GAME DAY
Round One, Game One - 2011 President’s Cup Playoffs
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, 7:30 pm
Harbour Station
SERIES STATUS
This is Game One of the best-of-seven first round series between the 16th seeded Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and the top-seeded Saint John Sea Dogs.
SAINT JOHN – For the players and the fans, it has been a long wait. But finally, the Saint John Sea Dogs’ road to redemption begins this evening at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station as Round One of their 2011 President’s Cup Playoff series begins.
Last May, the Sea Dogs made it all the way to Game Six of the finals before bowing out to the Moncton Wildcats. Saint John lost their two best forwards from a year ago, their No. 1 goaltender, and one of their top defenseman made the jump to the pro ranks. But their core of young forwards, a WHL castoff goalie, and a solid backend have put the Sea Dogs in better position than they were in a year ago.
Saint John was the top-seeded team at this time a season ago as well. But it didn’t matter as the Wildcats, on paper, were a better team and were considered the favourites. But this time around, the pressure is on Saint John. The team had one of the greatest regular seasons in Canadian Hockey League history, they reset almost every team record, and didn’t lose a regulation game on home ice.
Although it’s a lot of pressure for a group of teenagers to handle, this team is the favourite to represent the QMJHL at the Memorial Cup. Not making it that far would surely be viewed as a disappointment.
That road to the Memorial Cup begins tonight in Game One. The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles are in town for what is a huge mismatch. Cape Breton is 78 points back of Saint John and they will have to play their best hockey of the year to have any chance at all in winning this thing.
The Eagles are expected to be physical and try to beat down the Sea Dogs. Saint John’s offense will have to be shut down in order for Cape Breton to have any success.
REGULAR SEASON NUMBERS
| Cape Breton | Saint John | |
| Record | 18-45-1-4 (6th Maritimes) | 58-7-1-2 (1st Maritimes) |
| Home Record | - - - | 32-0-1-1 |
| Road Record | 8-24-0-2 | - - - |
| 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 | - - - | 24.4% (8th) |
| Road PP | 16.9% (14th) | - - - |
| Overall PK | 74.1% (17th) | 83.7% (1st) |
| Home PK | - - - | 86.1% (1st) |
| Road PK | 74.1% (17th) | - - - |
| PIM/GAME | 16.1 (6th) | 13.1 (13th) |
SCHEDULE/RESULTS
GAME ONE – Friday, March 25: 7:30 p.m. @ Harbour Station
GAME TWO – Saturday, March 26: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
GAME THREE – Tuesday, March 29: 7 p.m. @ Centre 200
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
EAGLES LINEUP NOTES
From the Cape Breton Post:
Overage defenceman Spencer Metcalfe will miss the first two games of the series due to a suspension for charging during the final game of the regular season against the Halifax Mooseheads, Sunday. They’ll also be without forward Dany Potvin (thumb) who’s listed as day-to-day and Kyle Farrell (knee) who will likely miss the series.Metcalfe hit Halifax Mooseheads forward Darcy Ashley last Sunday, a hit that was deemed illegal. Here is the video of the play:
SEA DOGS LINEUP NOTES
All hands should be on deck for Saint John. Captain Mike Thomas missed the final two games of the regular season with a lower body injury that did not sound too serious.
QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau will be in house this evening to present the Sea Dogs the Jean Rougeau Trophy as regular season champions. It is the second year in-a-row that the franchise has won the award.
The big question – will captain Mike Thomas touch the trophy? He chose not to touch/lift the trophy a year ago and the Sea Dogs ended up losing in the President’s Cup Finals.
Saint John will also be awarded the Luc Robitaille Trophy as the highest scoring team in the league and the Robert LeBel Trophy for the best goals-against average.
LOOKING FOR A SPLIT
Saint John has only lost two home games all year – one in a shootout and one in overtime. They became the first QMJHL team to ever go an entire season without losing a game in regulation on home ice. Despite that, the Screaming Eagles are still looking for a split.
"We’re playing our first two games there and it would be really good to come back with at least a win," defenseman Morgan Ellis said to the Chronicle Herald yesterday. "Then we’d have two games in our barn so that would probably be the best situation possible."
Cape Breton was 0-4-0-0 at Harbour Station this season and allowed eight goals in each of their last two games in the facility.
GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER
It’s pretty rare when teams play each other seven times in one month. But the Sea Dogs and Eagles will do just that.
The two squads have met three times this month already with the Sea Dog coming out victorious in each match. The first four games in this series will all be played in March, meaning the two will meet seven times this month.
That’s quite a few games.
OTHER GAMES TONIGHT
Victoriaville at Acadie-Bathurst - 7:30 PM ADT
Val-d'Or at Québec - 7:00 PM EDT
Halifax at Montréal - 7:05 PM EDT
Chicoutimi at Drummondville - 7:30 PM EDT
Rimouski at Gatineau - 7:30 PM EDT
Moncton at Lewiston - 7:30 PM EDT
P.E.I. at Shawinigan - 7:30 PM EDT
THE RINK
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 4,478
Playoff Average Attendance: N/A
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: Station Nation will not be offering in-game tweets or a Live Blog this evening.
AFTER THE BUZZER
The Sea Dog and Screaming Eagles meet tomorrow night at 7:00 pm at Harbour Station in Game Two of the first round.
Photo Credits: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Saint John Sea Dogs, Marc Grandmaison
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