Recap: Sea Dogs lose 10-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Cape Breton 10

PORT HAWKESBURY, NS - It was a mismatch on paper and turned into a mismatch in reality.

A Cape Breton Eagles lineup filled with veterans hammered a much less experienced Saint John Sea Dogs squad 10-1 on Friday night in QMJHL pre-season play at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre.

The Sea Dogs had very few moments of sustained offensive pressure and struggled mightily to contain Cape Breton's offense. The Eagles scored on a number of odd man rushes and tap-ins that came courtesy of defensive mistakes.

It's obviously not a result the Sea Dogs wanted – but that's just the way the pre-season shakes down sometimes. Saint John was without their three NHL campers – Eriks Mateiko, Tyler Peddle and Matteo Mann – along with other regulars like Nicolas Bilodeau and Egan Beveridge.

The loss drops the Sea Dogs to 3-1 in pre-season play.

Elliot Dubé scored Saint John's lone goal, which came in the second period with Cape Breton already up 6-0.

Charles-Edward Gravel allowed six goals on 26 shots in the first half of the game while Justin Robinson allowed four on 21 shots in the second half. Those stat lines are ugly but, again, they weren't getting a lot of defensive help in front of them.

Emile Ricard scored a hat trick for Cape Breton; Noah Reinhart scored twice; and singles came from Callum Aucoin, Cam Squires, Jacob Newcombe, Xavier Daigle and Tomas Lavoie.

Jakub Milota made 16 saves in the win.

Shots in the game were 47-17 in favour of Cape Breton. Saint John was credited with just eight dangerous shots.

LINEUP

Rozzi - Miller - Reynolds

Groulx - Schenk - Beaulieu

Calder - Dubé - Cross

Ferdinand

MacLean - Amyot

Caputo - Duhamel

Bonnet - Scanzano

Gravel

Robinson

SCRATCHES: Players that were included on Saint John's latest pre-season roster update but did not play in this game: William Yared, Egan Beveridge, Eriks Mateiko, Tyler Peddle, Jeremie Richard, Nicolas Bilodeau, Joseph Ianniello, Matteo Mann and Nate Tivey. Richard has been added to the Amherst Ramblers roster.

NOTES: Goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel and forward Ben Cross both made their Sea Dogs debuts... goaltender Justin Robinson dressed for the first time this pre-season... Matthew Ferdinand, who was among the players cut on Aug. 22, dressed in this game... Saint John only dressed 10 forwards with William Yared being a late scratch... former Sea Dogs forward Noah Reinhart, acquired by the Eagles on Thursday, made his pre-season debut with his new club and played on a line with fellow ex-Dog Cole Burbidge. Reinhart recorded two goals and an assist... shots were 24-6 in favour of the Eagles in the second period... Cape Breton went 3/4 on the power play... this was the final meeting of the pre-season between the Sea Dogs and Eagles... this was Saint John's first pre-season appearance in Port Hawkesbury... attendance in the 1,000 seat arena was 1,350.

VIDEO

You can rewatch the game below.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Charlottetown Islanders on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. at TD Station.