SEA DOGS – WILDCATS GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Moncton 0, Saint John 4
Saint John Goals: Jonathan Huberdeau (25), Steven Anthony (13), Zack Phillips (26), and Kevin Gagne (6)
Moncton Goals: None
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Jacob DeSerres
Losing Goaltender: MON – Shane Owen
New 88.9 Top Dog: Guillaume Cloutier
Dickies Hardest Working Player: Pierre Durepos
THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Wildcats: 0/2, Sea Dogs: 1/5
Shots on Goal: Wildcats: 8+13+7=28, Sea Dogs: 16+16+15=47
Length: 2:27
Attendance: 6,488
SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Simon Despres continues to play with Team Canada and Tomas Jurco continues to play for Team Slovakia at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo and were not available for this game. Both players were in action yesterday.
Forward Scott Oke was the other Saint John scratch.
SEA DOGS SHUTOUT WILDCATS
Jacob DeSerres made some key saves in a 4-0 shutout victory over the Moncton Wildcats last night at Harbour Station in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action, giving the Saint John Sea Dogs a win to close out 2010.
It was a bit of a tentative start for both clubs, but the Sea Dogs ship slowly gained some steam and had control for most of the match.
"It was a good game at times and it got pretty sloppy at times," said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant to the Times & Transcript. "Moncton is a competitive team that works hard. They did a lot of banging and bumping and they played a hard game. It was a closer game than 4-0, no doubt about that.”
Jonathan Huberdeau opened the scoring at 10:10 by making a beautiful inside-out move around Moncton defender Alex MacDonald, eventually beating Wildcats ‘tender Shane Owen with a low wrist shot.
Steven Anthony made it a 2-0 game at 13:35, one of 16 shots by the Sea Dogs in the opening frame.
The Wildcats would have their chances in the second period, but DeSerres made some big saves to keep the momentum going in the Sea Dogs’ favour.
"They came out strong in the second period and we were on our heels a little bit,” said Gallant. “They had some good scoring chances. DeSerres made two unbelievable saves when it was 2-0. Moncton was missing some key players tonight, but they worked hard and made it a competitive game. Even though we had 47 shots, I don't think we had a lot of great scoring chances."
In the third, Zack Phillips scored on a power play breakaway at 3:55. Then, Kevin Gagne scored on a long shot range wrists shot at 9:04 to make it a 4-0 final.
RIVALRY CUP UPDATE
With the win, Saint John picked up three more points in the 2010-11 Brunswick News Rivalry Cup standings. The Sea Dogs also gained three additional points by having a crowd of over 6,000 at Harbour Station.
The Sea Dogs are now blowing out the Wildcats in the season long challenge, leading 14-2 with five meetings to go. Thier next meeting goes tomorrow afternoon at the Moncton Coliseum and “there were 4,500 tickets sold as of late yesterday afternoon and the building has a capacity of 6,803,” reports the Times & Transcript today.
For more on the challenge, visit the SN Rivalry Cup page.
STREAKING
With the victory, the Sea Dogs improved to an unreal 18-0-0-1 on Harbour Station ice this season, earning 37 of a possible 38 points at home this season. They have outscored their opposition 98-38 this year.
Moncton is on a streak of their own; and it is one that is going in the wrong direction. The injury bitten ‘Cats have now lost four straight and have been shutout twice over that span.
TAKING OVER
After years of struggling against Moncton, the Sea Dogs are now 3-0-0-0 against the Wildcats and have outscored their provincial rivals 19-9.
"We don't take them lightly," said Gallant to the Moncton newspaper about the Wildcats.
"It's a rivalry obviously and it doesn't matter who's in their lineup and who's in our lineup. You always know it's going to be a competitive game and the guys on both teams are going to work hard.”
Tomorrow will be the first time the Dogs visit Moncton since the ‘Meltdown in Wildtown’ earlier this season when the visitors took a rare 9-7 win.
DeSERRES ON HIS GAME
Although the QMJHL website lists only nine of the Wildcats’ shots being dangerous, Sea Dogs goaltender Jacob DeSerrres made some solid, and timely stops to insure a Saint John victory. DeSerres also played well Thursday night in Bathurst after Frederic Piche was pulled in the second period.
The 20-year old goaltender still has not started two straight games this season. After a few shaky starts to his season, DeSerres has some great numbers and now has three shutouts on the year.
With the QMJHL trade period closing Thursday and some rumors already going around (Mastropietro rumour and Ouellette rumour, featured in previous posts) about some kind of goaltending switch, things could get interesting.
BIG GAME ON THE BIG SCREEN
With Canada playing at the World Junior Hockey Championships, Harbour Station pleased everyone (except for those crazies who believe they can attend another hockey game without discovering the score of a related game) by putting the game on the new video screen.
The crowd roared when Canada scored in the third and placed blank stares on their faces when Sweden tied it. The feed was lost for a few moments but quickly came back before riots broke out.
If the game in Buffalo ended in regulation, it would have been perfect timing for pre-game festivities at Harbour Station. Instead, split screen on the big screen was forced to take place. During those pre-game festivities, a moment of silence was taking place with the only noise in the building being a low pitched version of Gord Miller’s play-by-play.
Two good fights took place in this game. The first featured a spirited bout between Mike Thomas and Olivier Daoust. Then, two heavyweights dropped the gloves in Alexandre Beauregard and Tyler Howe. Both landed some big blows with Howe appearing to make the better contact.
Beauregard made a good impression in his home debut with the scrap. He had three shots to go along with the fight. The 19-year old also had a visible presence in front of the net.
We are hoping to have videos later.
NOTES
There was a pre-game ceremony honouring some of the top moments in Saint John sports history, revolving around the Saint John 225 festivities… Danick Gauthier, who left Thursday’s game and did not return, played in this match with a full cage on his helmet… Jonathan Huberdeau tied Zack Phillips’ team lead in goals with 25 with a marker in the first period. Then, Phillips scored his 26th goal of the year in the third. He is now third in league goal scoring… there were loud cheers when the new non-smoking rules at Harbour Station were announced over the PA… it was the first sell-out of the season at Harbour Station and the first since last year’s President’s Cup Final… Michael Kirkpatrick led the Sea Dogs in shots on goal with six… Guillaume Cloutier and Kevin Gagne were a team best +3… defenseman Daniel Milan had a team high five shots for the Wildcats… to relive the game, check out the SN Live Blog.
NEXT GAME
Game Four of the 2010-11 Brunswick News Rivalry Cup is tomorrow at 2:00 pm at the Moncton Coliseum.
Photo Credits: David Connell Web Album
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