SEA DOGS – WILDCATS GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score (SO): Moncton 2, Saint John 3
Saint John Goals: Tomas Jurco (26) and Stanislav Galiev (25)
Moncton Goals: James Melindy (3) and Marek Hrivik
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Jacob DeSerres
Losing Goaltender: MON – Steve Gleeson
News 88.9 Top Dog: Eric Gelinas
THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Wildcats: 1/7, Sea Dogs: 0/5
Shots on Goal: Wildcats: 8+8+6+3=25, Sea Dogs: 9+15+12+3=39
Length: 2:39
Attendance: 6,488
SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Defenseman Kevin Gagne was injured in the first period of Friday’s win in Charlottetown after being checked into the boards by Philippe Paradis. Gagne missed yesterday’s game with an upper body injury.
Forward Alexandre Beauregard missed his fourth straight game with a lower body injury. Lastly, forward Scott Oke was a healthy scratch.
DOGS BEAT ‘CATS 3-2
The Saint John Sea Dogs were able to climb back on Sunday afternoon at Harbour Station and defeat the Moncton Wildcats 3-2 in a shootout.
The Wildcats held a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League contest and were playing solid. But Saint John turned it up a notch in the final frame and tied the match and eventually took it to a shootout.
"Moncton came in here and played their typical game,” said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant to the Times &Transcript. “They dumped pucks in, they forechecked hard and they put a lot of pressure on us. They didn't let us move the puck the way we're capable of moving it. Give credit to them. They came in here and played a heckuva game.
"I would say we were off our game some, but I thought Moncton competed hard and played a real solid game. I knew they would. They didn't want to get embarrassed again. I thought Gleeson was outstanding and made a lot of big saves."
The Wildcats opened the scoring at 12:05 of the opening period when James Melindy sent a shot from the point on goal and went upstairs on Sea Dogs goaltender Jacob DeSerres.
Moncton opened up a two-goal lead at 15:39 of the second period on a power play. DeSerres was able to stop Brandon Gormley’s point shot but Marek Hrivik was parked in front and sailed the disc over the arm of the goaltender to make it a 2-0 lead in favour of the visitors.
Finally, at 2:08 of the third, Tomas Jurco got Saint John on the board. A shot from the point hit something in front, allowing Jurco to slid the disc into the Wildcats’ cage. The Sea Dogs didn’t stop there as Stanislav Galiev tied the match with a snip at 4:21.
"It was a lucky bounce, right on my stick,'' Galiev said to the Telegraph-Journal. "This year I'm trying to shoot more and it's working.''
Overtime was useless so to a shootout the game went. The Saulnier’s were both stopped and Jurco and Jonathan Huberdeau connected to give the Dogs the extra point.
SAINT JOHN WINS RIVALRY CUP
With a sellout crowd on hand, Saint John officially won this year’s edition of the Brunswick News Rivalry Cup. With the video game challenge and one game still left to go, the Dogs have a 27-10 lead.
The Sea Dogs picked up five points yesterday for winning the match in a shootout and for a crowd of over 6,000 on hand. The Wildcats earned a point for the shootout loss.
Some inspiring words from Sea Dogs president Wayne Long in the T&T:
"There's no question we're focused on one thing and that's trying to compete for the holy grail of junior hockey, the Memorial Cup. Hopefully, the Rivalry Cup is one of a few Cups that we're fortunate enough to win this season."The video game challenge is Tuesday evening at Boston Pizza.
STILL STREAKING
With the victory, Saint John has won a season high 11 straight games. The club, along with the Lewiston Maineiacs and Quebec Remparts, had won 10 consecutive games previously this season.
Even more impressive than their winning streak is that the Sea Dogs have managed to pickup at least a point in every game over their last 18 contests. They are 17-0-1-0 in that span.
JURCO STILL ROLLING
Tomas Jurco continued his hot pace of late with a regulation goal and a shootout marker. In his past seven games, the Slovakian sniper has eight goals and seven assists for 15 points.
With his 26th goal of the season yesterday, Jurco tied his goal total from last season. He needs just two assists to tie his career high in helpers.
In the shootout, Jurco pulled off an identical move as the one he scored earlier this season in Drummondville.
ROUGH STUFF; TURK UPSET
A lot of times, these Saint John – Moncton rivalry games don’t seem to get all that feisty. But this contest had both teams on a bit of an edge and featured lots of scrums and stuff. The two teams combined for 20 penalties and 12 power plays. Eight of those penalties were for roughing.
Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant wasn’t a big fan of some of the penalties being called and showed his displeasure towards the officials.
All of the penalties seemed to take the Dogs off their game a bit. All but one of the calls were made in the first two periods, Saint John’s worst frames of the game.
GLEESON REBOUNDS
Solid game for Wildcats goaltender Steve Gleeson yesterday, making 37 saves in the loss. Gleeson was in net for 10 of Saint John’s goals on February 4 when the Sea Dogs destroyed the Wildcats 11-2 at the Moncton Coliseum.
Gleeson made one of the best saves of the year on the second period, getting his glove arm across the crease in time to rob Zack Phillips.
"I just wanted to have some fun," Gleeson said. "I wanted to see how good I could be against the best team in the country. This game was a good test for myself and the team. I felt good out there and my teammates deserve lots of credit.
QUICK HITS
Jonathan Huberdeau was named the Sea Dogs’ scholastic player of the month for January prior to the match… Michael Kirkpatrick was named Saint John’s player of the month for January… it was the second sellout of the year at Harbour Station… defenseman Eric Gelinas had two assists and led Saint John in shots with six… Marek Hrivik, who is always a beast when playing the Dogs, had a team high seven shots for the ‘Cats… after not being able to beat Moncton in regulation time during the regular season last year, the Sea Dogs are 7-0-0-0 against the Wildcats so far this year… this was the first game of a four-game homestand for the Sea Dogs… there was a whole pile of groups at the game… to relive the game, check out the SN Live Blog Replay... Marc Henwood's photos from the game can be seen here.
HIGHLIGHTS
Courtesy of SeaDogsTV:
RANDOM THOUGHTS
- Surprised to see the Kiss Cam used just once in a game labeled ‘Valentine’s Day Spectacular.’
- Sun Life Financial makes awful commercials.
- Zack Phillips could have easily had a couple of goals in this game.
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host the Val-d’Or Foreurs on Friday night at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station. The game is the annual ‘Hockey Night in Saint John’ game.
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Marc Henwood/Station Nation, SeaDogsTV
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