GAMEDAY
PEI Rocket vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Today, September 18, 2011 at 3:00pm
Harbour Station
PREVIEW
SAINT JOHN – Still looking for their first win of the
season, the Saint John Sea Dogs host the PEI Rocket this afternoon at Harbour
Station in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Please note that this game – along with all other Sunday home games
this season – will start at 3pm.
The Sea Dogs nearly got their first victory on Friday
night in Cape Breton. They had a 4-1 lead in the second period but couldn’t
hang on. The Eagles scored three goals in the final three minutes to win it
8-5.
Prior to Friday, the Sea Dogs had only been able to score
a single goal in both of their previous two games. In the last two games,
defense has been an issue as they have allowed eight goals against in each
contest.
Today, the Sea Dogs will try to make some improvements and
earn a win against the Rocket – a team they beat twice during the pre-season.
The Rocket are off to a 1-1-0-1 start. Their only win
came last Saturday when the beat the Screaming Eagles 7-4. They lost to the
Halifax Mooseheads in a shootout in their season opener and fell in regulation when they faced the
Moncton Wildcats on Thursday.
PEI has yet to win on the road this season.
The Sea Dogs beat the Rocket 5-4 in a shootout on August
27 in exhibition play at the qplex. On August 30, Saint John downed PEI 7-4 at UPEI.
NOTES: Ben Duffy leads the Rocket in scoring with six
points – three goals and three assists… Duffy and Matej Beran both lead the
team in goals scored with three each… Duffy, Victor Provencher, Marc-Andre
Levesque, Tomas Pavelka, and Michael Abbot all have three assists each…
Pier-Antoine Dion is a team low -4… Louick Marcotte has a team high seven
penalty minutes… Beran is tied for the league lead in power play goals with
three… Beran is second in rookie scoring with five points. Mooseheads star
Nathan MacKinnon leads the way with 10 in just three games… the Rocket have allowed 15 goals and scored 15 goals in total this season… PEI currently has the
best power play in the league with a 50% rating… PEI’s penalty kill is 10th
in the league and is running at 75%.
IN NET: Antoine Bibeau made the first two starts of the
season with Maxime Lagace away at Pittsburgh Penguins rookie camp. Bibeau has a
1-0-0-1 record to go along with a 4.36 goals against average and a 0.862 save
percentage.
Lagace made his first start of the season on Thursday in
Moncton. He allowed four goals on 39 shots in a loss.
LAST GAME: The Rocket are coming off a 5-3 loss in
Moncton on Thursday. Mac-Andre Levesque, Pier-Antoine Dion and Ryan Graves all
scored for PEI. Maxime Lagace made 35 saves. The Rocket went
2-for-6 on the power play.
Best Rocket Video We Could Find On YouTube: Hockey Night
in Canada’s Ron MacLean was at the Rocket’s home opener. What a human.
NOTES: Oliver Cooper now leads the Sea Dogs in scoring
with three points – two goals and one assist… Cooper’s two goals are a team
high. Stephen Anderson, Aidan Kelly, Kraig Paher, Alexandre Beauregard, and
Brock Morrison all have goals so far this year… no player on Saint John’s
roster has more than one assist this season. Nine different players have
helpers… defenseman Jason Seed is a team low -6. Colin Campbell and Devon
Oliver-Dares are both a -5… Anderson and Beauregard are both a team high +1…
Spencer MacDonald leads the Sea Dogs in penalty minutes with 13. He had a fight
in Friday’s loss against Cape Breton… Saint John has scored a league low seven
goals and have allowed 19… the Sea Dogs power play has been quite sluggish this
year, running at 8.3%. Only the Drummondville Voltigeurs have a worse power
play… Saint John’s penalty kill is ranked 16th in the QMJHL with a
rating of 57.1%.
IN NET: If the goaltending rotation continues, Sebastien
Auger should get the start in goal today. Auger allowed eight goals on 27 shots
in an 8-1 loss in Bathurst last Friday - his only start of the season.
LINEUP: The Sea Dogs are expected to have some reinforcements
in their lineup today. Defenseman Ian Saab (Vancouver) and forwards Danick
Gauthier (Phoenix), Alexandre Beauregard (Phoenix), and Scott Oke (Dallas) were
all returned to Saint John from NHL rookie camps. All four were on free agent invites.
The Sea Dogs that are still taking part in NHL camps are Stephen
MacAulay and Ryan Tesink (both St. Louis), Mathieu Corbeil (Columbus),
Stanislav Galiev (Washington), Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida), Tomas Jurco
(Detroit), Pierre Durepos (Los Angeles), Nathan Beaulieu (Montreal), and Zack
Phillips (Minnesota).
Also away are Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven
Anthony (Vancouver), and Eric Gelinas (New Jersey) who could return as
overagers but are more than likely to turn pro.
Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant is expected to back
today. He missed Friday’s game in Cape Breton because he was invited to be a
guest coach at Toronto Maple Leafs training camp.
IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY: The Sea Dogs wouldn’t even
be the playoffs if they started today. Saint John sits dead last in 17-team
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and they are the only team remaining who has
not gotten at least a point so far. Luckily, the post-season doesn’t start
today.
LAST GAME: The Sea Dogs are coming off an 8-5 loss
against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday night. Oliver Cooper scored
twice while Stephen Anderson, Aidan Kelly, and Kraig Pasher added singles.
Charlie Millen allowed seven goals on 36 shots.
START TIME: Please, please, please remember that today’s
game – and all other Sunday home games this season – start at 3pm.
Sea Dogs Sunday home games have started at 4pm for the
past six years.
OTHER GAMES
Acadie-Bathurst at Cape Breton - 4:00 PM ADT
Quebec at Blainville-Boisbriand - 4:00 PM EDT
Shawinigan at Gatineau - 4:00 PM EDT
Quebec at Blainville-Boisbriand - 4:00 PM EDT
Shawinigan at Gatineau - 4:00 PM EDT
THE RINK
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Average Attendance: 4,550
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.
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host the Val-d’Or Foreurs this Friday at
7:30pm at Harbour Station.
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, some card website, Google
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, some card website, Google
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