Friday, October 22, 2010

PRE-GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Acadie-Bathurst Titan

GAME DAY

WHO: Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs Saint John Sea Dogs
WHEN: Tonight, 7:30 pm
WHERE: KC Irving Regional Centre

VISITING TEAM: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 10-2-0-1 (2nd in Maritimes Division)
Last Game: 4-2 win vs Victoriaville Sunday
Leading Scorer: Jonathan Huberdeau (13GP-9G-8A-17Pts)
Notes: At 10-2-0-1, the Saint John Sea Dogs sit in second place in the Maritimes Division, fourth overall in the QMJHL, and were ranked eighth on this week’s BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings… Saint John is coming off a 5-0-0-0 homestand that saw the club defeat Moncton, Montreal, Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda, and Victoriaville… Stephen MacAulay scored a pair while Stanislav Galiev and Jonathan Huberdeau added singles in the Sea Dogs’ 4-2 win over the Victoriaville Tigres on Sunday. Frederic Piche made 17 saves in net to pick up the victory… the Sea Dogs are winners of five straight entering this evenings contest and are 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 games… in the past two games, Saint John has allowed only three shots on goal in the first period in each. But the Sea Dogs have struggled with consistency of late and have been unable to keep the dominance going for a full 60 minutes. They look to change that tonight… Jacob DeSerres will likely get his first taste of a QMJHL road game in Bathurst. The goaltender, who was picked up by Saint John off waivers two weeks ago, has only made one start, a 2-0 shutout win over Rouyn-Noranda ast Saturday where he was barely tested. Bathurst should give him his first test this evening… Tomas Jurco has still not taken a penalty this season… Stanislav Galiev has been hot of late. He enters the game having scored a goal in each of his past three matches and four in his last five… Steven Anthony is expected to return to the Sea Dogs lineup tonight after missing Sunday’s game with flu like problems… Jonathan Huberdeau continues to lead the team in points with 17 in 13 games. He also leads the team in the plus/minus category with a +12 rating and his tied with Tomas Jurco for the team lead in goals with nine… Michael Kirkpatrick leads the team with 12 assists.

HOME TEAM: Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Record: 10-5-0-0 (3rd in Maritimes Division)
Last Game: 3-2 loss at Halifax Tuesday
Leading Scorer: Gabriel Levesque (15GP-7G-17A-24Pts)
Notes: The Acadie-Bathurst Titan currently sit third in the Maritimes Division with a 10-5-0-0 record. They are sixth overall in the QMHJL and were an honourable mention in the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings this week… the Titan are 6-4-0-0 in their last 10 games and have lost two straight… Bathurst’s losing streak began last Sunday with a brutal 8-1 home loss against the Rimouski Oceanic who were on the tail end of a long road swing through Atlantic Canada. On Tuesday, Bathurst fell 3-2 in Halifax. Vincent Arseneau and Sebastien Payette scored for the Titan while Olivier Roy allowed three goals on 27 shots. The Mooseheads scored the game winning goal with four seconds remaining in the third period… Bathurst has the second best penalty kills in the league with a rating of 0.852%... Gabriel Levesque leads the Titan in points with 24 and assists with 17. His totals are good for sixth in league scoring and fourth among assists leaders… the Titan have been struggling at the KC Irving Regional Centre this season. They are just 3-2 at home and have been outscored 22-15 along the way with their most recent loss being the 8-1 blowout against Rimouski… Sebastien Trudeau leads Bathurst in goals with eight… Sebastien Payette is a team worst -8 while Gabriel Levesque is a team best +4… not surprisingly, pest Vincent Arseneau leads the Titan in penalty minutes with 29 in just 15 games. Christopher Losier is a close second with 28 penalty minutes… all-star goaltender Olivier Roy should get the call between the pipes tonight. The Edmonton Oilers prospect, who will play in the Subway Super Series this November at Harbour Station, had his struggles against the Sea Dogs last season at times. This year, the netminder has a record of 4-3-0-0, a goals against average of 2.64, and a save percentage of 0.913%.

SUSPENDED
Jonathan Lessard lost his mind last Sunday, cross checking Rimouski Oceanic forward Alex Belzile into the boards.



He was suspended for four games following the play and served the first game on Tuesday. Lessard led the Titan in scoring last season and has six goals and five assists this season in 12 matches.

"I thought that was a pretty selfish penalty on his part," said now-former Titan head coach Ron Choules of Lessard's actions that resulted in a five-minute major and a game misconduct to the Telegraph-Journal. "His man scored a goal and he took it out on him. We play hard-nosed hockey but we don't take cheap shots. I thought that was uncalled for and a cheap shot on Jo's part."

CHOULES IS GONE
As reported yesterday, the Titan have fired head coach Ron Choules. Assistant coach Eric Dubois will be coaching the Titan on an intern basis.

"There were 24 players there waiting for me," Choules said to the Telegraph-Journal about his departure. "To me that says it all. There was a lot of tears. A lot of hugs."

The last time Bathurst made a coaching change mid-season the club made it to the President’s Cup quarter-finals.

LAST SEASON
From the Sea Dogs website:

The Sea Dogs won all eight of their matchups with the Titan in 2009-10, outscoring their regional adversaries 47-19 in the process. Michael Kirkpatrick (7GP-7G-6A-13P), Stanislav Galiev (8GP-3G-8A-11P), Nathan Beaulieu (8GP-1G-10A-11P), Simon Després (7GP-3G-4A-7P), and Kevin Gagné (7GP-1G-6A-7P) all averaged a point-per-game or better versus Acadie-Bathurst last year.
FUN FACTS
  • John Moore Video: Olivier Roy on Team Canada, the Titan, and him just being an overall great human being.
  • The Titan’s leading scorer, Gabriel Levesque, was acquired an off-season deal with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
  • This is the first time the provincial rivals will clash this season.
  • Bathurst’s website has not been updated since August.
ARENA INFO
Venue: KC Irving Regional Centre
Seating Capacity: 3,524
Year Built: 1996
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’Acadie Nouvelle

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 travel to Moose Country on Saturday night to face the Herd at 7:00 pm.

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