FINAL: Cape Breton 0, Saint John 8
RECAP: DOGS WIN 8-0
Another dominating performance by the Saint John Sea Dogs gave the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League an 8-0 victory over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Saturday night at Harbour Station.
The Sea Dogs scored just 57 seconds into the match and never looked back, winning their league best 53rd game of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season. Saint John carried a 3-0 lead into the second period and a 6-0 lead into the third frame.
Simon Despres netted his 12th of the season early in the first to give Saint John a 1-0 lead. Then, at 10:48 on a power play, Zack Phillips scored to make it 2-0 Sea Dogs. The Dogs kept coming as Stanislav Galiev made some moves to get around Eagles netminder Alexandre Veronneau, dishing the disc to an open Tomas Jurco to give the Dogs a 3-0 advantage. Shots were only 22-4 in favour of the Dogs after one.
Three straight penalties by Saint John gave Cape Breton some time to start and attempt to get some momentum back in the second period. But it didn’t matter as Beauregard sniped his second of the game at 12:32 soon after the final penalty expired. Then at 16:04, Beauregard made it a 5-0 game as beat Veronneau top shelf whole shorthanded. Saint John closed out the period with a 6-0 lead as Galiev scored at 17:29.
In the third, things slowed down a bit. Beauregard completed his hat trick at 2:49 by unleashing a lethal backhander to give the Dogs a 7-0 lead. Jonathan Huberdeau closed out the scoring at 13:20 to make it an 8-0 final.
SCORE SHEET
Cape Breton, Screaming Eagles 0 at Saint John, Sea Dogs 8 - Status FinalSAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Saturday, March 5, 2011 - Harbour Station
Cape Breton 0 0 0 - 0
Saint John 3 3 2 - 8
1st Game Period-1, Saint John, Després 12 (Kirkpatrick, Durepos), 0:57. 2, Saint John, Phillips 36 (Kirkpatrick, Beaulieu), 10:48 (pp). 3, Saint John, Jurco 30 (Galiev, Bourret), 15:36 (pp). Penalties-Metcalfe Cap (hooking), 5:54; Leduc Cap (hooking), 10:33; Herrett Cap (roughing), 12:38; Oke Snb (roughing), 12:38; Metcalfe Cap (interference of a player or a goaltender), 14:36; Huberdeau Snb (high-sticking), 19:08.
2nd Game Period-4, Saint John, Beauregard 7 (Huberdeau, MacAulay), 12:32. 5, Saint John, Beauregard 8 16:04 (sh). 6, Saint John, Galiev 33 (Phillips, Huberdeau), 17:29. Penalties-MacAulay Snb (holding), 5:51; Galiev Snb (hooking), 8:49; Seed Snb (tripping), 10:08; Grenier Cap (roughing), 13:32; Beaulieu Snb (roughing), 13:32; served by Galiev Snb (bench penalty), 14:33.
3rd Game Period-7, Saint John, Beauregard 9 2:49. 8, Saint John, Huberdeau 38 (Kirkpatrick, Durepos), 13:20. Penalties-Jodoin Cap (delay of game), 3:06; Thomas Snb (delay of game), 3:06; Bourret Snb (slashing), 19:37.
Shots on Goal-Cape Breton 18. Saint John 47.
Power Play Opportunities-Cape Breton 0 of 6; Saint John 2 of 3.
Goalies-Cape Breton, Véronneau 1-16-0-0 (47 shots-39 saves). Saint John, DeSerres 26-2-0-0 (18 shots-18 saves).
A-5,879
Referees-Thane Arsenault (9), Tim Hamel (19).
Linesmen-Jackson Doughart (39), Mike MacDonnell (86).
Defenseman Eric Gelinas missed his second straight game with a charley horse and Kevin Gagne also missed his second straight with the flu. With Tyrone Sock sent back to junior ‘A’, forward Stephen MacAulay took some shifts on the backend and didn’t miss a beat.
Forward Steven Anthony also missed the game with an injury.
With the win, no other team can catch the Sea Dogs at the top of standings, making them the 2010-11 QMJHL Regular Season Champions for the second straight year. A banner will be raised at Harbour Station in the fall to recognize the accomplishment.
The Sea Dogs are the first Atlantic team to win back-to-back Jean Rougeau trophies. According to Wikipedia, the last QMJHL team to win back-to-back regular season crowns were the 1997-98 and 1998-99 Quebec Remparts.
More importantly, Saint John will have home ice advantage all the way through the playoffs.
With a record of 53-6-1-2, they have a total of 109 points on the season. 15 points separate the Sea Dogs and the second-place Montreal Juniors.
BIG NIGHT FOR BEAUREGARD
As several people on Twitter pointed out, the only hat trick we saw Alexandre Beauregard getting this season had a ‘Gordie Howe’ in front of it. But Beauregard scored a beautiful set of three goals, giving him a total of nine on the year.
Beauregard scored his first goal at by picking the top corner of the Eagles net. Then he scored another beauty by going upstairs on Alexandre Veronneau again. His hat trick goal was his best of the three, making a move around a Cape Breton defenseman and then crossing through the blue paint before beating Veronneau with a backhand shot.
On top of the three goals, the former Rouyn-Noranda Husky had five shots, a plus-three rating, and six hits.
TWO WINS AWAY
Only two home games remain for the Sea Dogs and they are creeping in on QMJHL history. With a home record of 30-0-1-1, they can become the first team in league history to go a full season without losing in regulation on home ice.
The Sea Dogs are on the road until Friday, March 18 against Cape Breton at Harbour Station. The final game of the regular season is the following Sunday against PEI.
With a goal and two assists last night, Jonathan Huberdeau broke Chris DiDomenico’s team record for points in one season with 96. DiDomenico had 95 points in the 2007-08 campaign.
In 07-08, DiDomenico had 39 goals and 56 assists. So far this season, Huberdeau has 38 goals and 58 helpers.
Huberdeau has six games left to try and reach the century mark for points. Two players – Gatineau’s Philip-Michael Devos and Bathurst’s Gabriel Levesque – have already reached the 100 mark.
DARK DAYS IN CAPE BRETON
These are some dark days for the Screaming Eagles franchise. They still have not officially clinched a playoff spot as they are currently holding on to the 16th spot in the league. It will take quite a surge by the Baie-Comeau Drakkar to replace the Eagles in the standings, though.
Cape Breton had one of, if not the worst road trip in team history. In three games, the Eagles were outscored 24-1 and allowed eight goals in each match.
Along with two other meetings before the season ends, Cape Breton could play Saint John in the first round of the playoffs if they can’t pass the Halifax Mooseheads.
- The Sea Dogs tied their win total from last season with 53, a franchise high.
- The Sea Dogs tied their point total from last season with 109, a franchise high.
- Jacob DeSerres set a new franchise records for shutouts in one season with four.
- Jacob DeSerres tied Robert Mayer’s franchise record for wins in a season with 26.
- Jonathan Huberdeau set a new franchise record for assists in one season with 58.
QUICK HITS
The good people from Crime Stoppers were at the game, cranking up sirens and stuff. They have a giant raccoon mascot… Saint John power play was solid again, going 2-for-3… Stanislav Galiev has now scored in six straight home games… Nathan Beaulieu was a team best plus-4… Jonathan Huberdeau had a team high six shots… Denis Kindl had a team high four shots for the Eagles… to relive the game, check out the SN Live Blog Replay.
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs travel to Rimouski on Thursday to take on the Oceanic at 8:30 pm.
Photo Credits: David Connell Web Album, QMJHL, Saint John Sea Dogs, Google
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