Tuesday, October 26, 2010

EPIC ROAD TRIP BEGINS TOMORROW


This one is a doozy.

The Saint John Sea Dogs begin their longest Quebec road swing of the season tomorrow night when they visit the Val-d’Or Foreurs at 8:30 pm. The team then plays the Foreurs again on Friday night prior to making the trek to Rouyn-Noranda on Saturday for a pair games on the weekend versus the Huskies.

After coming off two road games last weekend, these four games will make it six straight away from home – Saint John’s longest trip of the season.

The Sea Dogs will be looking to improve some of their road woes over next quartet of matches. At 3-3-0-1 on the road, all of Saint John’s loses have come on the road this season. They have been outscored 24-23 along the way.

In most of the Sea Dogs road games, including the loses, they dominated at some point of the game or at least played at par with the opposing team for part of it. It is that kind of inconsistency that the Sea Dogs need to change.

Head coach Gerard Gallant has showed his frustration in the Telegraph-Journal over the past few weeks, but things continue to stay the same on the road.

"We had another great, dominant first period and then we went to sleep again,'' Gallant said after the Sea Dogs’ last road game – a 5-3 win – in Halifax on Saturday. "It's the same old thing with these guys - they cheat.

"All they want is their points. They're cheaters. They won 5-3, but they shouldn't be happy with the way they played. I'm fed up with it.''

Gallant appeared to start sending a stronger message on Saturday, making second year defenseman Gabriel Bourret a healthy scratch. Rookies Tyrone Sock and Guillaume Cloutier both appeared in the line-up instead.

The Sea Dogs’ perfect record on home ice can only last so long, so starting to click on the road is a must.

When Atlantic based teams go this far into Quebec, it basically allows for any kind of craziness to become accepted. Even though Rouyn-Noranda will sit in the bottom five of the standings at the end of the season, games in the city are never easy.

According to DistanceCalculater.com, the road between Saint John and Val-d’Or stretches somewhere between 1091.18 km to 1186.06 km. The distance between Val-d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda is roughly 108 km.

Every game can be heard on News 88.9 and we will have your pre-game and live blog posted on this very site.

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