POSTSCRIPT: Screaming Eagles 2, Sea Dogs 7

SEA DOGS –SCREAMING EAGLES GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Screaming Eagles 2, Sea Dogs 7
Saint John Goals: Michael Kirkpatrick, Kevin Gagne, Tomas Jurco (3), Jonathan Huberdeau, and Guillaume Cloutier.
Cape Breton Goals: Brad Cuzner and Taylor MacDougall.
News 88.9 Top Dog: Pierre Durepos

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Screaming Eagles: 2/9, Sea Dogs: 1/4
Shots on Goal: Screaming Eagles: 9+10+11=30, Sea Dogs: 5+16+4=25
Length: 2:12
Attendance: 3,459

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Missing from the Sea Dogs lineup because of National Hockey League Rookie/Training Camps were: Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Mike Thomas (Edmonton), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Stephen MacAulay (St. Louis), and Stanislav Galiev (Washington).

Also out was defenseman Gabriel Bourret.

RECAP
It was a rather dominant game for the Saint John Sea Dogs in just their second match of the 2010-11 regular season campaign. On the strength of a four goal second period, the Dogs walked over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 7-2 on Friday night at Harbour Station.

Michael Kirkpatrick opened the scoring while shorthanded at 5:21. But while the same Cape Breton player was still serving his penalty, Brad Cuzner evened the affair at 5:32. Saint John would go into cruise control from there.

Kevin Gagne scored at 12:25 and Tomas Jurco added another a few seconds later to give Saint John a 3-1 lead heading into the intermission.

In the second, Jonathan Huberdeau extended the Sea Dogs’ lead. Then, rookie Guillaume Cloutier fired a point shot that hit something on the way in to make it a 5-1 game. Jurco would add two more in the middle frame to record the hat trick.

In the third, Taylor MacDougall recorded a power play goal at 15:56 to make it a 7-2 final.

JURCO THE MACHINE
After not even attending Training Camp due to scholastic commitments in Slovakia, Tomas Jurco is showing no signs of rust.

In just two regular season games, the second year Sea Dog has five goals. He recorded his first career hat trick in the Quebec league last evening.

After a bit of a slow start to the year last season, Jurco finished strong and recorded a Sea Dogs rookie record 26 goals. He added another seven goals in the post-season.

PICHE WAS SOLID
After Karel St. Laurent allowed a couple of weak goals on Friday night, the newly acquired Frederic Piche was given the start in net.

He wasn’t tested a huge amount, but played well when he had to. Somehow, the Eagles outshot Saint John 30-25.

One of his best saves came early in the first period when Cory MacIntosh broke loose on a shorthanded breakaway. The Eagle fired a wrist shot from long range that was deflected away by the blocker of Piche.

It’s certainly going to be interesting, with St. Laurent being a 20-year old, to see how the Sea Dogs coaching staff deals with their goaltending in the coming weeks.

WEAK CROWD
After a below average showing for opening night, the Sea Dogs wrapped up the weekend with a poor Saturday night crowd of 3,459.

With the QMJHL website’s stats page still not operating fully, this can’t be check. But, we are pretty sure that this was the worst attended opening weekend in club history. (EDIT: Last season was actually worse by 300 fans. But you get the point) If the not the worst, it is close.

POST-GAME HIGHLIGHTS


QUICK HITS
Check out the SN Live Blog replay… for pictures from last night’s game, check out Marc Grandmaison’s Facebook album… the fourth annual Sea Dogs fan fest took place prior to game at the main entrance of Harbour Station. A healthy crowd was on hand to check out the face painting, music, and BBQ… magnetic schedules were handed out at the door… Guillaume Cloutier recorded his first QMJHL goal. It was originally given to Ryan Tesink but later changed… Saint John was only 19/50 on faceoffs… Kevin Gagne, Michael Kirkpatrick, and Jonathan Huberdeay all had a +4 rating.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs take a week off and then host the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday at Harbour Station at 7:00pm.