FINAL: Sea Dogs 2, MAINEiacs 5
LEWISTON, Maine – All good things must come to an end, and for the Saint John Sea Dogs, that night was tonight.
The Lewiston Maineiacs put in a solid performance led by goaltender Nicholas Champion, defeating the Sea Dogs 5-2 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Friday.
With the loss, Saint John’s winning streak comes to a close at 10 games. With the win, Lewiston ended a four game losing skid. The Sea Dogs had not lost a regulation game since October 22 while Lewiston picked up their first win in the month of December.
The story of the night was Maineiacs goaltender Nicholas Champion – who proved worthy of his last name on this night. It wasn’t necessarily the fact that he made a lot of saves that guided the home team to victory, but he made very timely stops that kept momentum going in Lewiston’s favour. He even picked up an assist in the match.
Lewiston played a very solid game and was worthy of the win. Scoring for the winners were Antoine Houde-Caron, Olivier Dame-Malka, Samuel Henley, Etienne Brodeur, and Michael Chaput.
Saint John, who has been a bit lackluster over their past three games, outshot Lewiston 46-36. Simon Despres and Jonathan Huberdeau scored for the Dogs. Frederic Piche made 31 stops in net.
FIRST PERIOD
The Maineiacs had the first good chance following a Kevin Gagne turnover. A Lewiston player let a quick shot go that forced Sea Dogs goaltender Frederic Piche to make a nice save.
Following a few minutes of back-and-forth play and both teams carrying some pressure, Stephen MacAulay centered the disc from behind the net for Aidan Kelly but he had his stick held up at the last minute.
The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 6:45 after Pierre-Olivier Morin was called on an iffy trip. But Lewiston’s solid penalty kill went to work, stopping any quality Saint John scoring chances from happening.
A few minutes later, Gabriel Bourret threaded a perfect pass to Stanislav Galiev who was parked beside the faceoff dot. The Russian had a wide open cage - and Lewiston netminder Nicholas Champion was nowhere in sight - but couldn’t get a good shot off.
Not long after, Huberdeau was alone at the side with an open cage but went wide. Then, Galiev got around a Lewiston defenseman and deked to the backhand, forcing Champion to make an unreal stop to keep it scoreless. After the save, play came up ice and Antoine Hude-Caron was sprung on a long breakaway. He beat Piche through the wickets with a wrist shot to make it a 1-0 game at 15:21.
Just over a minute later at 16:23, Olivier Dame-Malka let a point shot go through some traffic that beat Piche up high to double the home teams lead.
At 19:09, Tomas Jurco went down and Samuel Carrier went to the box.
Shots in the opening frame were 14-11 in favour of the Maineiacs.
SECOND PERIOD
On the power play that carried over into the second stanza, the Sea Dogs finally got on the board. Simon Despres skated around the zone about three times before a shot finally got on net. The Big Horse picked up his own rebound and went around the net, beating Champion at the other side to make it a 2-1 affair.
Galiev had a partial break after the goal but was being nagged by a Lewiston defenseman and couldn’t get a great shot on net. At the other end, Michael Chaput had a good chance for Lewiston in close but hit the glove of Piche.
Etienne Brodeur then had a short break for the Maineiacs but had a slash applied on him by Despres, giving Lewiston a power play. Lewiston’s best chance came when the puck was centered from along the boards to Brodeur in the slot who had his shot deflected high over the cage.
Saint John started to get pressure on following their penalty kill. Huberdeau had a breakaway but was stopped on his trademark move by Champion. Then fourth liners Jason Cameron and Scott Oke started to do some work on the crease but couldn’t jam one home. Shortly after Oke was robbed by Champion’s glove, the Lewiston netminder made a couple of great saves in close.
The Maineiacs took a 3-1 lead at 15:14. After some hard work behind the net by Lewiston, the puck came out in front. Samuel Henley found the disc and beat Piche from a sharp angle to give the home side a 3-1 advantage.
It became a 4-1 affair at 16:20 when the puck was centered to the leagues top sniper in Brodeur. He fired a long range shot that beat Piche cleanly to give the Maineiacs a three-goal lead after 40 minutes.
Shots in the middle period were 17-15 Saint John.
THIRD PERIOD
After about five minutes of nothing, Zach Phillips fired a point shot that caused a small rebound that was gobbled up by Champion.
At 8:18, Stefan Fournier high sticked Tomas Jurco in the grill, giving Saint John another power play opportunity. After the Sea Dogs called a timeout, the team couldn’t get a whole lot going on the man advantage as Lewiston shut them down.
With the power play over, the Sea Dogs made it a two goal affair. Phillips was able to fire the puck on net and Champion produced a rebound. Jonathan Huberdeau was at the side of the net and roofed the puck with the Maineiacs goaltender in no position to make a save at 11:03.
Jason Cameron was called for interference at 11:40, but the Maineiacs’ power play was nowhere to be found as the game remained 4-2.
But at 14:47, Lewiston got their three goal advantage back. An odd man break allowed a cross crease pass to find Chaput. He had an open net to make it a 5-2 game.
In the final minute, Matthew Bissonnette had a solid opportunity down low but was denied by Piche. That would be all as Lewiston went on to win, 5-2.
Shots in the third were 18-7 Saint John.
Saint John went 1/3 on the power play while Lewiston went 0/2.
THE NUMBERS
Saint John, Sea Dogs 2 at Lewiston, MAINEiacs 5 - Status Final
Friday, December 10, 2010 - Androscoggin Bank Colisée
Saint John 0 1 1 - 2
Lewiston 2 2 1 - 5
1st Game Period-1, Lewiston, Houde-Caron 7 (Beauvillier, Champion), 15:21. 2, Lewiston, Dame-Malka 10 (Morin, Brodeur), 16:23. Penalties-Morin Lew (tripping), 6:45; Carrier Lew (tripping), 19:09.
2nd Game Period-3, Saint John, Després 9 (Kirkpatrick), 0:35 (pp). 4, Lewiston, Henley 8 (Houde-Caron, Fournier), 15:14. 5, Lewiston, Brodeur 27 (Chaput), 16:20. Penalties-Després Snb (slashing), 5:30.
3rd Game Period-6, Saint John, Huberdeau 22 (Phillips, Gagné), 11:03. 7, Lewiston, Chaput 9 (Brodeur, Morin), 14:47. Penalties-Fournier Lew (high-sticking), 8:18; Cameron Snb (interference of a player or a goaltender), 11:40.
Shots on Goal-Saint John 46. Lewiston 36.
Power Play Opportunities-Saint John 1 of 3; Lewiston 0 of 2.
Goalies-Saint John, Piché 12-2-0-2 (36 shots-31 saves). Lewiston, Champion 19-5-0-1 (46 shots-44 saves).
A-2,007
Referees-Tim Hamel (19), André Dupuis (16).
Linesmen-Andrew Connors (66), Ross Welner (83).
NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Halifax Mooseheads Sunday afternoon at Harbour Station.
No comments:
Post a Comment