GAME DAY
Round One, Game Three – 2011 President’s Cup Playoffs
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Tonight, March 29, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Centre 200
The top-seeded Saint John Sea Dogs currently lead the 16th seeded Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 2-0 in the best-of-seven first round series.
PREVIEW
SYDNEY, NS – The season is basically on the line this evening for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Down 2-0 in their best-of-seven first round series against the Saint John Sea Dogs, the team will have to pull off a victory tonight to have any chance at all in coming back in this series.
The Eagles have barely been in this thing so far. Saint John has thrown the hammer down on Cape Breton, outscoring them 17-1 over the two playoff games. The Eagles have had a decent first period in each contest but couldn’t keep that momentum going forward into the latter frames.
Saint John has dominated both games in just about every department. It’s obvious that the Eagles’ game plan is to be physical and beat down the Sea Dogs – but that has not worked at all so far. Cape Breton has taken plenty of penalties because of their physical play, allowing Saint John to go 8-for-14 on the power play.
The Sea Dogs’ offense has been alive and well while Cape Breton has only beaten netminder Jacob DeSerres once so far in this series. Saint John’s big boys have not been held at bay at all as both Jonathan Huberdeau and Zack Phillips have recorded eight points each.
Cape Breton will look to change all of that on home ice this evening where they will last change and a hometown crowd behind them.
"Having last change will make a big difference," Eagles head coach Mario Durocher said to the Chronicle Herald. "I can put who I want against their top guys. We don’t have too much experience on our third and fourth lines but everyone on our first two lines is at least 18 years old. All season long we were able to manage the game a little bit more.”
Cape Breton was 1-3-0-0 against Saint John at Centre 200 during the regular season.
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: 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
Cape Breton head coach Mario Durocher was a clown during Game One of the series, getting himself thrown out after continuous screaming at the officials and refusing the close the bench door.
Today, he called two of Saint John’s toughest forwards a couple of clowns. From the Chronicle Herald:
"With him and (Blake) Millman on the ice, (Saint John’s Alexandre) Beauregard and (Mike) Thomas will have somebody to talk to instead of (acting) like clowns around our players."Some strong words right there.
EAGLES LINE-UP
Also from the Chronicle Herald, a few line-up notes for the Eagles:
Cape Breton forward Dany Potvin (arm) will also be back in the line-up but Cory MacIntosh (concussion) is not ready to return.MacIntosh, who was tied for the team lead in scoring with Logan Shaw during the regular season, was hit hard by Danick Gauthier in Game One and did not play in Game Two with a suspected head injury.
WELCOME BACK
Sea Dogs forward Danick Gauthier, who was suspended for Saturday’s game for his hit on Cory MacIntosh in Game One, will likely return to the Saint John line-up this evening.
For the Eagles, they will likely have Spencer Metcalfe back in their line-up. The veteran was suspended for the first two games of this series after delivering an illegal hit on Halifax’s Darcy Ashley in the final game of the regular season.
Metcalfe had a career high three goals and six assists in 59 regular season games. He finished the year with 126 penalty minutes, good for 11th in the QMJHL.
LOOK OUT
This video has been floating around the interwebs for a few weeks now. Watch as a Moncton Wildcat makes a kid cry:
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
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: 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, Cape Breton Post, Telegraph-Journal
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
The Sea Dogs and Eagles play Game Four tomorrow night at 7:00 pm at Centre 200.
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Screaming Eagles website
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