FINAL: Remparts 0, Sea Dogs 6
SAINT JOHN – The most anticipated match of the young season ended in an unexpected way.
Four first period goals propelled the Saint John Sea Dogs to a rather easy 6-0 victory over the Quebec Remparts on Sunday afternoon afternoon at Harbour Station in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
The Sea Dogs jumped out to an early lead and never looked book, dominating the Remparts who were the #3 team in the country in this week’s BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings.
Tomas Jurco, Stanislav Galiev, Pierre Durepos, Jonathan Huberdeau, Mike Thomas, and Stephen MacAulay all scored for the winners. Defenseman Gabriel Bourret picked up his second straight first star honor with four assists.
Goaltender Jacob DeSerres, returning from a groin injury, was not tested too much. He made 22 saves to earn his second Sea Dogs shutout.
The Remparts looked a bit gassed as the game grew older. The team was playing their third game in three days. Louis Domingue was pulled after allowing six goals on 13 shots. Jimmy Appleby made 20 saves in relief.
FIRST PERIOD
Tomas Jurco had a good chance early when he one-timed the puck in front but Louis Domingue was there to make the save.
The Remparts would put their league best power play to work at 2:16 when Michael Kirkpatrick was called for tripping. Martin Lefebvre had the best chance when he tried to release a backhand shot in close, but Sea Dogs goaltender Jacob DeSerres made a unique play by coming out of his crease a bit to deny a shot.
Now back at even strength, the Sea Dogs offense went back to work. Zach Phillips sent a pass to a streaking Jurco but couldn’t get a shot off. Then, a Kirkpatrick point shot produced a rebound but Jonathan Huberdeau was stoned in front by the Remparts netminder.
With Tomas Filippi in the box for Quebec, Saint John opened the scoring. Gabriel Bourret sent a pass to Jurco who was a sitting at the dot. Jurco fired a low wrist shot that went through a Huberdeau screen and past Domingue to make it 1-0 at 10:36.
Saint John doubled their lead at 13:07 when Steven Anthony skated down the wing and then passed back to Stanislav Galiev. The Russian made quick work of the pass, wristing a shot blocker side that went by Domingue to make it a 2-0 game.
The Dogs weren’t done there. At 15:02, Kirkpatrick dropped the puck for Pierre Durepos who let a blast go from inside the line that went top shelf to give the home team a 3-0 lead.
It became unreal at 16:05 as Saint John made it 4-0. Some miscommunication by the Remparts defense allowed the Dogs to have a two-on-none opportunity. Jurco picked it up along the boards and centered for Huberdeau. The 18-year old made a sick move around Domingue and unleashed a backhand shot to give the Dogs four goals in the opening frame.
With Jimmy Appleby now in the Quebec crease, Saint John would have a late power play and would put on some good pressure but could not extend their lead.
Shots in the opening period were 15-6 Saint John.
SECOND PERIOD
Joel Champagne had a good opportunity early on when a relased a shot in close but DeSerres was there to put a pad on it.
Saint John made it a 5-0 game at 6:35 when Mike Thomas did some work in the crease and roofed a shot past Appleby to extend his teams lead.
Saint John would go to the penalty kill at 9:22 when Ryan Tesink was called for tripping. But the league's best power play didn’t look all that hot and couldn’t get anything going.
A little while later and the penalty long over, the third line went back to work. Thomas let a strong point shot go that just went wide of the crease. Then MacAulay had his shot stopped through traffic.
The line would finally be rewarded at 15:31 when MacAulay performed a wraparound and finished it off beautifully with a forehand shot to make it half-a-dozen goals for Saint John.
The Remparts had about 10 seconds of pressure late when Ryan Bourque let a shot go that fooled DeSerres a bit. The puck hit the goaltenders arm and trickled through the blue paint and out.
After the buzzer sounded, Remparts captain Mikael Tam started throwing the fists at Simon Despres. The Sea Dogs defenseman looked ready to go but two of the officials would have none of it and got between the two. Tam would pick up the extra penalty on the play.
Shots in the middle frame were 12-9 Sea Dogs.
THIRD PERIOD
Just 39 seconds in, MacAulay was called for high sticking making for some four-on-four action. The best scoring chance came when a pass from the corner came in front for Bourret but he couldn’t connect.
Call-up Girard Mathieu made his presence known moments later when he rocked Phillips with a hard hit along the side boards. The Remparts started to gain some stem when Mirko Hoefflin centered for Olivier Hinse but he had his stick lifted.
With Nathan Beaulieu in the box at 9:01, DeSerres made his best stop of the game on Hinse when he had an open cage but was robbed by the arm of the Saint John goaltender.
With the penalty over, Danick Gauthier tried to feed Huberdeau on a partial two-on-one play but was stopped. Then on yet another Saint John power play, Durepos let a laser go from the blue line but hit the bottom of the post.
On another power play for the Dogs at 16:39, a shot from the circle was beautifully tipped by Guillaume Cloutier in front but was denied by Appleby. The power play ended short as Beaulieu was called for tripping at 17:39. Quebec’s best chance came when Bourque missed a pass in front on the doorstep.
With 18 seconds to go, Matthew Brown showed some frustrations when he nailed MacAulay in the corner from behind. But Saint John would stay away from the rough stuff and go on to win 6-0.
Shots in the third were 8-7 Saint John.
The Sea Dogs went 1/6 of the power play while the Remparts went 0/5.
NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Bathurst on Saturday to face the Titan for the second time in a week.
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