Scott Briggs’ recap of last night’s game. “Overall it was a pretty good effort. There wasn’t much between the two teams.’’ – Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant.
Marty Klinkenberg’s recap. “It was obviously huge for us to come in here, play a tough opponent and get our first win’’ – Gallant
Mississauga.com’s recap. “We lost our composure, no doubt” – Mississauga head coach Dave Cameron
Rogers Sportsnet’s recap. "I was on the ice, I thought it was off-side right away” – Majors defenseman Marc Cantin.
The National Post’s recap. “If you can’t make the right calls in this tournament,” he said, “you shouldn’t be reffing.” – Justin Shugg
The Globe and Mail’s recap. “Three guys from PEI,” Gallant said. “We enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun. We’re all very good friends. Hopefully we’ll have the chance to do it but Dave wants the same thing.”
The Toronto Sun’s recap. "Since I got to Saint John (in October), we've talked about the Mem Cup" – goaltender Jacob DeSerres
“It’s not fun to come to a tournament like this and have the outcome we did because of the officiating,” Majors forward Justin Shugg said. – Toronto Sun
SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. “The Saint John Sea Dogs won in their first-ever appearance at the MasterCard Memorial Cup”
SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Steven Anthony missed his sixth straight game with a lower body injury that is believed to be knee related. He has not played since Game One of the President’s Cup final.
"A guy fell on it, and right away, I knew something was wrong,'' said Anthony of his injury to the Telegraph-Journal. "The first thing I thought was, 'Oh, no, not two years in a row.'
Also out of the Saint John lineup was Jason Cameron who is recovering from a bruised kidney. Defenseman Jason Seed was a healthy scratch.
Recent call-ups Spencer MacDonald, Jacob Edwards, and Devon Oliver-Dares were all out as well.
JURCO’S BEAUTY
Tomas Jurco set the tone early in the first period as he slid the puck under JP Anderson on a beautiful breakaway goal. The marker gave Saint John a 1-0 lead just 1:44 into the contest.
The goal was Jurco’s first since Game Three of the semifinals against Lewiston. He recorded just three assists over his seven game goalless drought.
ROAD WARRIORS
Saint John has now 11 straight playoff games on the road. They went 10-0 during the QMJHL post-season away from Harbour Station and won their 11th straight last night at the Hershey Centre.
The Sea Dogs are technically the home team for the next two games when they face Owen Sound on Monday and Kootenay on Tuesday.
BIG HIT
Rob Flick destroyed Ryan Tesink with an open ice hit.
THE FIRST WIN
Winning your first game at the Memorial Cup is huge for many reasons.
According to Rogers Sportsnet, “ff the 39 winners since the MasterCard Memorial Cup switched to a tournament format in 1972, 29 won their first game. That means just 10 of 39 teams were able to win after starting with a loss, which may seem respectable, but half of those came when it was still a three-team tournament prior to 1983.”
BIG WIN FOR THE LEAGUE
This wasn’t just a big win for the Sea Dogs franchise, it was a big win for the entire QMJHL.
Last night’s game marked the first time a QMJHL team has won a game at the Memorial Cup since the Drummondville Voltigeurs beat the Rimouski Oceanic 3-2 in overtime in Game Six of the 2009 Memorial Cup.
SPORTSNET STUFF
Well, it was night one for Rogers Sportsnet’s Memorial Cup coverage. It wasn’t a bad broadcast, but the HockeyCentral panel was rather... blah.
Some thoughts:
- It was quite obvious none of them HockeyCentral folks live and breathe junior hockey.
- Doug MacLean’s microphone was a joke all night long.
- Everyone seems to be having a hard time pronouncing “Beaulieu.”
- The on-ice camera thing was cool. You can watch it online during the game.
- Dave Cameron wants no part of in-game interviews.
- First time in forever that the Sea Dogs were on TV.
“He was our best player tonight by far,’’ Saint John defenseman Nathan Beaulieu said of DeSerres to the Telegraph-Journal. “You can tell he’s been here before and I can’t say enough about him.’’
"He made huge saves when he was down and out, especially on the power play," head coach Gerard Gallant said of his netminder to Yahoo! Sports. "He made two or three great saves when we thought they had open nets ... He was probably the difference tonight."
The Majors had seven power plays in the game and had a decent amount of scoring pressure on each.
"I don't know if I'd say one was better than the others," said DeSerres to the Toronto Sun. "To me, the biggest saves are the one that change the momentum for our team and help us get the win. There were a couple in the second period I made to keep us up a goal that I'll remember, too.
TOWELS
Rally towels were placed on each seat at the Hersey Centre before the game. Apparently a lot of them were thrown on the ice after the game
SPELLING ERRORS
The Toronto Sun is reporting that a big time fail was committed last night. From the newspaper:
Why were at least two Sea Dogs’ names spelled incorrectly on the centre-ice video board during pre-game player introductions? It might seem like a small thing, but it’s not. It’s bush league. We thought Don Cherry didn’t work here anymore.Yikes.
THE OFFICIALS
The big story of the game was the questionable officiating. The biggest controversy was on Saint John’s game winning goal when it appeared Zack Phillips was offside at the line. No call was made and Nathan Beaulieu netted the eventual winner.
"Yes," said Majors head coach Dave Cameron to the Toronto Sun when asked if Phillips was offside. "The tough part about that was it wasn't someone sneaking in away from the play. The guy was right there and they (the linesmen) made a mistake."
Along with that play was the bizarre delayed penalty that was called against the Dogs but the whistle blew when the Majors had possession.
There were also plenty of penalties, something that wasn’t seen in the Quebec league final.
Sunaya Supurji has a good story on all the events over at Buzzing The Net.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Because of the penalties each team had a plethora of power play opportunities. The Seas Dogs went 3/8 on the man advantage while the Majors went 2/7.
It was a physical affair and had some nasty scrums and whatnot. The two teams combined for 46 penalty minutes.
"Our Quebec league is known for not being a physical league and we have a different team than most of the Quebec teams," Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant said to Rogers Sportsnet. "We're a little bit more physical, a little more grittier and I thought tonight our guys tried to prove that a little bit."
Alexandre Beauregard had a rough night, taking four penalties for Saint John.
Could you imagine of Saint John and Mississauga meeting in a seven-game series? Patrick King has that story.
QUICK HITS
The game was sold-out but the television feed showed plenty of empty seats… the pre-game ceremony was 30 minutes long. The game didn’t start until 8:31 pm Atlantic Time… the Memorial Cup website is operated OHL/WHL style, meaning no shots, hits, or faceoffs for each individual player are recorded… Mickael Audette is the Majors backup goaltender. He played with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies earlier this season and lost his mind in a game against Saint John… teams are wearing an “EJ” stickers on their helmets to honour EJ McGuire of NHL Central Scouting. He passed away a few months ago… Wallace McCain’s funeral was yesterday in Toronto. The Sea Dogs – McCain connection was mentioned on Sportsnet… Michael Kirkpatrick was first star of the game with a goal and two assists… Zack Phillips returned from an arm injury. He hadn’t played since Game Four of the league final… to relive the game, check out the SN Live Blog Replay.
OPEN ICE HOCKEY POST-GAME
SPORTSNET POST-GAME
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs have two days off before battling the Owen Sound Attack on Monday night at 8:00 pm.
Photo Credits: Canadian Press, NHL, In The 'O' Radio
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