GAME DAY2010 Presidents Cup Final
Game Two: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Moncton Wildcats
Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Moncton Coliseum
SERIES STATUS
Moncton leads the best-of-seven series 1-0.
PRE-GAME PREVIEW
The Saint John Sea Dogs have something to prove.
Following a disastrous game one performance, Saint John is forced to enter enemy territory today as game two of the President’s Cup Final gets set to go at the Moncton Coliseum.
“We know we have to play a lot better in Game Two if we want to tie this series up,” said Associate Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Mike Kelly to saintjohnseadogs.com. “There’s a lot of talent on our roster and we know that we’re capable of performing at a much higher level than what we showed on Friday.”
The Sea Dogs practiced yesterday at Harbour Station after a 5-1 loss the night before. Head coach Gerard Gallant basically said that the Sea Dogs did not do anything right in the affair.
"We didn't play well enough tonight,” said Gallant to the Times & Transcript after the game. “That's the bottom line. They won the battles and the foot races to loose pucks. Whoever wins the battles and foot races to loose pucks is going to win the series. Hopefully, we'll get our game back on Sunday."
The road to glory now forces Saint John to win at least one game on the road, something that the Sea Dogs did very well this season.
“Moncton came into our building last night and played really well,” Team Captain Mike Thomas said after Saturday’s brief practice. “We know we have to do the same thing tomorrow and hopefully we can come up with a win and take home ice advantage back.”
GET TO KNOW THE SEA DOGS
Visiting Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Playoff Record: 12-4
Record at Home: 7-2
Record on Road: 5-2
Power Play: 29.0%
Penalty Kill: 82.6%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick (16GP-10G-14A-24Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 20-14
Reg. Season Record: 53-12-1-2 (1st Atlantic, 1st QMJHL)
Record vs Moncton: 4-3-0-1
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 WILDCATS
Home Team: Moncton Wildcats
Playoff Record: 13-3
Record at Home: 6-2
Record on Road: 7-1
Power Play: 27.1%
Penalty Kill: 82.8%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Kelsey Tessier (16GP-10G-13A-23Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 72-50
Reg. Season Record: 48-14-2-4 (2nd Atlantic, 3rd QMJHL)
Record vs Saint John: 4-0-1-3
Record at Home: 26-6-0-2 (2nd)
Record on the Road: 22-8-2-2(2nd)
Power Play: 27.0%
Penalty Kill: 83.0%
Reg. Season Leading Scorer: Nicolas Deschamps (64GP-39G-57A-96Pts)
NHL Draft Picks: Nicola Riopel (Philadelphia), Randy Cameron (Detroit), Mark Barberio (Tampa Bay), Nicolas Deschamps (Anaheim), David Savard (Columbus), Gabriel Bourque (Nashville), and Kelsey Tessier (Colorado).
HEAD-TO-HEAD THIS SEASON
Season series tied 4-4
2009/09/27: Moncton Wildcats 3 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 4 SO
2009/10/17: Moncton Wildcats 2 @ Saint John 3 OT
2009/12/13: Saint John Sea Dogs 3 @ Moncton Wildcats 7
2009/12/31: Saint John Sea Dogs 4 @ Moncton Wildcats 3 SO
2010/01/06: Moncton Wildcats 5 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 3
2010/02/06: Saint John Sea Dogs 5 @ Moncton Wildcats 4 SO
2010/03/05: Moncton Wildcats 4 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 3 SO
2010/03/14: Saint John Sea Dogs 2 @ Moncton Wildcats 5
Saint John leading scorer vs Moncton: Tomas Jurco (8GP-5G-4A-9Pts)
Moncton leading scorer vs Saint John: David Savard (7GP-0G-10A-10Pts)
SERIES RESULTS/SCHEDULE
Moncton leads the series 1-0.
GAME 1: Friday, April 30 – Moncton Wildcats 5 – Saint John Sea Dogs 1
GAME 2: Sunday, May 2 - 4pm @ Moncton Coliseum
GAME 3: Tuesday, May 4 - 7pm @ Harbour Station
GAME 4: Friday, May 7 - 7:30pm @ Moncton Coliseum
*GAME 5: Saturday, May 8 - 7pm @ Harbour Station
*GAME 6: Monday, May 10 - 7pm @ Moncton Coliseum
*GAME 7: Tuesday, May 11 - 7pm @ Harbour Station
*if necessary
CRAZY FACT
Saint John has never comeback to win a series after losing the first game. They have lost the first game twice in franchise history with both resulting in sweeps.
SAINT JOHN LINEUP NOTES
Kevin Gagne is once again questionable with a knee injury. The 17-year old has not played since game five of the opening round.
Steven Anthony is also questionable with a groin injury.
Both players could return in this series.
THE GOINGS ON AT THE CAGE
PRESS RELEASE
The game sponsor is Prestige Lighting and they’ll be offering, through the 50/50 draw, three chances at winning $20,000.00 in a shoot off from centre ice. It’s expected the 50/50 pot will soar pass the $10,000.00 level.
Route 1 T-Shirts will be on sale for $5.00 at all the entrances and you’ll be able to pick up noise makers at the door. Fans are encouraged to bring their own noise makers as well. The Wildcats want the sell out crowd to be the 7th player by showing their noisy support of the team.
A special guest at the game will be Crazy Claude, the famous trumpeter, who travels with the NHL Old Timers team. He’ll bring his special ability to rally the fans.
This game has been sold-out since Thursday afternoon.
SOLID ON THE ROAD
Saint John had the best road record during the regular season, going 27-5-1-1 away from Harbour Station. But two of their five road loses came at the Moncton Coliseum – and it’s not like those games didn’t have any meaning.
The first ended the Sea Dogs’ 22-game winning streak and the second was in front of a national television audience.
In the post-season, the Dogs are 5-2 away from home with both loses coming in the semi-finals against Victoriaville.
BACK ON THE TUBE
Following a year’s absence, the QMJHL returns to Rogers TV today.
"We are very happy to have the opportunity to offer our fans games two and four of this historic series on local television," said the Commissioner of the QMJHL, Gilles Courteau in a release. "These two broadcasts would not have been possible without the valued cooperation of our major partner, TELUS, and the Moncton Wildcats organization."
Game four will also be broadcast.
WILDCATS KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT
Despite dominating game one, the Moncton Wildcats know that their opponent will not just roll over.
"We know they're going to come out even harder the next game," said Moncton right winger Daniel Pettersson who dished out three assists on Friday. "There's no room to ever sit back against a team like them. They have lots of offensive skills and we have to make sure we pressure them hard.”
A loss today would put one of Saint John’s season long streaks in jeopardy. After playing 68 regular season games and 16 playoff games, the Sea Dogs have not once lost three straight games.
"There are people who try to poke holes in their team," said Moncton head coach Danny Flynn. "That's a darn good team. Check the numbers. Our game in Moncton is we try to play a good responsible two-way game.”
WHO TO WATCH
Moncton – Kelsey Tessier
Had a tremendous game Friday and had two assists in the win. He also helped set-up the game winner, a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play finished off by Gabriel Bourque.
Saint John – Mike Hoffman
Hoffman was held pointless and was a -3 Friday – certainly not the way the Ottawa Senators draft pick usually performs. The top line of Nicholas Petersen-Hoffman-Stanislav Galiev could be put back together if the Dogs continue to fail offensively.
NOTES
- Nicola Riopel really struggled with rebound control in game one.
- Michael Kirkpatrick leads all players in points with 24. Moncton’s Kelsey Tessier is right behind him with 23.
- Gabriel Bourque is on a seven game point streak. During that span, the Team Canada silver medalist has eight goals and four assists.
- Ted Stephens and Yann Sauve are both on three game point streaks. Stephens has one goal and two assists while Sauve has one goal and three helpers.
- Jonathan Huberdeau still leads the Sea Dogs with 11 goals in 16 playoff games. Nicholas Petersen leads Saint John in assists with 18.
- Moncton has had only two sell-outs this season with both being against Saint John.
THE RINK
Venue: Moncton Coliseum
Capacity: 6,803
Playoff Average Attendance: 4,966
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 4,606
MEDIA RELATIONS
Newspapers: Telegraph-Journal, Times & Transcript, Le Journal de Quebec, and L’Acadie Nouvelle
Television: Rogers TV
Radio: Saint John- News 88.9; Moncton- News 91.9
Video: Telus Webcast
Post-Game Highlights: WildcatsTelevision
TWITTER
Follow Station Nation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for in game updates from tonight’s game.
AFTER THE BUZZER
Game three is Tuesday at Harbour Station at 7:00 pm.
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