GAMEDAY 52 - at Bathurst

GAMEDAY

Saint John Sea Dogs vs Acadie-Bathurst Titan

Tonight at 7:30pm

Radio: News 88.9 | Webcast: Telus | TV: None | Live: @station_nation

KC Irving Regional Centre – Bathurst, NB

PREVIEW

BATHURST – As the biggest snow storm of our life time enters the province, the Saint John Sea Dogs head north to battle the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tonight. Game time is 7:30pm at the KC Irving Regional Centre.

These are some bad times in Sea Dogs land. Saint John has lost seven straight games entering tonight’s road contest. Their last win was a shootout victory over the last-place Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on January 19. Their last regulation time win was on December 31.

The Dogs have been trying to get their 20^th win of the season for a long time now. They enter action this evening with a 19-31-1-0 record and sit fifth in the Telus Maritimes Division and 15^th overall in the league.

Saint John is five points up on the Sherbrooke Phoenix (16^th) and nine points ahead of the Shawinigan Cataractes (17^th). The top 16 teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League make the playoffs.

The team ahead of the Sea Dogs in the standings is the Titan. They’ve played three games than the Sea Dogs but have a significant nine-point lead on Saint John. Bathurst is 21-27-5-1 on the season and sit fourth in the division and 14^th overall.

The Titan have not been too hot of late either. They are just 3-6-1-0 over their past 10 games.

Bathurst is led by Zach O’Brien who has 75 points in 52 games this season. Jakub Izacky is Saint John’s leading scorer with 25 points in 46 games.

'The Move' Arrives In The NHL

We’ve all seen Jonathan Huberdeau pull off this move literally dozens of times. “The move” finally made its way to the NHL last night.

Huberdeau’s Florida Panthers won the shootout and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2.

Here’s Huberdeau speaking to the media after the game.

POSTSCRIPT: Rocket 6, Sea Dogs 3

A collection of recaps from last night’s 6-3 Saint John Sea Dogs loss to the PEI Rocket…

Our recap. Saint John returned to Harbour Station on Thursday night to battle it out against the PEI Rocket.

The Guardian’s recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs took some ill-timed penalties that led to a 6-3 loss to the P.E.I. Rocket before 3,111 fans Thursday night at Harbour Station.

News 88.9’s recap. Featuring Tim Roszell’s goal calls.

The Canadian Press’ recap. Ben Duffy had a goal and four assists Thursday as the P.E.I. Rocket defeated the Saint John Sea Dogs 6-3 in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs took on the PEI Rocket at Harbour Station in Thursday’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action as PEI extended their wins streak with a 6-3 victory in front of 3,112 fans.

PEIRocket.com’s recap. The PEI Rocket won their 4th game in a row this evening doubling up the Saint John Sea Dogs 6-3 at Harbour Station in Saint John. 

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without Connor Donaghey (healthy), Matthew Highmore (lower body), Jeremy Doucet (healthy), and Jurij Repe (sore hand) on Thursday night.

Not playing tonight because of my hand ( to sore ) #injury #notgood
— Jurij Repe (@JurijRepe) February 7, 2013

RECAP: Doubled Up. Dogs Lose 6-3.

FINAL: PEI 6, Saint John 3

By Tim Lumsden

SN Staff

SAINT JOHN – Saint John returned to Harbour Station on Thursday night to battle it out against the PEI Rocket.

Minding the goal for Saint John was Sebastien Auger, while Maxime Lagace took the guard position for the Rocket.

FIRST PERIOD

Matej Beran started it off for the Rocket at 3:45 with a slashing penalty.

The Dogs' first penalty came at 6:50 as Ian Saab went off for holding.

It was Pierre Durepos who sent the Rocket to the power play with his slashing call at 8:14, giving Jimmy Oligny the opportunity to score just 24 seconds later. The Rocket went up 1-0.

The Dogs kept giving the power plays away as Noah Zilbert took a seat in the box at 11:00 for slashing. Tomas Pavelka seized the moment and fired one by Auger at 11:54 to give the Rocket a 2-0 lead early on.

Anthony Cortese ended the period at 19:10 with a tripping call.

It wasn’t a great opening frame by the Sea Dogs. Shots were 15-7 in favour of the Rocket.

SECOND PERIOD

Erik Robichaud and Victor Provencher each added goals for the Rocket early in the middle stanza. Robichaud scored at 1:30 and Provencher at 3:02, making it 4-0

Frustration began to build and became apparent as Justin Dickinson headed off for cross checking at 3:17. Matej Beran was next to find the box at 3:50 for slashing, followed by Louik Marcotte at 5:31 for the same.

Pierre Durepos was vindicated of his earlier penalty as he scored on a point shot at 5:49 thanks to assists from Villemaire and Izacky. With that, the Dogs trailed 4-1.

Zilbert headed to the box again at 10:13, this time for holding.

Ben Duffy scored the next Rocket goal at 12:14, raising the score 5-1.

Interference was the call for Erik Robichaud at 12:50. He wasn't the only one however as teammate Ryan Graves pulled the same mistake at 17:23.

Shots were 16-12 Saint John in the second.

Sea Dogs Lineup vs Rocket

SAINT JOHN – Welcome to Harbour Station. The Sea Dogs will try to break a six-game losing streak tonight against the PEI Rocket on a cold February day in Saint John.

Here’s what Saint John’s listed line combinations and defense pairings look like:

Villemaire – Anderson – Izacky

Tsogkas – Cameron – Brown

Cooper – Smallman – Zilbert

Malone – Cuomo – Dickinson

Durepos – Weckworth

Saab – Duda

LeBlanc – Abbott

Auger

Fournier

Saint John scratches are: Connor Donaghey, Matthew Highmore, Jeremy Doucet, and Jurij Repe.

In other news, Rocket forward Yan-Pavel Laplante will make his season debut for the Rocket and Community returns to your TV set.

As always, follow @station_nation on Twitter for in-game updates.

GAMEDAY 51 - vs Rocket

GAMEDAY

PEI Rocket vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Tonight at 7:00pm

Radio: News 88.9 | Webcast: Telus | TV: None | Live: @station_nation

Harbour Station – Saint John, NB

PREVIEW

SAINT JOHN – Two teams. Two different kinds of streaks.

The Saint John Sea Dogs host the Prince Edward Island Rocket this evening at 7pm at Harbour Station. The Sea Dogs will be looking to end a six-game losing streak while the Rocket will look to win their fourth straight.

Both teams have something to play down the stretch. The Sea Dogs, who sit 15^th overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, are just trying to make the playoffs. On the flip side, the Rocket, who sit eighth overall, are in quite a battle in the middle of the standings to try and get home ice advantage for the first-round.

Saint John enters play today with a 19-30-1-0 record and sit fifth in the Telus Maritimes Division. Over their six-game losing skid, they have picked up just one point and that came last Saturday in Shawinigan where they lost in overtime. The Dogs are 1-8-1-0 in their past 10 games.

Scoring has certainly been an issue over the past month for Saint John with the departure of Jonathan Huberdeau and the trading of many veterans. Jakub Izacky is the club’s active leading scoring with 15 goals and nine assists for 24 points in 45 games.

Meanwhile, the Rocket enter action with a 28-20-2-0 record. They sit third overall in the Maritimes and are well behind the second-place Moncton Wildcats and first-place Halifax Mooseheads.

PEI is home to two of the league’s top scorers. Josh Currie sits second in scoring with 78 points while Ben Duffy sits fourth with 77.

Tonight's game will kick off another busy few days for the Sea Dogs. They travel to Bathurst tomorrow and host the Rimouski Oceanic on Sunday.