GAME DAY
2011 President’s Cup Final – Game Five
Gatineau Olympiques vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, May 13, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Harbour Station
SERIES STATUS
The Saint John Sea Dogs currently lead the best-of-seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship series 3-1 over the Gatineau Olympiques.
PREVIEW
The Saint John Sea Dogs are just a win away from their first President’s Cup title as they enter tonight’s Game Five against the Gatineau Olympiques with a 3-1 series advantage. It is the first time in their six-year history that they are a single victory away from advancing to the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Saint John took a 3-1 series lead following a double overtime win on Wednesday night in Gatineau. Jonathan Huberdeau, Zack Phillips, and Nathan Beaulieu all scored in the regulation time of the instant classic. Ryan Tesink was the hero, netting the game winner with 44 seconds remaining in the second sudden death stanza.
Gatineau had a pair of goals from Philip-Michael Devos and a single from Tye McGinn. If not for the outstanding goaltending performance of Maxime Clermont, the game probably doesn’t go into double OT.
Both teams played well on Wednesday night. It was a battle between two great teams and that is something that should happen again tonight.
It’s cliché time for the Olympiques who have their season on the line tonight. But if there is any team that can come back in a series, it’s Gatineau. They came back from a 3-1 series deficit in the semifinals against the Quebec Remparts. They also came back from a 2-0 deficit in the second round to defeat the Drummondville Voltigeurs in six games.
For the Sea Dogs, they’ll probably want to play like their season is on the line. There is no point in taking this any further than it has to go. There is nothing that would be sweeter than winning the trophy on home ice.
Buckle up. The President's Cup is in the building. The biggest game in Sea Dogs history is just hours away.
REGULAR SEASON NUMBERS
| Gatineau | Saint John | |
| Record | 43-17-3-5 (3rd West) | 58-7-1-2 (1st Maritimes) |
| Home Record | - - - | 32-0-1-1 |
| Road Record | 20-8-2-4 | - - - |
| Streak | 9-0-0-0 | 2-0-0-0 |
| Last 10 | 9-1-0-0 | 8-2-0-0 |
| Goals For | 243 | 324 |
| Goals Against | 193 | 165 |
| Goals/Game | 3.57 (9th) | 4.76 (1st) |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.84 (5th) | 2.43 (1st) |
| Shots/Game | 28.03 (13th) | 36.81 (1st) |
| Shots Against/Game | 24.78 (1st) | 26.96 (5th) |
| Overall PP | 22.3% (10th) | 25.1% (6th) |
| Home PP | - - - | 24.4% (8th) |
| Road PP | 23.3% (8th) | - - - |
| Overall PK | 79.2% (10th) | 83.7% (1st) |
| Home PK | - - - | 86.1% (1st) |
| Road PK | 79.8% (9th) | - - - |
| PIM/GAME | 12.5 (16th) | 13.1 (13th) |
SERIES SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Game 1 - Thu May 5 | 7:00 PM | Gatineau 1 @ Saint John 2
Game 2 - Sat May 7 | 7:00 PM | Gatineau 3 @ Saint John 3
Game 3 - Mon May 9 | 8:30 PM | Saint John 5 @ Gatineau 0
Game 4 - Wed May 11 | 8:30 PM | Saint John 4 @ Gatineau 3
Game 5 - Fri May 13 | 7:30 PM | Gatineau @ Saint John
Game 6 - Sun May 15 | 8:00 PM | * Saint John @ Gatineau
Game 7 - Mon May 16 | 7:00 PM | * Gatineau @ Saint John
*If necessary
Maxime Clermont is expected to start in net for Gatineau this evening. The News Jersey Devils prospect has a playoff record of 10-8-1-0, a 2.26 goals against average, and a 0.925 save percentage.
Jacob DeSerres is expected to start in goal for Saint John. The 20-year old has a record of 11-2-0-0, a goals against average 2.01, and a save percentage of 0.917. He leads the QMJHL in both save percentage and GAA.
THE INJURIES
The injury bug has hit Saint John hard this round.
Michael Kirkpatrick has missed the last four games with an upper body injury while Steven Anthony has missed three straight contests with a lower body injury. The statuses of the two veteran forwards for tonight’s game are both unknown.
In Wednesday’s game, Zack Phillips appeared to hurt his shoulder. According to NHL.com yesterday, “Phillips, who has nine goals in the playoffs, did suffer an upper-body injury and didn't play in the third period and overtimes. Coach Gerard Gallant admitted after the game that his injury isn't thought to be serious.” There were several reports that Phillips was standing in the Sea Dogs tunnel with an ice pack on his shoulder.
Lastly, judging by several tweets from Sea Dogs players, forward Jason Cameron is suffering from some kind of medical issue. He sounds doubtful for tonight’s game.
Spare players the team is currently carrying are forward Devon Oliver-Dares, defenseman Spencer MacDonald, and goaltender Jacob Edwards.
POOR GERRY DEE
Comedian Gerry Dee is at the Imperial Theatre tonight. His show, unfortunately, takes place during tonight’s events at Harbour Station.
Dee tweeted: “Show in Saint John tonight. Sea Dogs playing on the same night. I will lose that battle LOL. Hoping for the overflow. Still great numbers.”
MORE OF THE SAME
Olympiques head coach Benoit Groulx is expecting his club to play the same game as they did on Wednesday.
"It's 3-1 now and we'll play one game at a time and not change anything," Groulx said to the Ottawa Citizen. "What we want is to play the next game the same way."
His comments aren’t much of a surprise after the Sea Dogs dominated Game Three, winning 5-0. Gatineau played very well in the first two games at Harbour Station and again in Game Four.
"The game you saw, that's the Gatineau Olympiques," Groulx said. "Not elegant but hard working and we didn't let up for one second.
"We have to have the same type of game. Our chance for the best result is to keep it tight. We've done that three out of four and that's our goal Friday, to have a one-goal game and hopefully the good bounce will be on our side."
The past couple of days have been pretty exciting for Saint John native Ryan Tesink who scored the biggest goal in club history on Wednesday night.
"It was a little tough to sleep," Tesink said to the Telegraph-Journal in a story that appeared on the front page of the newspaper. "I was pretty excited.''
"It's pretty surreal right now,'' Tesink said of the attention. "But I just want to win here and go to the Memorial Cup. That would be a dream season.''
COLE PENDER
From David Kelly’s Twitter, some sad news about Sea Dogs super fan Cole Pender.
“Pray for Cole Pender he is in the hospital and will miss game 5, He is totally crushed and cried hard all day!”Pender has been battling leukemia.
BACK AT HOME
The Sea Dogs are 6-2-0-0 on Harbour Station ice this post-season. One of their two loses came last Saturday against Gatineau in Game Two of the final.
Saint John has outscored their opposition 36-14 at home.
The Dogs have only clinched two series all-time at Harbour Station. One was in the first round of last year’s playoffs against PEI and the second was in third round against Victoriaville last season.
SOLD OUT
Tonight’s game is completely sold out. It has been sold out since Tuesday morning.
There are a few folks on Kijiji who are looking for tickets.
At the moment, this game will not be aired on television anywhere.
THE RINK
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 4,478
Playoff Average Attendance: 5,117
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, Le Droit, Ottawa Citizen
Live Coverage: Follow Station Nation on Twitter (www.twitter.com/station_nation) or follow the Live Blog on this site for live coverage of tonight’s game.
AFTER THE BUZZER
If Saint John loses tonight, Game Six will be Sunday in Gatineau at 8:00 pm. If Saint John wins, their next game will be Friday in Mississauga against the Majors.
No comments:
Post a Comment