SEA DOGS – WILDCATS GAME AT A GLANCEFinal Score: Saint John 3, Moncton 9
Saint John Goals: Danick Gauthier (5), Mike Thomas (4), and Chuckie Schembri (2)
Moncton Goals: Gabriel Bourque (15, 16), Scott Brannon (3, 4), Randy Cameron (9, 10), Kelsey Tessier (11), Simon Jodoin (3), and Allain Saulnier (3)
Winning Goaltender: Nicola Riopel (14-3-0)
Losing Goaltender: Marco Cousineau (12-5-0)
New 88.9 Top Dog: Stephen MacAulay
THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Wildcats: 3/8, Sea Dogs: 0/3
Shots on Goal: Wildcats: 10+6+16=32, Sea Dogs: 9+8+11=28
Attendance: 6,802
SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Steven Anthony missed the game with a groin injury and Kevin Gagne was out with a knee injury.
News 88.9’s Tim Roszell said that Gagne is “very close to returning.” He has not played since game five of the first round.
Tyrone Sock, Aiden Kelly, and Will Johnston were scratched for the Sea Dogs.
YIKES
It was a failure of epic proportions.
Saint John – the league’s best team in the regular season, 12-4 in the playoffs going in, and the league’s best road team – blown out of the water in Moncton.
“It's going to be brutal,” said Mike Thomas to the CBC about the bus ride home. “I mean coming here and being embarrassed like that. I don't know. It's unacceptable and not what we want, but it's what we deserve after playing like that," he said.
The Moncton Wildcats toyed with the Sea Dogs on Sunday afternoon, winning game two 9-3 and taking a 2-0 series advantage in the President’s Cup Final.
"We're playing too loose,'' said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant to the Telegraph-Journal following his circus act on the bench. "It's nothing about getting behind (early). It's about battling hard for 60 minutes and winning the battles, and they win a lot more than we do right now. Every player in their forward group is outplaying our guys and their defence corps is outplaying our guys.”
“Nothing went right for us tonight," said Gallant to the Times & Transcript. "Again, it was total domination by Moncton. There's no one way or another (that they dominated us). They outplayed us every which way.”
It was all Moncton on this night. Right from the start the Dogs looked a bit shaky and it led to a 2-0 Wildcats lead after one period.
Gabriel Bourque continued his insane play in the second frame, making it 3-0 just prior to Danick Gauthier getting his second of the series.
The Wildcats poured it on after that, with Thomas of all people scoring for Saint John. It was 6-2 after two periods despite the Dogs outshooting the ‘Cats 8-6 in the middle stanza.
Moncton would add on three more in the third while Chuckie Schembri scored in his home town with just minutes to go.
COUZY, COUZY, COUZY?Marco Cousineau has the playoff resume proving he can win on the big stage. But yesterday afternoon, the Saint John net minder turned in his worst performance as a Sea Dog.
Cousineau allowed four goals on 13 shots before being pulled half way through the second period. It was a stunning display as the 20-year goaltender is coming off being named the 2009 top goaltender at the Memorial Cup.
Karel St. Laurent entered the cage at 10:09 of the middle frame but did not fare any better. St. Laurent allowed five goals on 19 shots including two goals on the first pair of pucks sent his way.
All in all, the two net minders allowed four goals on six shots in the second.
BOURQUE IS NUTS
Gabriel Bourque continued his hot playoff play Sunday. With two goals in the game, Bourque now has five in the series and 16 in the post-season.
According to the QMJHL website, Bourque has broken the Wildcats record of 15 goals scored in one playoff year (Benoit in 2000 and Karsums in 2006).
LOPSIDED LOSS
From the QMJHL website:
Saint John - for the Sea Dogs, it's the first time of their history, that they allowed more than 8 goals in one playoff game.
According to Neil Hodge of the Times & Transcript, “it was the Sea Dogs' most lopsided loss of the regular season and playoffs combined.”
MORE ON THE MAYHEM
Station Nation will (hopefully) have a lot more details on Gerard Gallant’s flip-out posted later.
HOW?
In a surprising turn of events, Stephen MacAulay was a +3 and had an assist in the loss.
The line of MacAulay, Mike Thomas, and Danick Gauthier had another strong game. Gauthier and Thomas were a +2.
Gauthier now has two of the four Saint John goals in the series.
BIG GUNS?
The big offensive weapons for Saint John once again fell silent.
Michael Kirkpatrick, Mike Hoffman, Nicholas Petersen, Stanislav Galiev, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Tomas Jurco were all held pointless again.
Hoffman is perhaps playing some of his worst hockey as a Sea Dog. The 20-year old sniper is a -5 in the series and had four penalty minutes last night.
The big line of Petersen – Hoffman – Galiev was put back together for parts of the game.
TIME TO FLIP
Telegraph-Journal editor Marty Kilkenberg bravely voiced his displeasure with the Sea Dogs on the front page of today’s paper. His thoughts can be heard around the city.
These were some of his best lines:
The Wildcats were so dominant on Sunday that at one point, they scored on four consecutive shots in the second period - against two different goaltenders.
There is no way the Sea Dogs can win if the scrappy Schembri, a post-season pickup who began the season by getting cut by Moncton, outscores his team's top guns.
The Sea Dogs' season is hanging by a thread - Tuesday night's return to Harbour Station.
It is improbable that they will climb out of an 0-2 hole to win the series; Wildcats fans can begin making reservations to the Memorial Cup if they win Game 3 as well.
NEWS 88.9 POLL RESULTS
HIGHLIGHTS
WILDCATS POST-GAME
50/50 SYSTEM
QUICK HITS
Crazy Claude and his horn were at the game. He wore several different costumes… our buddy/enemy Marc Grandmaison has some unreal shots from the rafters of the Coliseum… Rogers TV broadcasted the game. The Telus webcast picked up the feed but still had the News 88.9 broadcast as play-by-play... the game was sold-out and unbelievably hot.
NEXT GAME
Game three is Tuesday at 7:00 pm at Harbour Station. 300 tickets were released for the game earlier this afternoon.
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