Tuesday, October 12, 2010

PRE-GAME: Rimouski Oceanic vs Saint John Sea Dogs

GAME DAY

WHO: Rimouski Oceanic vs Saint John Sea Dogs
WHEN: Tonight, 7:00 pm
WHERE: Harbour Station

VISITING TEAM: Rimouski Oceanic
Record: 7-4-0-0 (2nd in Telus East Division)
Last Game: 6-3 win vs Shawinigan on Friday
Leading Scorers: Felix Lefrancois (8GP-5G-8A-14Pts) and Ryan Kavanagh (10GP-3G-11A-14Pts)
Notes: The Rimouski Oceanic are coming off a 6-3 home win over the Shawinigan Cataractes on Friday night. Charles Antoine-Roy, Patrick Delisle-Houde, Jarrad Struthers, Jerome Gauthier-Leduc, Alexandre Mallet, and Jakub Culek all scored for Rimouski in the win. Philippe Tremblay stopped 26 shots to pick up the win in goal… at 7-4-0-0, the Oceanic sit second in Telus East Division behind the undefeated (in regulation) Quebec Remparts. Rimouski places seventh overall in the 18-team Quebec league circuit… on the road this season, the Oceanic are 2-1-0-0 and have been outscored 14-11 along the way. Their three road games are the fewest in the league… Felix Lefrancois and Ryan Kavanagh lead the Oceanic in points with 14. Kavanagh, a defenseman, also leads the team in assists with 11… Lefrancois, Jarrad Struthers, and Michael Beadry lead Rimouski in goals with five each… Philippe Tremblay has played the majority of time in the Rimouski net this season. He has a record of 4-3-0-0, a 0.879 save percentage, and a 3.99 goals against average… Kavanagh is fifth in the league in shots taken with 44, tying him with Montreal Canadiens prospect Louis Leblanc… the Oceanic have won two straight and are 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 games.

GREAT BIG ROAD TRIP
While the Sea Dogs are in the middle of a five game homestand, the Rimouski Oceanic are kicking off a massive road trip through Atlantic Canada. After tonight’s game, they travel to Halifax to face the Mooseheads tomorrow night. Then they to head to Cape Breton for a Friday night game before wrapping things up in Bathurst on Sunday afternoon.

LOTS OF ALUMNI
The Oceanic have had some of the biggest names in QMJHL history to play for them.

The team’s notables over the years include: Nick Sanza, Rick Vaive, Ghislain Delage, Paul Boutilier, Georges Laraque, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Sidney Crosby.

HOME TEAM: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 7-2-0-1 (3rd in Maritimes Division)
Last Game: 5-2 win vs Montreal on Saturday
Leading Scorer: Tomas Jurco (10GP-9G-5A-14Pts) and Jonathan Huberdeau (10GP-8G-6A-14Pts)
Notes: Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice while Stephen MacAulay, Zach Phillips, and Tomas Jurco added singles in Saint John's 5-2 victory over the Montreal Juniors on Sunday afternoon at Harbour Station. Steven Anthony and Mike Thomas added two assists and Frederic Piche picked up the win in goal. The Dogs played very well on the weekend and will look for that to carry over into this evenings game… the Sea Dogs are 5-0-0-0 on Harbour Station this year and have dominated on home ice this season. The club is outscoring their opponents 29-12 and averaging just under six goals per home game… entering tonight’s game, Saint John sits third in the Maritimes Division and fifth overall in the QMJHL. They have, however, played three fewer games than the league leading Drummondville Voltigeurs and two less than the division leading Acadie-Bathurst Titan… the Sea Dogs’ power play has been clicking at Harbour Station this season. Overall, they have a 0.263 power play percentage at home (fifth in the QMJHL at home). The Sea Dogs went 2/4 on Sunday against the Juniors… Tomas Jurco continues to lead the Sea Dogs in goals with nine and is tied with Jonathan Huberdeau for the team points lead with 14… Michael Kirkpatrick leads Saint John in assists with nine. The 20-year old has only two goals on the season but has had some excellent scoring chances over the past few games… three of Saint John’s big offensive guns – Jurco, Zach Phillips, and Stanislav Galiev have yet to amass any time in the penalty box this season… Galiev is a team worst -5 while Ryan Tesink is a best +11. Tesink’s +11 is good for fifth in the league… Phillips’ four power play goals place him fourth in the league in the category… no active Sea Dog player has fought more than once this season according to HockeyFights.com. The team has only dropped the gloves seven times this season which is fifth last in the league.

LAST SEASON
From the Sea Dogs website:

Saint John swept the season series between these two teams last year, outscoring Rimouski 9-3 in laying claim to a pair of victories. The Sea Dogs were 4-for-12 (33.3%) on the power play in head-to-head games with the Oceanic in 2009-10 and 9-for-11 (81.8%) on the penalty kill.
TOONIE TUESDAY
Designated 'Toonie Tuesday', special $2 youth tickets are available for this match with the purchase of an adult seat at the arena box office.

ERROR
Just spotted an error in the last Sea Dogs pre-game on Sunday. It stated that Saint John was the last team to play 10 games this season when in fact the Quebec Remparts have still only played nine. The incorrect numbers were on the never-reliable QMJHL website last weekend.

ARENA INFO
Venue: Harbour Station
Seating Capacity: 6,297
Year Built: 1993
QMJHL Arena Guide


MEDIA GUIDE
Radio (Sea Dogs): News 88.9 FM
Live Web Feed: Telus
Television: None
Live Blog: Station Nation
Post-Game Coverage: Station Nation, Telegraph-Journal, L’Avantage

TWITTER
Follow Station Nation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for in-game updates, scores, stats, and live coverage during tonight’s game.

AFTER THE BUZZER
The Sea Dogs take on the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies Saturday night at 7:00 pm at Harbour Station.

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