GAME DAY
2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup – Preliminary Round
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors
Tonight, May 20, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Hershey Centre
PREVIEW
After a grueling 19 playoff games, the Sea Dogs begin their quest for a national championship this evening at the Hershey Centre as they take on the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors at the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Saint John won their first Quebec Major Junior Hockey League title on Sunday night in Gatineau, beating the Olympiques in double-overtime and take the series in six games. It was a wild series that featured two double-overtime contests and five games that were decided by a single goal. It was a series that should help prepare the team for this week’s tournament.
Like every team in this tournament, you could easily make an argument that Saint John is the favourite to win it all. After an unreal regular season and playoff run, the Sea Dogs are considered one of the greatest QMJHL teams ever assembled. Along with dominating the Quebec league, the Dogs also dominated the Canadian Hockey League rankings.
With Saint John being ranked No. 1 in Canada for much of the season, the three other teams in this tournament are not going to take them lightly. Even if they are from the CHL’s “weakest sister” league, there is no hiding the fact that the Sea Dogs won 74 of their 87 combined regular season and playoff games.
Tonight’s game will be a tough one for the Sea Dogs as they take on the Memorial Cup hosting St. Michael’s Majors. The home team is coming off a Game Seven overtime loss against the Owen Sound Attack that cost them the Ontario Hockey League championship.
Despite the disappointment of not winning the OHL, they still have a shot at a much larger prize. They’ve been preparing for this tournament for a year now. They’ll be ready to go tonight.
This should be a good one.
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
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
Zack Phillips is expected to play tonight after missing the last two games of the President’s Cup final with an upper-body injury. He’ll likely be reinserted onto the top line between Jonathan Huberdeau and Stanislav Galiev.
Steven Anthony is not expected to play this evening. He has missed the last five games with a lower body injury. Danick Gauthier has been taking his place on the second line with Michael Kirkpatrick and Tomas Jurco.
Also, rookie forward Jason Cameron is out for the tournament with a bruised kidney.
ROCKING THE ROAD
The Sea Dogs loved life on the road during the post-season and they will hope to continue that all week.
Saint John went a perfect 10-0 during the playoff sen route to a President’s Cup Championship. They outscored their opposition 46-22.
In the regular season they went 26-7-0-1 away from Harbour Station and outscored opponents 147-95.
GETTING COMFORTABLE
The Sea Dogs are going to have to deal with all the hoopla that is playing in the first game of the tournament. The Sea Dogs arrived in Mississauga on Wednesday and had their first practice yesterday.
"Everyone's comfortable on the ice, that's where our team is most comfortable", said Sea Dogs captain Mike Thomas to News 88.9. "Whatever's going around off ice we know that we'll always be ready when we step on there(the ice) so just to get back on the ice and kind of be together out there was really good to get our first practice in up here".
MISSISSAUGA ST. MICHAEL’S MAJORS (Host Team)
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
JP Anderson will likely start in net for Mississauga. From the Brandon Wheat Kings website:
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.AT HOME
The Majors will play on home ice throughout the Memorial Cup. During the regular season, the compiled a record of 25-8-0-1 and outscored opponents 142-83 at the Hershey Centre. In the playoffs then went 9-2 and outscored their opposition 49-26.
They will be playing at home, but it may not feel like they are playing at home at times. One of the storylines entering the Memorial Cup is just how much fan interest there is for this tournament. As of mid-week, there will tickets left for all but one game.
From Rogers Sportsnet’s Patrick King:
Since their opponents, the Saint John Sea Dogs, are unfamiliar with their rink and won't likely have a huge following in the stands, the Majors enjoy a distinct advantage. Mississauga would be well-advised to start guns blazing and put the Sea Dogs in an early hole as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champions familiarize themselves with their surroundings. A slow start by Mississauga could severely hurt their chances.REBOUNDING
How will the Majors rebound this evening as they play their first game since losing the OHL title game in overtime?
"We absorbed it on Monday," Majors head coach Dave Cameron said to Mississauga.com. "Any time you lose a game with that much at stake, it takes a while to get over it because that's how emotional you are in terms of winning.
"When you don't, you get that sick feeling in your stomach, but we're over it and we're very fortunate that we have a chance to eliminate some of that hurt and sick feeling by getting ready for the Memorial Cup."
NOTES
From the Majors’ website:
Prior to tonight’s game the teams will kick off the tournament in style with a couple of ceremonies.ON-ICE CAM
The first will be a special tribute to the 1961 Majors, the last Majors team to win a Memorial Cup, 50 years ago.
Next up will be a tribute to Trooper Marc Diab, who was killed in action while serving Canada in Afghanistan. The Majors will be wearing special jerseys tomorrow night to pay tribute to Marc.
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?Check it out HERE.
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.
THE FIRST GAME
According to Rogers Sportsnet, 29 of the 39 Memorial Cup winners since 1972 have won their first game of the tournament.
THE RINK
Arena: Hershey Centre
Year Built: 1998
Capacity: 6,000
OHL Arena Guide
MEDIA GUIDE
TV: Rogers Sportsnet, RDS
Radio: News 88.9, Sportsnet Radio Fan 590
Live Blog: Station Nation, Buzzing The Net
NEXT MEMORIAL CUP GAME
The Kootenay Ice and Owen Sound Attach meet tomorrow night at 8:00 pm.
NEXT SEA DOGS GAME
Saint John’s next game is Monday at 8:00 pm against Owen Sound.
Photo Credits: Yahoo, Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Majors website
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