GAME DAY
Round One, Game Four- 2011 President’s Cup Playoffs
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Tonight, March 30, 7:00 pm
Centre 200
The top-seeded Saint John Sea Dogs currently lead the 16th seeded Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 3-0 in the best-of-seven first round series.
PREVIEW
SYDNEY, NS – It could all be over this evening at Centre 200.
Currently holding a 3-0 series lead, the Saint John Sea Dogs are just a win away from eliminating the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles from the 2011 President’s Cup playoffs. Game Four goes down tonight at 7:00 pm at Centre 200.
Saint John has dominated the series so far, outscoring the Eagles 22-2 over three games. The Sea Dogs are averaging 7.33 goals per game and 41 shots per contest. They have simply owned Cape Breton so far, something that isn’t too surprising when you have the top-ranked team in Canada is facing the 16th seeded team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
In last night’s game, Saint John defeated Cape Breton 5-1. It was a better game by the Eagles and probably their best of the series. They had some decent scoring chances but could only connect once. Although the team played much better, they were, once again, still not up to the Sea Dogs’ superior level of play.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Steven Anthony, Kevin Gagne, Stanislav Galiev, and Tomas Jurco all scored for the winners who had a 33-22 shots on goal edge in the affair. Dany Potvin scored the lone Cape Breton goal on a nice feed from Denis Kindl.
In net, former Brandon Wheat Kings goaltenders Jacob DeSerres and Andrew Hayes dueled. Like the first two games, DeSerres came out victorious. Both will likely start in goal again this evening.
The season is on the line for Cape Breton and they will be ready to roll when the clock strikes seven. They’ve been physical all series and tonight should feature more of the same.
A Saint John win will propel them into the quarter-finals and will give the team over a week off.
REGULAR SEASON NUMBERS
| Cape Breton | Saint John | |
| Record | 18-45-1-4 (6th Maritimes) | 58-7-1-2 (1st Maritimes) |
| Home Record | 10-21-1-2 | - - - |
| Road Record | - - - | 27-7-0-1 |
| Streak | 1-0-0-0 | 2-0-0-0 |
| Last 10 | 2-8-0-0 | 8-2-0-0 |
| Goals For | 154 | 324 |
| Goals Against | 276 | 165 |
| Goals/Game | 2.26 (16th) | 4.76 (1st) |
| Goals Against/Game | 4.06 (17th) | 2.43 (1st) |
| Shots/Game | 25.38 (17th) | 36.81 (1st) |
| Shots Against/Game | 30.22 (9th) | 26.96 (5th) |
| Overall PP | 15.2% (16th) | 25.1% (6th) |
| Home PP | 13.4% (17th) | - - - |
| Road PP | - - - | 26.0% (5th) |
| Overall PK | 74.1% (17th) | 83.7% (1st) |
| Home PK | 74.1% (16th) | - - - |
| Road PK | - - - | 80.6% (5th) |
| PIM/GAME | 16.1 (6th) | 13.1 (13th) |
SCHEDULE/RESULTS
GAME ONE – Friday, March 25: Cape Breton 0, Saint John 10
GAME TWO – Saturday, March 26: Cape Breton 1, Saint John 7
GAME THREE – Tuesday, March 29: Saint John 5, Cape Breton 1
GAME FOUR – Wednesday, March 30: 7 p.m. @ Centre 200
*GAME FIVE – Friday, April 1: 7:30 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*GAME SIX – Sunday, April 3: 4 p.m. @ Centre 200
*GAME SEVEN – Tuesday, April 5: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*If Necessary
The brooms will be out tonight in Cape Breton as Saint John looks to take the first round playoff series in a sweep of four straight contests.
The Sea Dogs have swept only two other playoff series in their team history. The first came in the opening round of the 2008 post-season against the Prince Edward Island Rocket and the other in last year’s second round against the Gatineau Olympiques.
Saint John can also get a little revenge with a win tonight. In 2009, the Screaming Eagles were on the other end of things and swept the Sea Dogs out to sea in the opening round.
All-time, the Dogs are 11-5 in first round games.
EAGLES LINE-UP NOTES
Rough times get rougher in Cape Breton. From the CB Post:
Cape Breton’s injury woes continued Tuesday night. Defenceman Wes Herrett (forearm) was injured after being checked into the Eagles bench in the second period. Fellow blue-liner Stephen Woodworth (foot) was also injured blocking a shot. They’ll get assessed today. Another defenceman, Loic Leduc (head), may also miss tonight’s game. Forward Cory MacIntosh, who suffered a hit to the head in Saint John, is likely done for the season.PP MAGIC
Saint John’s unreal power play has been a big story in this series. The Sea Dogs are operating at a league high 55.6% in the playoffs. They have scored 10 power play goals on 18 opportunities.
“With our hockey club, we’re definitely a top power-play team,” said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant to the Cape Breton Post. “We can move the puck with our skill level and speed. We got another two goals, so it’s been very good for us.”
The Sea Dogs went 2-for-4 on the power play last night.
Cape Breton’s penalty kill on the other hand is running at 44.4%.
Stanislav Galiev has been playing some of his best hockey as a member of the Saint John Sea Dogs over the past few weeks.
Thanks in much part to playing with one of the top offensive duos in the QMJHL in Jonathan Huberdeau and Zack Phillips, Galiev recorded six goals and two assists in the regular season portion of March. His hot play carried over into the playoffs as the Russian has scored in all three games, registering a total of four goals to go along with two assists.
In 21 playoff games last year, Galiev recorded eight goals and 11 assists.
OTHER GAMES TONIGHT
Montréal at Halifax - 7:00 PM ADT
Lewiston at Moncton - 7:00 PM ADT
Shawinigan at P.E.I. - 7:00 PM ADT
Acadie-Bathurst at Victoriaville - 7:00 PM EDT
Drummondville at Chicoutimi - 7:30 PM EDT
Gatineau at Rimouski - 7:30 PM EDT
Québec at Val-d'Or - 7:30 PM EDT
THE RINK
Venue: Centre 200
Capacity: 4,881
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 2,954
Playoff Average Attendance: 1,869
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, Cape Breton Post
Live Coverage: Follow Station Nation on Twitter (www.twitter.com/station_nation) or check out the SN Live Blog on this site for live coverage of this evening’s game.
AFTER THE BUZZER
If the Eagles win, Game Five is Friday at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station. If the Sea Dogs win, the quarter-finals will likely begin Friday, April 8 in Saint John. The way things are going at the moment, it looks like they will be playing the Victoriaville Tigres.
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, some broom site, Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Screaming Eagles Facebook page
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