GAME DAY
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Tonight, March 11, 2011 at 7:30 pm
KC Irving Regional Centre
BATHURST – If there is any team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League that knows how to defeat the mighty Saint John Sea Dogs, it is the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
The Titan have beaten the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League twice in regulation this season, accounting for 1/3 of the Sea Dogs’ six regulation loses. Overall, Saint John is 5-2-0-0 against Bathurst this year as the season series comes to a close this evening at 7:30 pm at the KC Irving Regional Centre.
Both of the Sea Dogs’ loses against the Titan have come in Bathurst. One was a 5-1 loss against the Titan on October 22 and the other was 5-4 loss on December 30. Neither game was particularly pretty from a Saint John perspective.
The Titan enter play tonight with a record of 41-21-1-1 which sits them second in the Maritimes Division behind Saint John. Bathurst is 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 games and are coming off a loss. They sit sixth overall in the QMJHL standings and are just two points back of the Gatineau Olympiques for the fifth overall spot.
If the post-season started today, the Titan would take on the Prince Edward Island Rocket.
The Sea Dogs are coming off a thrilling 3-2 shootout win in Rimouski last night. The win gave Saint John a franchise record 54 wins and a 111 points on the season.
These two teams could very well meet in the playoffs, and with two wins against Saint John already this year, the Titan could have plenty of confidence entering that potential playoff series if they can pull off a big game tonight.
THE NUMBERS
| Saint John | Acadie-Bathurst | |
| Record | 54-6-1-2 (1st Maritimes) | 41-21-1-1 (2nd Maritimes) |
| Home Record | - - - | 17-14-0-1 |
| Road Record | 24-6-0-1 | - - - |
| Streak | 4-0-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Last 10 | 9-1-0-0 | 7-3-0-0 |
| Goals For | 300 | 243 |
| Goals Against | 154 | 190 |
| Overall PP | 24.6% (5th) | 25.4% (4th) |
| Home PP | - - - | 27.2% (3rd) |
| Road PP | 26.5% (4th) | - - - |
| Overall PK | 83.3% (1st) | 81.8% (4th) |
| Home PK | - - - | 81.0% (8th) |
| Road PK | 79.8% (6th) | - - - |
| PIM/GAME | 13.1 (13th) | 17.1 (2nd) |
NOTES: The Sea Dogs are led offensively by Jonathan Huberdeau who, with a goal and an assist last night, is just two points away from becoming the first Sea Dog to reach 100 points in a single season… Huberdeau continues to lead his team goals as well with 39 on the year. His linemate Zack Phillips is second on the team with 37… Huberdeau also leads the club in helpers this year with 59… Zack Phillips is fifth in the league in power play goals with 14… Mike Thomas is seventh in the league in shorthanded goals with three… Tomas Jurco, Stanislav Galiev, and Phillips are all tied for third in game winning goals with seven… Phillips is ninth in the league in first goals with seven… Jurco is tied for the league lead in insurance goals with seven… Huberdeau is a league best plus-57… Simon Despres is ninth in shorthanded assists with two… Michael Kirkpatrick is second in the QMJHL in dangerous shots taken with 178… Kirkpatrick is fifth in total shots taken with 228… 38-2-0-1 when scoring first… 32-3-0-0 against the Maritimes Division this season… 5-2-0-0 against Bathurst this season… averaging 4.76 goals per game… averaging 2.44 goals against per game… averaging 36.63 shots per game… averaging 27.08 shots against per game… Jonathan Huberdeau has recorded an assist in four straight games… Michael Kirkpatrick is on an eight-game point scoring streak… Kirkpatrick has recorded a point in 10 straight road games.
PROBABLE STARTER: Jacob DeSerres would be expected to start this game but News 88.9 reported last night that the 20-year old is battling sickness and may not play. DeSerres has a record of 26-2-0-0, a goals against average of 2.20, and a save percentage of 0.917. If he is unable to play, Mathieu Corbeil will get the call between the pipes. The Columbus Blue Jackets prospect has a record of 17-16-1-1, a GAA of 3.23, and a SV% of 0.878.
LAST GAME: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 3-2 shootout win last night in Rimouski. Zack Phillips and Jonathan Huberdeau scored in regulation while Tomas Jurco and Huberdeau won the match in the breakaway contest. Mathieu Corbeil was solid in net and picked up the victory.
NOTES: The Titan are led offensively by Gabriel Levesque who has 100 points in 64 games. He is second in league scoring and sits seven points back of Gatineau’s Philip-Michael Devos… Jonathan Lessard leads the team in goals this year with 37 in 58 games… Levesque leads the squad in assists with 66. The total is almost double the next closest amount on the team… Levesque is a team best plus-28… Lessard is second in the league on power play goals with 17… Levesque leads the league in power play assists with 35… Lessard is second in game winning goals with eight… Lessard is seventh in first goals with seven… Sebastien Trudeau is eighth in insurance goals with six… Vincent Arseneau is third in penalty minutes with 149 minutes served… Zack O’Brien is the rookie leader in points with 60 in 54 games… Twitter favourite Garrett Clarke leads the league in minor penalties taken with 48. Arseneau is second with 47… Levesque leads the league in power play points with 46… goaltender Olivier Roy is fourth in wins with 27… Roy is fifth in saves made this season with 1144… O’Brien leads all rookies in power play goals with 10 and power play points with 21… 27-8-1-1 when scoring first… 22-12-1-1 against their own division this season… averaging 3.80 goals per game… averaging 2.97 goals against per game… averaging 29.73 shots per game… averaging 31.33 shots against per game.
PROBABLE STARTER: Team Canada goaltender Olivier Roy will likely get the call in net for Bathurst. Roy has a record of 27-13-1-0, a goals against average of 2.85, and a save percentage of 0.909.
LAST GAME: The Titan are coming off a 5-2 loss against the Moncton Wildcats last Saturday. Christophe Losier and Jonathan Lessard scored for Bathurst but Monctom scored five straight goals to win the match. Olivier Roy made 32 saves in net.
Best Titan Video We Could Find: This is still one of the most entertaining Sea Dogs playoff games ever played. In game six of the 2008 quarter-finals against the Titan, Payton Liske scored in overtime to send the Sea Dogs into the semi-finals.
WHAT THEY ALL TALKING ABOUT
With the talk of the NHL world focusing on Zdeno Chara, the talk of the QMJHL world has been on Bathurst’s Christophe Losier for his hit last Saturday against Moncton’s Ted Stephens.
Stephens is out with a concussion while Losier, like Chara, got away without any kind of suspension.
ON THE SEA DOGS
Titan head coach Real Paiement on playing the Sea Dogs in today’s Telegraph-Journal:
"(Saint John) is really rolling and they are a good team," said Paiement.OTHER GAMES TODAY
"Even though we respect them very much, we feel good about how we've played against them in the past so we are looking forward to, and are excited, about (tonight's) game."
Moncton at Cape Breton - 7:00 PM AST
Halifax at PEI - 7:00 PM AST
Victoriaville at Québec - 7:00 PM EST
Drummondville at Montréal - 7:05 PM EST
Val-d'Or at Chicoutimi - 7:30 PM EST
Gatineau at Lewiston - 7:30 PM EST
THE RINK
Venue: KC Irving Regional Centre
Capacity: 3,524
Average Attendance: 1,565
QMJHL Arena Guide
MEDIA GUIDE
Radio (Sea Dogs): News 88.9 FM
Live Web Feed: Telus
Television: None
Post-Game Coverage: Station Nation, Telegraph-Journal
Live Coverage: Follow Station Nation on Twitter (www.twitter.com/station_nation) for live in game coverage. All tweets will also appear in the SN Live Blog that is posted on this site.
AFTER THE BUZZER
The Sea Dogs travel to Cape Breton Sunday to face the Screaming Eagles at 2:00 pm.
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, David Connell Web Album, Google
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