said. "They have too much pride and character over there to quit.”
Victoriaville head coach Yanick Jean in the Telegraph-Journal:
"We're going back home for three, that's the positive part about this,'' Tigres head coach Yanick Jean said. "They played well, I'll give credit to them. We can do some things better and hopefully we'll rebound.
LONG TIME NO SEE
The Sea Dogs have not been to Victoriaville since October 4 of last year, a 5-3 win for Saint John.
From the Station Nation Post-Game following the win:
The game wouldn't have been as close if not for a Tigres surge in the last two minutes of the game. Nicholas Petersen shot the puck into an empty net to insure a Saint John victory.
Just how long ago was this game? Nicholas Petersen was playing in only his second game as a Sea Dog, Olivier Ouellet was the team’s leading scorer, and Scott Oke and Robert McEwan were healthy scratches.
POLL RESULTS
NOTABLES OVER THE YEARS
Victoriaville’s notables over the years include: Jacques Lemaire, Guy Rouleau, Stéphane Fiset, Reginald Savage, Yves Racine, Alexandre Daigle, Mathieu Garon, Carl Mallette, Danny Groulx, Matthew Lombardi and Antoine Vermette.
RECORD WATCH
From Saintjohnseadogs.com:
Veteran centre Michael Kirkpatrick netted a pair of tallies in Saint John’s series-opening win over Victoriaville, overtaking Keven Charland for the Sea Dogs’ all-time home ice playoff goals record (eight) in the process. The 19-year old native of North Sydney, NS is now within two offensive strikes of Scott Howes’ team record of 15 total playoff markers. Kirkpatrick recently passed Howes to become the franchise’s all-time playoff scoring leader. With 8G-11A-19P, Kirkpatrick presently trails Drummondville’s Chris DiDomenico (7G-13A-20P) by one point in the 2010 QMJHL playoff scoring race.
GOAL HORN
AROUND THE TOWN
WIKIPEDIA
Victoriaville's size and location have earned it the title Capitale des Bois-Francs, referring to the Bois-Francs region of the province. Victoriaville is noted for many of its high-quality hardwood products, including furniture, coffins, and perhaps most notably, hockey sticks.
Jean Béliveau, ten-time Stanley Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens, was raised in Victoriaville after moving there from Trois-Rivières at a young age. The city is currently home to the Victoriaville Tigres junior hockey team, who have played in the QMJHL since 1987. They play at the Colisée Desjardins.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Until the Sea Dogs’ 5-3 win in Victoriaville on October 4 this season, they had never a won a game at Colisee Desjardins.
- Cousineau now has the best G.A.A. (2.00) of any starting net minder in the Final Four.
- Freshman forwards Stanislav Galiev (6G-9A) and Jonathan Huberdeau(10G-5A) are currently tied for the league lead in rookie playoff scoring with 15 points apiece.
- Mike Hoffman is on a three game point scoring streak. In that span, the Ottawa prospect has a goal and three assists.
- Brandon Hynes has scored a goal in each game of this series for the Tigres.
- In both games in the series, the team that has scored first has lost.
- Saint John’s last road loss was on March 14 in Moncton.
- The Tigres flew back home while the Sea Dogs took the bus according to La Nouvelle/L'Union.
THE RINK
Venue: Colisee Desjardins
Capacity: 2,997
Playoff Average Attendance: 2,673
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 2,417
MEDIA RELATIONS
Newspapers: Saint John- Telegraph- Journal, L’Acadie Nouvelle; Victoriaville- La Nouvelle/L’Union
Radio: Saint John- News 88.9; Victoriaville- 95.7 KYQ
Video: Telus Webcast
Post-Game Highlights: RDS.ca
TWITTER
Follow Station Nation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for in game updates from tonight’s game.
AFTER THE BUZZER
Game four is Friday at the same time, same place.
No comments:
Post a Comment