SEA DOGS – MOOSEHEADS GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Saint John 5, Halifax 3
Saint John Goals: Tomas Jurco (10), Stanislav Galiev (5), Danick Gauthier (2), Zach Phillips (8), and Jonathan Huberdeau (10)
Halifax Goals: Andrew Ryan (4), Carl Gelinas (8), and Brent Andrews (6)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Frederic Piche
Losing Goaltender: HAL – Anthony Terenzio
News 88.9 Top Dog: Simon Despres
THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Mooseheads: 2/6, Saint John: 0/4
Shots on Goal: Mooseheads: 9+13+10=32, Sea Dogs: 17+14+13=44
Length: 2:24
Attendance: 4,980
SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant made a statement by scratching second year defenseman Gabriel Bourret. News 88.9 said that it was a “coach’s decision.” Rookies Guillaume Cloutier and Tyrone Sock filled the void on the backend.
Aidan Kelly, who had a strong game Friday in Bathurst, was the other healthy scratch. Jason Cameron was inserted into the lineup.
A BETTER PERFORMANCE
After a not so solid night in Bathurst the night prior, the Saint John Sea Dogs bounced back with a 5-3 win over the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday night at the Metro Centre.
It was a better match for the Sea Dogs who struggled all around in Friday’s 5-1 road loss to the Titan. The offense clicked, the defensive coverage was much improved, and goaltender Frederic Piche came up huge when called upon.
"Saint John is a strong team," said Mooseheads forward Matthew Boudreau to the Chronicle Herald.
"They’ve got three good lines that can score and the fourth line is pretty good, too. We had to come out hard tonight but we gave up some (weak) goals at the beginning of the first period. That made it hard."
The first of those “weak” first period goals came at 7:31 when Guillaume Cloutier fired a point shot. Herd goaltender Anthony Terenzio made the stop but could not control the rebound, allowing Tomas Jurco to bat the puck by him to make it a 1-0 game.
With the referee’s arm up and the Sea Dogs about to go to the power play, Stanislav Galiev found the puck in close and found on open hole to make it a 2-0 Sea Dogs lead at 9:06.
The Mooseheads began their climb back in the second period as Andrew Ryan scored 57 seconds in to cut Saint John’s lead to one. But the Sea Dogs would respond just under two minutes later when Danick Gauthier sent a backhand shot past Terenzio on yet another delayed penalty call to get the Sea Dogs’ two goal lead back.
But Halifax would not go away. On a two man advantage to start the third period, Carl Gelinas beat Piche 45 seconds in to get the Moose back within one.
But Saint John would respond once again. Pierre Durepos sent a magnificent pass from just inside the line down low to Zach Phillips who was parked at the side of the net. Phillips just got enough on the shot to wire it by the glove of Terenzio and make it a 4-2 game in favour of the visitors.
Halifax struck again at 14:06 with Stanislav Galiev in the box as Brent Andrews jammed the puck by Piche in the crease. But the Sea Dogs would put it away at 16:05 when Jonathan Huberdeau beat Terenzio five-hole, making it a 5-3 final.
"It was a soft one, but here's a kid who came in and played extremely well and kept us in there and made some big saves," said Mooseheads assistant coach Jason Troini to News 95.7 about Huberdeau’s late goal. "If you take that fifth goal away there's not much else he did wrong, he gives us the opportunity to win every night."
“We battled hard tonight … but we’ve got to generate more shots if we want to get more goals,” Ryan said to Metro Halifax. “Right now, we’ve got to get more shots and keep driving the net hard.”
Saint John’s two goal lead in the first period would turn out to be huge as the Mooseheads kept chipping away at it but could never tie. It took the Sea Dogs 1:59 to respond to Halifax’s first goal, just under seven minutes for the second, and 1:59 again for the third.
“That’s always frustrating,” said Ryan, of the Sea Dogs’ quick-strike responses, to Metro Halifax. “You try to stay positive on the bench and hope you can keep battling and get back into it.
THE MOOSE HUNTERS
With the win, the Sea Dogs are now a perfect 3-0-0-0 against Halifax this season and have outscored the Mooseheads 14-8 in the process. Two of Saint John’s three road wins have been at the Metro Centre.
Meetings between the two teams indicate that there is a bit of rivalry being created. It was seen later on in last night’s game as scrums after whistles became a common occurrence. As mentioned by just everybody following the game last night, these two clubs just don’t seem to like each other.
THE HUB
Jonathan Huberdeau has been a tear against Halifax this season. He has scored in all three games against the Mooseheads and scored the shootout in one.
His agent Allen Walsh was pleased with his performance last night. From Walsh’s Twitter:
Prospect alert: Saint John forward (and client) Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and was +4 tonight. He is a top draft eligible prospect.Walsh represents several top players in the National Hockey League and is mostly known around the Twitterverse for his work with St. Louis Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak.
BETTER DEFENSE
As mentioned, Saint John’s defense was much improved last night. Only defenseman Kevin Gagne had a minus rating (-1) in the game.
Before the match, Mooseheads play-by-play man John Moore tweeted that Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant called his team’s defense in Bathurst “pathetic.”
Sea Dogs CEO Scott McCain took in the game at the Metro Centre Saturday. Apparently it’s his daughter’s birthday or something.
He went on News 95.7 during the second intermission for an interview with John Moore and had an interesting discussion about Saint John’s 2012 Memorial Cup bid. McCain said that he and the rest of Sea Dogs management are a bit concerned about the New Brunswick economy and still are not 100% certain on their intentions to host the national tournament. Obviously, the team is doing financial analyses and all that good stuff to ensure that hosting the weeklong event is financially viable.
From a QMJHL press release on August 29, “a brief which underlines the ability of bidding franchises to host the event must then be forwarded to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s head office prior to November 30th, 2010.”
McCain was also asked if he would ever step behind the Sea Dogs bench like Mooseheads majority owner Bobby Smith did. He laughed and said that he would never do that.
CLOCK FAIL
As the third period started, the Metro Centre score-clock did not. The worst part of all was that the Mooseheads were on a lengthy two man power play and then scored a goal on it. It was the time keeper’s worst nightmare.
It took a few minutes to fix, but it was determined that the goal took place 45 seconds into the frame.
QUICK HITS
There were a few guys wearing body suits at the game… Tomas Jurco and Jonathan Huberdeau both reached the 10 goal mark last night… new Mooseheads coach Bobby Smith is now 1-2-0-0 since taking over the team last week… two of the three Sea Dogs road wins have come at the Metro Centre this season. They are now 3-3-0-1 on the road this season… Frederic Piche continues to play very well in net. Will this goaltending rotation ever end?... Kevin Gagne left the game in the second period after taking a Martin Frk shot in the side of the head. He would return later on… it was weird to see two goals scored on delayed penalties… the penalty box cameras at the Metro Centre are sweet… from Metro Halifax, the Mooseheads scratches were “defenceman Steve Gillard (back) and forwards Luca Ciampini (concussion) and Gabriel Desjardins (undisclosed) sat out with injuries, while blueliner Jamie Bishop was a healthy scratch”… to relive the game, check out the SN Live Blog replay.
NEXT GAME
One of the toughest road trips of the season kicks off Wednesday night in Val-d’Or when the Sea Dogs take on the Foreurs at 8:30 pm. Saint John plays Val-d’Or again Friday and then travels to Rouyn-Noranda to face the Huskies on Saturday and Sunday.
Photo Credits: The Chronicle Herald, Google, Maple Leaf Foods
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