GAME DAY
PEI Rocket vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Today, March 20, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Harbour Station
PREVIEW
Going into the season, everyone projected the Sea Dogs to be a pretty good hockey club. With their young core already having a full year of experience behind them and coming off a trip to the President’s Cup final, Saint John was in good position to be a strong contender again this season.
In September, if there was anybody who said the Sea Dogs would be in the position they are in tonight, they’d more than likely be lying.
A win this evening would make Saint John just the third team in QMJHL history to win 58 games in a regular season, tying the all-time mark for wins in a season. A victory would also make the Sea Dogs the first team in league history to go an entire season without losing a regulation game on home ice.
It will be a party like atmosphere this afternoon on fan appreciation day at Harbour Station. They’ve been given a lot to cheer for this season - and cheering they have done. They’ve seen several franchise records broken, seen some dominating performances, watched hockey’s future grow in front of them, and seen a certain 17-year old forward turn into one of the best junior hockey players in the country.
But this is only the end of part of the journey as the real season, the post-season, starts next Friday.
But in the present, this afternoon’s tilt will be the focus. In terms of standings and playoff positioning, the game is meaningless for Saint John. But it will allow the Sea Dogs to work and try a few things before the playoffs begin next week.
The Rocket will have a lot of confidence coming into this game having gone 7-2-1-0 in their last 10 games and have won three straight. PEI has given the Sea Dogs fits at times this season – especially last Wednesday in Charlottetown. The Rocket defeated Saint John 5-2, ending the Dogs’ hopes of breaking the all-time wins record.
After an up-and-down season, PEI would like nothing better than to end the Sea Dogs’ record hopes.
THE NUMBERS
| PEI | Saint John | |
| Record | 33-25-3-6 (4th Maritimes) | 57-7-1-2 (1st Maritimes) |
| Home Record | - - - | 31-0-1-1 |
| Road Record | 16-12-1-4 | - - - |
| Streak | 3-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Last 10 | 7-2-1-0 | 8-2-0-0 |
| Goals For | 215 | 317 |
| Goals Against | 213 | 163 |
| Overall PP | 19.4% (12th) | 24.4% (6th) |
| Home PP | - - - | 23.1% (8th) |
| Road PP | 19.1% (11th) | - - - |
| Overall PK | 82.3% (3rd) | 83.8% (1st) |
| Home PK | - - - | 86.3% (1st) |
| Road PK | 83.1% (2nd) | - - - |
| PIM/GAME | 13.0 (14th) | 13.2 (13th) |
NOTES: The Rocket are led offensively by Ben Duffy who has 81 points in 67 games this season. Andrej Nestrasil is second on the team with 69 points… Duffy leads the team in goals with 37. Sanuek Morneau is second with 29…. Nestrasil leads the club in helpers with 50 in 57 games. Duffy is second with 44… Duffy is 12th in the league in power play goals with 12… Philippe Paradis is ninth in the league in shorthanded goals with three… Paradis is sixth in first goals with seven… Adam Polasek leads the league in shorthanded assists with five… Morneau is sixth in the league in dangerous shots with 152… Morneau is sixth in total shots with 236… 24-5-1-1 when scoring first… 20-15-1-3 against their own division… 1-5-0-1 against Saint John this season with their only win coming last Wednesday in Charlottetown. 0-2-0-1 at Harbour Station… 12th in the league in goals per game with an average of 3.21… eighth in the QMJHL with an average of 3.18 goals against… averaging 30.06 shots for per game… averaging 33.81 shots against per game, the second highest total in the league… Nestrasil has gotten an assist in five straight road games.
PROBABLE STARTER: Given that he is a machine, the Rocket may decide to give No. 1 ‘tender Evan Mosher the final game of the regular season off. Mosher has a record of 25-21-3-6, a goals against average of 2.71, and a save percentage of 0.920. If he doesn’t start, Maxime Legace will start. The rookie has a record of 8-4-0-0, a GAA of 3.59, and a SV% of 0.884.
LAST GAME: PEI is coming off a big 4-2 win against the Wildcats in Moncton on Friday night. Matthew Hobbs scored twice while Josh Currie and Samuel Morneau added singles for the winners who were outshot 50-28. Not surprisingly, it was just another night for Evan Mosher who made 48 saves for the win.
SEEDING: This is a fairly large game for the Rocket depending on who they want to face in the first round. They currently sit 10th overall in the league but are just one point back of the Moncton Wildcats for ninth-place. At the same time, the Victoriaville Tigres are just one point back of the Rocket for 10th.
SUSPENDED: Philippe Paradis will serve the third and final game of his suspension after he hit Wildcats forward Alex Saulnier from behind last week.
BEST ROCKET VIDEO WE COULD FIND: The Charlottetown Civic Centre sure looks nicer in the virtual world.
NOTES: Saint John is led by Jonathan Huberdeau who has 102 points in 66 games. Zack Phillips is second with 94 points… Huberdeau has a team high 42 goals while Phillips is second with 38… Huberdeau also leads the club in helpers with 60 while Phillips has 56 and Michael Kirkpatrick has 50… Phillips is sixth in the league in power play goals with 15… Mike Thomas, Alexandre Beauregard, and Huberdeau are tied for eighth in shorthanded goals with three… Stanislav Galiev is second in game winning goals with nine… Phillips is 11th in first goals with seven… Tomas Jurco is second in insurance goals with seven… Huberdeau is a league best plus-58… Kirkpatrick is second in dangerous shots with 179. Huberdeau is third with 159… Kirkpatrick is eighth in total shots with 233… 40-2-0-1 when scoring first… 35-4-0-0 against their own division. They have two loses against Bathurst and one against both PEI and Cape Breton… averaging a league high 4.73 goals per game… averaging a league low 2.43 goals against per game… averaging a league high 36.70 shots per game… averaging 26.93 shots against per game, the fifth lowest total in the league… Huberdeau has a point in eight straight games… Galiev has scored in seven straight home games… Huberdeau has an assist in six straight home games… Galiev has a point in eight straight home games.
PROBABLE STARTER: With it being the final game of the regular season and Jacob DeSerres starting two straight, we’ll guess Mathieu Corbeil will get the start in goal. Overall, Corbeil has a record of 19-16-1-1, a goals against average of 3.13, and a save percentage of 0.881. The Columbus Blue Jackets prospect is 12-1-1-0 with Saint John and has a GAA of 2.18 and a SV% of 0.906.
LAST GAME: Saint John is coming off a dominating 8-1 win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday night. Stanislav Galiev had two goals while Stephen MacAulay, Steven Anthony, Danick Gauthier, Aidan Kelly, Pierre Durepos, and Alexandre Beauregard notched solo goals. Jacob DeSerres made 24 saves in net.
TROPHY WATCH: The Dogs have already won the Maritimes Division, the Brunswick News Rivalry Cup, and the Jean Rougeau Trophy. But there are still two trophies the team could claim. With 317 goals, the Sea Dogs will likely take the Luc Robitaille Trophy for the highest amount of goals scored by a team this season. The next closest club is the Quebec Remparts with 274.
Unless Saint John gives up 17 goals tonight, they will also win the Robert Lebel Trophy for fewest goals allowed by a team. They have allowed a league low 163 goals against this season while two other clubs have allowed 180.
PROMOTIONS
Today is Fan Appreciation Day at Harbour Station. The match will feature a guaranteed 50/50 jackpot of $10,000.
The game has been sold-out since Friday evening.
OTHER GAMES
Cape Breton at Halifax - 2:00 PM ADT
Acadie-Bathurst at Moncton - 4:00 PM ADT
Québec at Baie-Comeau - 4:00 PM EDT
Lewiston at Chicoutimi - 4:00 PM EDT
Montréal at Gatineau - 4:00 PM EDT
Shawinigan at Rouyn-Noranda - 4:00 PM EDT
Drummondville at Val-d'Or - 4:00 PM EDT
Rimouski at Victoriaville - 4:00 PM EDT
THE RINK
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Average Attendance: 4,417
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, The Guardian
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 host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Friday at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station in Game One of the first round of the President’s Cup Playoffs.
Photo Credits: Halifax Mooseheads, PEI Rocket, Marc Henwood/Station Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment