BACK-TO-BACK

SN RECAP
FINAL: Screaming Eagles 0, Sea Dogs 8

SAINT JOHN – Make it back-to-back regular season championships for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Thanks to an 8-0 blowout win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Saturday night at Harbour Station, the Sea Dogs captured their second straight Jean Rougeau Trophy as the top team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s regular season.

Saint John improved to a league best 53-6-1-2, tying their franchise record for wins in a season that was set a year ago. With six games left on the schedule, Saint John will surely break that record.

It was a good all around game by the Dogs after an average performance against the Moncton Wildcats a night ago. Alexandre Beauregard of all people had a hat trick in the win. Simon Despres, Zack Phillips, Tomas Jurco, Stanislav Galiev, and Jonathan Huberdeau added singles for the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League.

With a goal and two assists, Huberdeau set a new team record for points in a season with 96, breaking Chris DiDomenico’s previous record of 95 set in the 2007-08 campaign. He is on pace to become Saint John’s first 100-point getter.

It was also a historic night in goal as Jacob DeSerres made 18 saves in net. The former Brandon Wheat King recorded his franchise record setting fourth shutout of the season and tied the team record for wins in a season with 26.

Things weren’t as rosy on the Cape Breton side. The Eagles were greatly outplayed all night long and were outshot 47-18. Goaltender Alexandre Veronneau didn’t get much help as he allowed eight goals on 47 shots.

The Eagles have been outscored 24-1 over their past three games.

FIRST PERIOD
Just 57 seconds into the game, a Simon Despres point shot hit something on its way to the net and whistled past Cape Breton goaltender Alexandre Veronneau to make it 1-0 Dogs.

The Sea Dogs kept pouring it on after that. Jason Seed sent a shot that produced a big rebound, allowing Alexandre Beauregard to walk through the crease but had his shot robbed by Veronneau. Then, Ryan Tesink walked out to the centre of the circle and sent the puck off the pad of Veronneau and wide. Finally, Tomas Jurco came down the wing and backhanded the puck in front but nobody was there to cash it in.

Saint John went to the power play at 5:54. Nathan Beaulieu had one of the better chances, firing a one-timer from the dot that was padded away by Veronneau.

With the man advantage over, Stanislav Galiev nearly broke away with a great burst of speed. While off-balance, Galiev sent a wide range shot on net that just rolled off the post and out. A few moments later, Loic Leduc went to the box for the Eagles and gave Saint John another power play.

On that ensuing man advantage, Zach Phillips was fed at the goal line. He walked out and beat Veronneau with a low wide shot to make it 2-0 Sea Dogs.

After the marker, Jonathan Huberdeau was robbed by a stretching Veronneau. Then, Scott Oke sent a cross ice feed to Michael Kirkpatrick who was denied as well.

After some roughing penalties were handed out, Cape Breton finally generated some offense as a shot from between the circles caught Sea Dogs goaltender Jacob DeSerres up high, creating a short rebound that didn’t cause any damage.

On another power play at 15:36, Stanislav Galiev walked around an Eagles defenseman and got Veronneau to commit to the play. He then threaded a beautiful pass from below the goal line to Jurco in the crease to make it 3-0 for the home side.

Shots in the opening period were 22-4 Sea Dogs.

SECOND PERIOD
The Eagles opened the period on a power play with Huberdeau in the box. But it didn’t even look like Cape Breton was on a man advantage and couldn’t get anything going.

Brad Cuzner was on a breakaway at 5:51 but was tangled up by Stephen MacAulay, giving the Eagles another power play. The team had some good pressure but couldn’t get many shots off.

Huberdeau then made some nice moves in the offensive zone with the penalty over. He made a nice dish to Beaulieu but he couldn’t get a great shot off.

Cape Breton had a five-on-three power play at 10:08 with Galiev and Seed both in the box. Morgan Ellis had a decent chance as he blasted a point shot that just trickled wide. It was a pretty solid penalty kill by Saint John.

At 12:32, Alexandre Beauregard and and Jurco had a two-on-one. Beauregard kept the disc and sniped past the glove of Veronneau to make it 4-0 Saint John.

A few minutes after a big scrum went down by the Eagles bench created matching penalties, the Sea Dogs were called for “vebal abuse by the coach” and gave Cape Breton a man advantage at 14:33. When the initial penaly expired, Beauregard scored his second of the match by coming down the wing and firing one past the glove of Veronneau. That made it a 5-0 game.

The Sea Dogs didn’t stop there. At 17:29, Phillips walked out from behind the net and threw it in front. The puck hit Galiev and went in to make it 6-0 Dogs. The play went a brief review but it would stand.

Shots in the middle frame were 10-9 Saint John.

THIRD PERIOD
Saint John kept rolling as the third period started. At 2:49, Beauregard completed his hat trick by scoring his third beautiful goal of the match. Beauregard walked around an Eagles defenseman and then cut through the crease, unleashing a backhand shot that beat Veronneau to make it 7-0 Saint John.

Some four-on-four action took place following the 3:06 mark as Mike Thomas and Olivier Jodoin took matching delay of game penalties. When those penalties expired, several minutes of back-and-forth stuff took place.

The Sea Dogs got things going again later on as the puck was in the crease area but Aidan Kelly couldn’t get wood on the puck to jam it into the Cape Breton cage. The Eagles actually had a pretty scoring opportunity soon after as Dany Potvin had a partial break but was stopped by DeSerres,

Later on, MacAulay fired a point shot that created a big rebound. Kirkpatrick was there but swung and missed the rising puck.

Saint John made it an 8-0 affair at 13:20. Kirkpatrick came across the line and fed a streaking Huberdeau. The Sea Dogs’ leading scorer netted his franchise-record setting 96th point of the year as he beat Veronneau with a backhand shot to continue the home side’s onslaught.

The last good chance of the match came late in the frame as Ryan Tesink had an open net in the slot but was robbed by a quick Veronneau. Cape Breton then had a late power play with 23 seconds remaining, but it would not matter as Saint John cruised to an 8-0 victory.

Shots in the third period were 15-5 Sea Dogs.

NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Rimouski on Thursday to face the Oceanic.