GAMEDAY
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Drummondville Voltigeurs
Tonight, September 30, 2011 at 8pm
Marcel Dionne Centre
PREVIEW
DRUMMONDVILLE –Last year, Jonathan Huberdeau and Sean
Couturier were the main attractions when the Saint John Sea Dogs and
Drummondville Voltigeurs met. A year later, neither of them will even be in the
lineup as the Volts host the Dogs tonight at 8pm.
Huberdeau, selected third overall in June’s National
Hockey League Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers, and Couturier, taken eighth
overall by the Philadelphia Flyers, are both still taking part in training
camps with their teams.
Even without their best payers, both squads have had a decent September. The Volts are off to a 4-3-0-0 start and are winners of
three straight. They have outscored their opponents 27-18 over their seven
games without the services of Couturier.
Entering play today, Drummondville sits third overall in
the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and first in the Telus West
Division.
Saint John has been hot of late, winning four
straight contests after an 0-3 start to the season. Over the past four games,
the Sea Dogs have outscored their opposition 19-10.
This will be the Sea Dogs’ second game of a three-game
road trek through the province of Quebec. Saint John defeated the
Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 3-1 on Wednesday night, take on the Voltigeurs
tonight and then play the Victoriaville Tigres tomorrow.
Nathan Beaulieu, Ryan Tesink and Tomas Jurco all scored
in their 3-1 win over the Armada on Wednesday. Mathieu Corbeil got the win in
goal.
The Sea Dogs will be looking for a better result on this
trip to Drummondville than last year’s. They blew a 5-1 second period lead and
eventually fell 7-6 to the Volts in a shootout. Scott Oke had two goals in that
game while Danick Gauthier had a goal and an assist. Frederic Piche allowed six markers on 41 shots in the contest
The Sea Dogs' performance in Drummondville last year was
one of the few ugly moments of their 2010-11 campaign, something will try to not duplicate tonight.
NOTES: Danick Gauthier still leads the Sea Dogs in
scoring with five goals and two assists for seven points on the year. Stanislav
Galiev (3G, 2A), Oliver Cooper (3G, 2A) and Scott Oke (1G, 4A) are all second
in team scoring with five points each… Gauthier’s five goals are a team high…
Oke has a team leading four assists. Zack Phillips, Aidan Kelly, Tyrone Sock
and Spencer MacDonald all have three helpers… Gauthier and Oke are a team high
+5… Jason Seed remains a team low -8… MacDonald remains the team leader in
penalty minutes with 17… Saint John’s power play is running at 15.9% and is
ranked 15th in the league… their penalty kill is slowly improving.
The Dogs are now ranked 12th in the league with a rating of 71.9%...
Gauthier is tied for the league lead in insurance goals with two… Cooper’s five
points place him 11th in rookie scoring… the Dogs are 1-2-0-0 on the
road this year and have been outscored 17-9.
IN NET: It will be interesting to see who the Sea Dogs
start in goal tonight. Mathieu Corbeil has made three straight starts in net
which includes Wednesday's match in Boisbriand. With the Dogs set to play the No.
4 nationally ranked Tigres tomorrow, it wouldn’t be a shock to see either Sebastien
Auger or Charlie Millen get the call between the pipes this evening.
Millen is 0-2 with a 5.09 goals against average and a
0.839 save percentage. Auger is 1-1 with a 5.50 GAA and a 0.843 save percentage.
But, who knows, Corbeil could start again tonight. He is 3-0 with a 2.27 GAA
and a 0.926 save percentage since returning from Columbus Blue Jackets training
camp.
ROAD TRIP: This is the second game of a three-game road
trip through Quebec for the Sea Dogs. They beat the Armada 3-1 on Wednesday,
take on the Voltigeurs tonight and wrap things up tomorrow in Victoriaville.
STILL GONE: Jonathan Huberdeau is the last Sea Dog
remaining at a NHL camp. He scored his third goal of the pre-season last night for
the Florida Panthers in a 7-1 loss to the Dallas Stars.
We’ve reached the point where he could be sent today,
next week or in a month. Stay tuned.
LAST YEAR: The last time the Sea Dogs were in
Drummondville, this happened:
LAST GAME: Saint John is coming off a 3-1 win in
Boisbriand on Wednesday. Ryan Tesink, Tomas Jurco and Nathan Beaulieu all
scored in their first game back from NHL camps. Mathieu Corbeil made 30 stops
for the victory.
NOTES: Marc-Olivier Brouillard leads the Voltigeurs in
scoring with eight goals and five assists for 13 points. Andre Bouvet-Morrissette is second in team scoring with 10 points… Brouillard’s eight goals
are a team high… Bouvet-Morrissette has a Drummondville leading eight helpers
this year… Jonathan Oligney is a team high +9. No player on their roster has a
lower rating than a -3… Maxime Vellemaire has served 21 penalty minutes in five
games… other than Brouillard’s eight goals, no player on the Volts has more
than three… Brouillard is tied for second in league goal scoring… three of the
top 20 plus/minus players are on the Volts roster… Drummondville has the 14th
ranked power play with a rating of 16.1%... the Volts have the best penalty kill
in the league. It is currently running at 93.9%... 3-1-0-0 at the Marcel Dionne
Centre this season and have outscored their opponents 13-8.
IN NET: Domenic Graham has played the most minutes in net
for the Volts this season. He is 3-2-0-0 with a 2.22 goals against average and
a 0.919 save percentage.
Former Sea Dog prospect Simon Giroux is the other
Drummondville goaltender. He was originally acquired from the Volts in the
Chris DiDomenico trade but never played a game for the Dogs. He has spent the
past two seasons with Baie-Comeau and is now back with Drummondville.
COUTURIER: The Volts are still without their best player.
Sean Couturier is still at Philadelphia Flyers camp and is in the same position
as Jonathan Huberdeau is with the Panthers. Couturier had 96 points in 58 games
last season in Drummondville. He also played for Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey
Championships.
INJURED: According to L’Express today, Jean-Sebastien
Fournier and Jean-Philippe Mathieu will both be out of action tonight.
LAST GAME: The Volts hosted the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
last night and won 6-3. Andre Bouvet-Morrissette scored twice while Tommy
Giroux, Charles-David Beaudoin, Jerome Verrier and Jerome Raymond added
singles. Domenic Graham allowed three goals in 21 shots.
Best Voltigeurs Video We Could Find On YouTube: “Gotta
support the team.”
Halifax at Cape Breton - 7:00 PM ADT
Moncton at Quebec - 7:00 PM EDT
Rouyn-Noranda at Blainville-Boisbriand - 7:30 PM EDT
Acadie-Bathurst at Shawinigan - 7:30 PM EDT
Gatineau at Val-d'Or - 7:30 PM EDT
ARENA INFO
Venue: Marcel Dionne Centre
Capacity: 4,000 (3,038 seated)
Average Attendance: 2,343
MEDIA GUIDE
Radio (Sea Dogs): News 88.9 FM
Live Web Feed: Telus
Television: None
Post-Game Coverage: Station Nation, L’Express
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.
UP NEXT
The Sea Dogs wrap-up their three-game Quebec road swing
tomorrow in Victoriaville against the Tigres at 5pm AST.
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, L'Express
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, L'Express
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