PRE-GAME: Majors vs Sea Dogs

GAME DAY

2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup – Championship Game

Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Tonight, May 29, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Hershey Centre

PREVIEW
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Well, here we are.

It’s Championship Sunday at the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup and the Saint John Sea Dogs are just a single win away from a national title. Their opponent will be the host team, the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors, who have been preparing for this day for a full year.

The Sea Dogs and Majors met in the tournament opener and they will meet again to tonight to close it out. Saint John won the first meeting last Friday by score of 4-3. Nathan Beaulieu scored the winner on a missed offside call.

The Majors advanced to the final after going through the round-robin with a 2-1 record and then defeated the Kootenay Ice in the semifinal game to advance to the final. Saint John went 2-1 in the round-robin with their only loss coming in a meaningless contest against the Ice.

The question tonight will be who has the advantage: the well rested Sea Dogs are the momentum-gaining Majors?

Saint John has dealt with rest a lot this post-season. They swept Cape Breton, had a layoff, but took the first game against Victoriaville. They beat the Tigres in five games, had a week off, and then took the opener against Lewiston. They swept the Maineiacs, had a layoff, then beat Gatineau in the opener of the league final.

Another positive is that the Sea Dogs are coming off a loss. They have only lost two straight games once all year.

Saint John will be trying to become just the eighth Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team to win the Memorial Cup. The last QMJHL team to win the trophy was the Quebec Remparts back in 2006. A Sea Dogs win tonight and it will all but guarantee them the title of one of the greatest teams in Q-league history.

No matter what happens, it has been an incredible season in Saint John – a season that comes to a close on the final day of the Canadian Hockey League campaign.

May the best team win.

MISSISSAUGA ST. MICHAEL’S MAJORS (Host)

REGULAR SEASON

Record: 53-13-0-2
Goals For: 287
Goals Against: 170
Power Play: 21.85 (6th)
Penalty Kill: 79.8% (12th)

2010-11 CHL Final Ranking: 3

PLAYOFFS
Record: 15-5
Goals For: 79
Goals Against: 44
Power Play: 30.1% (1st)
Penalty Kill: 84.0% (5th)

HOW THEY GOT HERE
-Defeated Belleville Bulls 4-0 in first round
-Defeated Sudbury Wolves 4-0 in second round
-Defeated Niagara Ice Dogs 4-1 in Eastern Conference Championship series
-Lost to Owen Sound Attack 4-3 in OHL Championship series

2011 Playoffs Top Scorers:
LW – Devante Smith-Pelly: 20gp-15g-6a-21pts
LW – Maxim Kitsyn: 20gp-10g-9a-19pts
RW – Justin Shugg: 20gp-10g-9a-19pts
C – Casey Cizikas: 16gp-5g-14a-19pts

PROSPECTS (Drafted or Projected)
Casey Cizikas – NYI - 92nd in 2009
Brett Flemming – WSH - 145th in 2009
Maxim Kitsyn – LA - 158th in 2009
Devante Smith-Pelly – ANA - 42nd in 2010
Justin Shugg – CAR - 105th in 2010
Rob Flick – CHI - 120th in 2010
Gregg Sutch – BUF - 143rd in 2010
Stuart Percy - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 53
Joseph Cramarossa - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 63
Dylan DeMelo - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 121

EXPECTED STARTER
19-year-old veteran JP Anderson enjoyed a terrific playoff run for the St. Michael’s Majors, posting a 15-2-3 record, including four shutouts, with a 2.11 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage in 20 contests.

He has played in all four of Mississauga’s games at the Memorial Cup.

GOING FOR HISTORY
Justin Shugg won the Memorial Cup with the Windsor Spitfires in both 2009 and 2010. He can become just the second player ever to win three straight national championships.

THIRD TRY
After losing in the Gold Medal game at the World Junior Hockey Championships and losing in Game Seven of the Ontario Hockey League final, will the third time be the charm for Majors head coach Dave Cameron?

Many believe this may be Cameron’s last time behind the Majors bench because an NHL job may be coming soon.

Also in the world junior final and OHL final was Majors forward Casey Cizikas.

ON THE DOGS
From NHL.com, Cizikas on the Majors’ game plan against the Dogs:

"They've been a top team all year and with the way they've gone through the tournament, you know they can put the puck in the net," Cizikas said. "Our number one goal is to try to limit their chances and try to be as physical as possible."

SAINT JOHN SEA DOGS (QMJHL Champions)

REGULAR SEASON
Record: 58-7-1-2

Goals For: 324
Goals Against: 165
Power Play: 25.6% (6th)
Penalty Kill: 83.7% (1st)

2010-11 Final CHL Ranking: 1

PLAYOFFS
Record: 16-3
Goals For: 84
Goals Against: 39
Power Play: 27.4% (3rd)
Penalty Kill: 92.6% (1st)

HOW THEY GOT HERE
-Defeated Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 4-0 in first round
-Defeated Victoriaville Tigres 4-1 in second round
-Defeated Lewiston Maineiacs 4-0 in Semi-Final series
-Defeated Gatineau Olympiques 4-2 in QMJHL Championship series

2011 Playoffs Top Scorers:
C – Jonathan Huberdeau: 19gp-16g-14a-30pts
LW – Stanislav Galiev: 19gp-10g-17a-27pts
RW – Zack Phillips: 17gp-9g-15a-24pts
RW – Tomas Jurco: 19gp-6g-12a-18pts

PROSPECTS (Drafted or Projected)
Jacob DeSerres – PHI - 84th in 2008
Simon Després – PIT - 30th in 2009
Éric Gélinas – NJ - 54th in 2009
Steven Anthony – VAN - 187th in 2009
Stanislav Galiev – WSH - 86th in 2010
Mathieu Corbeil – CBJ - 102nd in 2010
Stephen MacAulay - STL - 164th in 2010
Jonathan Huberdeau - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 3
Nathan Beaulieu - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 5
Zack Phillips - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 15
Tomas Jurco - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 20
Scott Oke - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 44
Ryan Tesink - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 47
Gabriel Bourret - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 92
Aidan Kelly - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 94
Jason Cameron - 2011 eligible - ranked No. 124

EXPECTED STARTER
Jacob DeSerres is expected to start in goal for Saint John. The 20-year old played in 16 of the Sea Dogs’ 19 playoff games and recorded a record of 12-3-0-0 to go along with a 0.916 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average.

LINEUP NOTES
Jason Cameron is in Mississauga with the team but will not play because of his bruised kidney.

The big news of the day is that Steven Anthony will indeed play tonight. He has not played since Game One of the President’s Cup final because of a knee injury. How much ice time he will get is not known.

Michael Kirkpatrick, Simon Despres, Danick Gauthier, and Jacob DeSerres are all expected to play after getting the day off on Tuesday.

REDEMPTION

After losing 9-1 in last year’s Memorial Cup final with the Windsor Spitfires, Sea Dogs goaltender Jacob DeSerres gets his shot at redemption tonight.

“I don’t think anyone needs emphasize the importance of this game,” DeSerres said to the National Post. “It’s almost like you’ve got to tone it down a bit and say it’s just another game, and not try to hype it up too much. Because no matter what – just because of human nature – they’ll know the importance of it.”

"It can be the greatest feeling in the world or the absolute worst," he said to Rogers Sportsnet. "I saw the looks on Kootenay's (players') faces and boy, I don't want to feel like that again. I knew exactly what they felt like and I would much rather be on the winning side."

DeSerres was in net for both of Saint John’s round-robin wins.

THE LAST GAME
This will be the last time several Sea Dogs dress for a junior hockey game.

Mike Thomas, the longest serving captain in team history, will graduate. Also graduating will be Saint John all-time leading scorer Michael Kirkpatrick and goaltender Jacob DeSerres.

Then there is Simon Despres, Eric Gelinas, and Steven Anthony who could all turn pro next season. And who knows what might happen with Jonathan Huberdeau.

THE REST
Will the layoff hurt or help Saint John? From Loose Pucks:

The tournament format changed beginning with the 2006 event in which a day off was inserted between the semifinal and championship game. Since then, the team getting the bye into the final is 3-2 in the title game. Quebec (2006), Spokane (2008) and Windsor (2010) were the three teams to capture the title while Medicine Hat (2007) and Kelowna (2009) had the time off but fell in the championship game. Of the three teams that did win with the bye, Windsor and Spokane had the extended break like Saint John has had at this year's event. Quebec had the host schedule in 2006 so they had one fewer day off.

ON THE MAJORS
From the Mississauga News, Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant on the Majors:

“We know how they play,” Gallant said after yesterday morning’s practice. “They’re a competitive team and they work hard and finish their checks so we’re not going to change anything right now and it should be a very good game between two solid teams.”

OTHER NOTES

BURNING QUESTIONS
Patrick King of Rogers Sportsnet takes a look at some of the questions going into today’s game.
MVP?
Who will be the tournament’s most valuable player? Neate Sager has a list of six candidates over at Buzzing The Net.

SIMULATION
Steve Dangle simulated today’s game on NHL 11. The results:

If my NHL 11 simulation is correct, @MajorsHockey will be the @2011MemorialCup Champions. 4-1 win.

VIDEO PREVIEW



ON-ICE CAM
Sportsnet has some camera at ice level you can watch. From the Sportsnet website:

Why watch from above when you can be at ground zero with the sportsnet.ca on-ice cam?

Watch the entire 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup from a players' perspective as sportsnet.ca presents the on-ice cam for the entire tournament.

For every single game, sportsnet.ca will have a cameraman following the action from ice level, jumping into every scrum and fight to give you a unique view of the action.

Check it out HERE.

THE RINK
Arena: Hershey Centre
Year Built: 1998
Capacity: 5,429
OHL Arena Guide

MEDIA GUIDE
TV: Rogers Sportsnet, RDS
Radio: News 88.9, Sportsnet Radio Fan 590
Live Blog: Station Nation, Buzzing The Net

UP NEXT
The QMJHL Entry Draft is Saturday in Victoriaville.

Photo Credits: CHL, Getty Images, Telegraph-Journal, Getty Images, Majors Website