POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 1, Screaming Eagles 2

SEA DOGS –SCREAMING EAGLES GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Saint John 1, Cape Breton 2
Saint John Goals: Zach Phillips (5)
Cape Breton Goals: Logan Shaw (4), Viktor Hertzberg (3)
Winning Goaltender: Francois Lacerte
Losing Goaltender: Frederic Piche
News 88.9 Top Dog: Gabriel Bourret

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Screaming Eagles: 0/2, Sea Dogs: 1/5
Shots on Goal: Screaming Eagles: 8+8+9=25, Sea Dogs: 8+8+14=30
Length: 2:15
Attendance: 2,663

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Missing from the Saint John lineup was Simon Despres who played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in yesterday’s pre-season game in Detroit. Also, captain Mike Thomas is still away at AHL Oklahoma City Barons training camp.

Rookie Guillaume Cloutier was a healthy scratch.

UPSET CITY
The Saint John Sea Dogs were not supposed to lose this game. No matter what pre-season predications stated, the Sea Dogs are simply a better team than the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

But it didn’t look like that on Sunday afternoon as the Eagles scored two late goals in a 2-1 win over the Sea Dogs at Centre 200.

"We were cheating the whole game,'' Saint John associate coach and hockey operations director Mike Kelly said to the Telegraph-Journal. "We weren't doing the things that are necessary (to win).

"We wanted to play an easy game and until we learn that you have to play an honest game, it's going to come back and bite you. Skill doesn't matter if it's not going to work and compete. Our guys have to decide if they want to win.''

The Sea Dogs’ “cheating” ways allowed the Eagles to keep up with them all game and even outplay at times.

After a scoreless first period, the second period didn’t get much better with yet another scoreless frame. Both teams had eight shots in each period.

In the third, a Gabriel Bourret point shot was tipped by Zach Phillips and in to make it 1-0 Saint John on the power play. But at 14:43, Logan Shaw tied the game with a one timer down low that beat Frederic Piche in the Sea Dogs goal.

But just as it looked like the game was heading to overtime, a weak Kevin Gagne clearing attempt was kept in at the line. Viktor Hertzberg capitalized by scoring a bizarre goal from a bouncing puck to win the game for Cape Breton.

“I got it, it became three-against-one, and I went to the net,” said Hertzberg to the Cape Breton Post, adding he didn’t see the puck trickle in. “I don’t know how it bounced in. It bounced off something but I don’t know what. I was hoping it didn’t hit a skate or something.”

The goal went under a brief review to see if it was kicked in but the goal would stand.

WHAT?
Although the Sea Dogs are not very deserving of a BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 ranking this week, the Screaming Eagles Facebook and Twitter page made it, apparently, official.

With a 2-1 home win on Sunday afternoon, the Screaming Eagles have bumped Saint John from the CHL's Top 10 rankings.

The rankings are not officially released until Wednesday of each week. We have no idea what is going on here.

EAGLES FINALLY GET HOME WIN
With the win, Cape Breton earned their first home victory in three tries this season.

“It’s the first win at home,” said Screaming Eagles head coach and general manager Mario Durocher to the CB Post. “If you look at our record, we’re 3-6. I think we should have a better record than that. We played a lot of games like that that we lost.”

ROUGH ROAD TRIP
The Sea Dogs ended a stretch of five straight road games on Sunday, a stretch that took three weekends to complete. They finish their trek with a 2-2-0-1 record.

Wins came in PEI and Halifax, loses in Montreal and Cape Breton, and the one shootout loss in Drummondville.

Although most teams aim to have a .500 winning percentage on the road, it was not a satisfying trip to opposing rinks. The Sea Dogs walked over the PEI Rocket before losing in Montreal, blowing a 5-1 lead and losing against the Voltigeurs, fell behind 2-0 in Halifax before coming back to win, and then yesterday’s display in Cape Breton.

CONTROVERSY
The tying goal scored by Logan Shaw in the third period didn’t come without some controversy.

Prior to the goal at the other end of the ice, Jonathan Huberdeau had a glorious scoring opportunity but had his shot stopped by a combination of Francois Lacerte and a platoon of falling bodies in the crease area. One of those falling included Eagle Stephen Woodworth taking down Michael Kirkpatrick. It looked like an obvious penalty, especially given that the puck – at the time – was not around Kirkpatrick.

But there was no call, and on the next rush, Shaw tied the game at 1-1.

Following the goal and some screaming at the Saint John bench, the officials huddled at center ice to discuss the situation but nothing came out of it.

CAPE BRETON HURTIN’
To make the loss even harder for Saint John to take, the Screaming Eagles were without three of their best players.

Cory MacIntosh and Stephen Horyl were both out and Taylor MacDougall was hurt early in the first period and did not return. MacDougall took a hit along the sideboards and immediately headed for the bench, not even stopping to pick up his stick.

“Taylor MacDougall joins Stephen Horyl on the injured list in Cape Breton,” tweeted the Chronicle Herald’s Willy Palov today. “Both have 'upper body injuries' and will be out at least a week.”

TURK THE MAGICIAN
According to News 88.9's Tim Roszell, Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant has been battling the flu bug this weekend. Roszell reported that in the second period of yesterday’s game, ‘Turk’ did not appear on the Sea Dogs bench for an unknown reason.

Gallant returned to his usual location in the third period.

OUT OF TOWN
From The Canadian Press:

Elsewhere in the QMJHL it was Halifax 6 P.E.I. 1, Bathurst 4 Baie-Comeau 3, Quebec 5 Moncton 4 (SO), Montreal 7 Victoriaville 4, Shawinigan 3 Drummondville 2 (OT), Gatineau 4 Rimouski 2 and Lewiston 5 Val-d'Or 4 (OT).

QUICK HITS
Fire safety dog performed the ceremonial puck drop… on the boards in front of the Screaming Eagles bench is an ad for the 2012 Memorial Cup… the QMJHL website did not add Logan Shaw’s goal or game played to his season stats for some reason. He is believed to have scored his fourth of the year yesterday in his ninth contest… in the late stages of the second period, a Saint John goal was waved off after it was ruled that Stanislav Galiev had kicked it in… referee Jeff Hopkins tweeted before the game that he ate at Boston Pizza… this was Saint John’s first interdivisional loss of the 2010-11 campaign… the Sea Dogs started the game with the same line combinations as they did in Friday’s shootout win in Halifax.

NEXT GAME
Game one of the 2010-11 Brunswick News Rivalry Cup will be held this Friday at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station.

Photo Credit: SaintJohnSeaDogs.com