Recap: Sea Dogs win 5-1

FINAL: Saint John 5, Moncton 1

DIEPPE, NB - The Saint John Sea Dogs picked up their second straight win of the pre-season on Friday.

Louis Dumais, Pavel Simek, Eliott Simard, Danny Akkouche and Cael MacDonald all scored in Saint John's 5-1 win over the Moncton Wildcats at Dieppe's UNIplex. Invite Tomasz Szczerba, playing in his first game of the pre-season, recorded two assists.

Olivier Brideau, who will likely be one of Saint John's goaltenders this season, played the entire game in net, making 22 stops in the win. He looked calm and confident throughout the match.

Moncton's lone goal came from Ben Mercer, who tied the game at 1-1 in the second period. Simek scored late in the frame and then Saint John netted three in the third to make it a 5-1 final.

Keegan Warren allowed a goal on 14 shots in the first half of the game. Kiefer Thompson allowed four goals on 20 shots in the second half of the contest.

The Sea Dogs defeated the Wildcats 5-2 in Fredericton on Thursday. The two teams don't meet again until Oct. 1.

LINEUP

Bucaro - Laforge - Reinhart

Simek - Cournoyer - Mateiko

MacDonald - Beaudry - Simard

Szczerba - Akkouche - Dumais

Tivey - Cosman

Cloutier - Dickie

Gartley - Tracey

Brideau

Robinson

NEW NAMES

A few players sported Sea Dogs jerseys who were not on the team's training camp roster.

• 18-year-old forward Noah Reinhart from Dundas, ON spent last season with the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs under-18 squad and the GOJHL's St. Catharines Falcons. 
• 17-year-old forward Tomasz Szczerba from Toronto posted two goals in 26 OJHL games with the Aurora Tigers last season.
• 18-year-old defenseman Nate Tivey from Burlington, ON recorded three goals and 24 points in 42 games with the GOJHL's Hamilton Kilty B's last season. Elite Prospects has him committed to the BCHL's Cowichan Valley Capitals for the upcoming campaign.

BACK-TO-BACK: Forwards Benjamin Beaudry, Eliott Simard and Danny Akkouche; defensemen Zachary Cloutier, Ian Dickie and Jake Tracey; and goaltender Justin Robinson all dressed for a second straight game.

DEBUTS: Saint John's picks in this year's CHL Import Draft, forwards Pavel Simek and Eriks Mateiko, made their pre-season debuts on Friday. Simek looked very quick at times and scored a nice goal in the second period - which proved to be the winner.

NOTES: According to the lineup sheet, Jacob Beaulieu served a one-game suspension for the kneeing major he earned in Thursday's game... returning players Nico Laforge and Hunter Gartley played in their first pre-season games of the year... Natan Grenier, a Sea Dogs draft pick in 2021, was on Moncton's top pairing with Adam Fortier-Gendron, the Wildcats' top pick in this year's QMJHL Entry Draft... Eliott Simard and defenseman Ian Dickie both recorded five shots... Salvatore Bucaro and Raine Nadeau had a very short fight with 0.8 seconds remaining in regulation... rumours of Wild Willie's retirement appear to have been false. The long-time Wildcats mascot was in the building... attendance was 496.

WATCH

The game can be viewed in its entirety below.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host Gordie Dwyer and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Fredericton's Aitken Centre.