Monday, December 31, 2012

GAMEDAY 37 - vs Wildcats

GAMEDAY
Moncton Wildcats vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight at 7:30pm
Radio: News 88.9 | Webcast: Telus | TV: None | Live: @station_nation
Harbour Station – Saint John, NB
PREVIEW
SAINT JOHN – A snowstorm cancelled their meeting yesterday, but the second half of the home-and-home series between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats will be played.

The Sea Dogs host the Wildcats tonight at 7:30pm at Harbour Station in the final Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game of 2012.

It’s been a memorable year for the Sea Dogs hockey club but the last few weeks certainly haven’t been good times. Saint John is currently on a four-game losing streak and are just 2-8-0-0 in their last 10 games. They have slipped to fifth in the Telus Maritimes Division and 14th overall in the league with a 16-20-0-0 record.

One of Saint John’s problems over their losing streak has been the lack of offense. They’ve scored just two goals over the past three games and that includes being shutout once. Of course, it’s not all that surprising with Jonathan Huberdeau away with Team Canada and Kevin Gagne traded.

The Dogs are led by Ryan Tesink in Huberdeau’s absence. Tesink has 38 points in 34 games this season but has just one point during this four-game losing skid.

Saint John has had success against Moncton this season – their last win came against the Wildcats on December 14 – so the Dogs will be hoping that continues this evening.

Moncton enters action today with a 23-13-1-0 record for 47 points. They sit second in the division and seventh overall in the QMJHL. They are 6-3-1-0 in their last 10 games.

One of the Wildcats’ issues this season has been divisional play. They are just 8-8-1-0 against teams in the Maritimes. To put that in perspective, Saint John, who has seven fewer wins than the ‘Cats, is 9-10-0-0 in divisional play.

The ‘Cats are led offensively by Allain Saulnier who has 51 points in 37 games this season.

THE NUMBERS
MonctonSaint John
Record23-13-1-0 (2nd Maritimes)16-20-0-0 (5th Maritimes)
Home Record13-5-1-08-11-0-0
Road Record10-8-0-08-9-0-0
Goals For/Game3.98 (4th)2.89 (14th)
Goals Against/Game3.30 (7th)3.82 (13th)
Shots For/Game35.08 (3rd)27.92 (14th)
Shots Against/Game33.95 (17th)33.39 (15th)
Overall PP28.6% (3rd)21.7% (10th)
Home PP33.3% (2nd)23.3% (9th)
Road PP21.2% (6th)20.0% (7th)
Overall PK75.3% (14th)79.9% (7th)
Home PK80.2% (10th)81.6% (8th)
Road PK69.3% (17th)77.9% (7th)
PIM/GAME17.015.6
Attendance4,1533,672

LEADING SCORERS
Moncton
PlayerGPGoalsAssistsPoints
Allain Saulnier37183351
Dmitri Jaskin31232750
Alex Saulnier37182947

Saint John
PlayerGPGoalsAssistsPoints
Jonathan Huberdeau30162945
Ryan Tesink34162238
Stephen MacAulay32171633

GOALTENDERS
Moncton
GoaltenderRecordGAASV%
Alex Dubeau17-11-1-02.990.886
Cole Holowenko5-2-0-03.830.865

Saint John
GoaltenderRecordGAASV%
Sebastien Auger16-15-0-03.110.905
Alex Fournier0-5-0-06.950.809

LAST GAMES
The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-1 loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan last night at Harbour Station. Stephen Anderson scored Saint John’s lone goal. Sebastien Auger allowed five goals on 40 shots in the loss.


The Wildcats are coming off a 4-1 loss to the PEI Rocket in Charlottetown on Friday night. Allain Saulnier scored the Wildcats only goal. Alex Dubeau allowed three goals on just 20 shots in the loss.


HEAD-TO-HEAD
The Sea Dogs are 3-0-0-0 against the Wildcats this season while Moncton is 0-2-1-0 against Saint John.

Their last meeting was on December 14 where the Sea Dogs defeated the Wildcats 4-3 in overtime. Ross Johnston, Alex Saulnier, and Ryan Penny scored to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead. Stephen MacAulay scored followed by two goals from Jakub Izacky to tie it up. Kevin Gagne scored the overtime winner. Sebastien Auger made 31 saves in the win while Alex Dubeau made 24 in the loss.

NOTES
  • Saint John will be without Jonathan Huberdeau who is away at the World Junior Hockey Championship along with Matthew Highmore and Olivier LeBlanc who are at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
  • The Wildcats will be missing their second leading scorer in Dmitri Jaskin who is at the world juniors.
  • Allain Saulnier is second in the league in assists with 33.
  • Stephen MacAulay and Yannick Veilleux each have 12 power play goals.
  • Veilleux has five game winning goals.
  • Jonathan Racine is eighth in the league in penalty minutes with 81.
  • Ivan Barbashev is sixth in rookie scoring with 30 points.

OUT OF TOWN
This is the only game in the league tonight. It’s a rare Monday nighter.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs travel to Halifax to face the Mooseheads at 7:00pm on Friday night.

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