FINAL: Moncton,
1, Saint John 7
By Lorne
Webster | SN Staff
SAINT JOHN
- The Sea Dogs (8-3-0-2) returned to Harbour Station on Saturday evening
to face the Moncton Wildcats (8-5-0-0) for their "Pink in the Rink"
game, as part of the QMJHL's fight against breast cancer.
Saint John came
away with an impressive 7-1 win over their provincial rivals. Luke Green, Mitch
Dempsey, Nathan Noel (with two), Spencer Smallman, Adam Marsh and Mathieu Joseph scored for
the Sea Dogs, while Vladimir Tkachev responded for Moncton. The win moved Saint
John back into first place in the Maritimes Division.
Less than 24
hours after an embarrassing 7-0 loss in Moncton, the Sea Dogs got off to an
excellent start. Just 31 seconds into the game, an Adam Marsh shot got past
Alex Dubeau but hit the post and did not completely cross the line.
Just before the
8:00 mark, Wildcat Kyle Tibbo took a run at Sam Dove-McFalls and caught the
young Sea Dog in the head. With Dove-McFalls lying on the ice, Mathieu Joseph
stepped in to fight Tibbo. As a result, Joseph earned instigator penalties but
Tibbo was given a charging major and game misconduct in addition to a fighting
major. Less than two minutes later, Luke Green joined the rush, took a feed
from Smallman and unleashed a slap shot to score his first QMJHL goal. At
11:04, Mitch Dempsey snapped a feed from Mark Tremaine past Dubeau to score the
Sea Dogs first power play goal in ages. Less than a minute later, Nathan Noel
converted Saint John's second power play goal off a scramble in which both
Marsh and Adam Bateman were stopped by Dubeau. At 14:39, during a Moncton power
play, Vladimir Tkachev waltzed down the wing and sent a laser over Sebastien
Auger's shoulder to cut the Sea Dogs' lead to 3-1. Saint John lead on the shot
clock 13-8.
Early in the
second period, Smallman scooped up a neutral zone turnover by Connor Garland,
broke away with Adam Marsh and converted on a lovely give and go to extend the
lead to 4-1. With Chris Lalonde in the box late in the second, the Sea Dogs'
backstop came up with a huge save off of a two-on-none breakaway shot by
Tkachev on a feed from Ivan Barbashev. Otherwise, the rest of the period was
pretty much back and forth. However, the referees drew the ire of head coach
Ross Yates by mysteriously awarding the Wildcats two power plays out of scrums
initiated by the Wildcats. That score would hold up even though the Wildcats
out shot Saint John 12-7 in the period.
At 12:35 of the
third, the Sea Dogs power play connected again as Marsh took a clean faceoff
win by Noel and sent a rocket to the top corner to extend the Sea Dogs lead to
5-1. Just over two minutes later, Noel displayed some fine golf skills when he
sent a wedge shot up and over Dubeau to make it 6-1. The Wildcats were reminded
that karma can turn around quickly, when Mathieu Joseph scored at 15:50 set the
final score at 7-1. aint John held an 11-8 shot advantage in the third to
end the game up 32-28 on the shot clock.
Three goals by
Saint John during the charging major penalty to Kyle Tibbo erased the Sea Dogs’
bad memories from Friday night and helped carry them to a dominating win in
their awesome 'Pink in the Rink' jerseys.
SN PLAYERS OF
THE GAME
While
Nathan Noel and Adam Marsh led the offence and Sebastien Auger recovered
from a rare off night, it was Mathieu Joseph and Mitch Dempsey who helped set
the tone for a hard working Sea Dogs team on the night.
STATS
NOTES
- Moncton's Will Smith was suspended for the game, following a kneeing major on Friday.
- Alex Kealey celebrated his 17th birthday but did not dress for Saint John. Bobby Dugan, Braydon Blight, Bailey Webster and Matt Green also sat out for Saint John.
- Saint John's power play finally showed signs of life by going 3-for-6.
- The Sea Dogs showed much more discipline and only allowed two power plays, in which Moncton scored their only goal.
- Ross Yates appeared to be sending a message to Moncton head coach Darren Rumble late in the game, when he sent out the Noel line on a power play with less than two minutes left. On Friday, not only did Rumble use his top power play unit with the Wildcats in full control of the game in the third period... but he also called a time out while up 7-0.
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs
host the Baie-Comeau Drakkar next Saturday at 7 p.m. Then, Sunday afternoon at
3 p.m., the 2015 Memorial Cup host Quebec Remparts come to Harbour Station for
their only regular season visit.
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