RECAP: Sea Dogs Lose 3-2 (OT)

FINAL: Saint John 2, Bathurst 3 (OT)

Lorne Webster | SN Staff

BATHURST - It was Friday the 13th and the Titan curse continued when Acadie-Bathurst (15-35-4-2) found a way to beat the Saint John Sea Dogs (28-18-2-6) 3-2 in overtime at the KC Irving Regional Centre.  

Despite having a difficult season overall, the Titan now have four wins over Saint John in their seven meetings thus far this season. If Saint John wants to earn home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs, they need to find a way to pick up their game against their Maritimes Division rivals - especially Bathurst.

Christophe Boivin scored the overtime winner for Bathurst. Andrew Ryan and Aaron Kerr also scored for the Titan while Dan Del Paggio and Adam Marsh replied for Saint John.

Ryan opened the scoring at 17:54, when he picked up a dump-in in the right wing corner, danced around Mark Tremaine and deked Sebastien Auger in close. The Sea Dogs had a decided territorial advantage, including taking roughly two dozen shot attempts which either missed the net or caromed off players in front. However, Reilly Pickard made 11 saves to keep Saint John off the scoreboard, while the Titan managed to get six shots on net in the first period.

Del Paggio banged in the rebound of a Mitch Dempsey wrap-around attempt to break the ice and tie the score 1-1 at 5:16 of the second. A Juraj Siska wrist shot about 10 seconds later hit the post behind Pickard. Kerr made it 2-1 at 13:20 when he took a nifty back door pass from Nicholas Blanchard and beat Auger in close with a backhand shot. Saint John out shot Bathurst 13-10 in the second period.

At 6:19 of the third, Marsh's wrist shot, from the top of the right faceoff circle, deflected off Pickard's stick and in to even the score at 2-2. Saint John led on the shot clock 16-2 in the third and 40-18 in regulation time.

A late Sea Dog penalty carried over to the extra session, and Boivin made them pay with a slap shot from the high slot that deflected past Auger for the game winner 44 seconds in. 

GAME DAY 54: at Bathurst

A preview of tonight’s game between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Acadie-Bathurst Titan…

When and where: Tonight at 7:30 p.m., KC Irving Regional Centre

TV/Radio/Webcast: Rogers TV/96.1 NewSong FM/QMJHL Live

Records: The Sea Dogs are second in the Maritimes Division and sixth overall in the QMJHL with a record of 28-18-1-6 for 63 points. The Titan are sixth in the Maritimes and last overall with a 14-35-4-2 record for 34 points.

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 3-1 win over the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday at Harbour Station. Adam Marsh, Juraj Siska and Thomas Chabot all scored in the win while Sebastien Auger made 30 saves. The Titan are coming off a 3-0 loss in Halifax on Saturday. Reilly Pickard made 25 saves in the loss.

2014-15 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 3-2-0-1 against the Titan this season while Bathurst is 3-3-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Jan. 7 at Harbour Station where the Titan defeated the Sea Dogs 6-4. Mark Simpson had two goals for Bathurst while singles came from Andrew Ryan, Jordan Maher, Aaron Kerr and Nicholas Blanchard. Spencer Smallman scored twice for Saint John while Justice Dundas and Mitchell Dempsey also scored. Daniel Vautour made 31 saves in the win while Sebastien Auger made 25 in the loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Titan: None

Random stat: The Titan have allowed just two shootout goals on 14 attempts this season.

New QMJHL Website Is Awesome

When it comes to the Internet, the QMJHL has had plenty of disasters. They seem to have learned from their mistakes though, leaving up the old league website while getting everything sorted out with the new one.

One of the upgrades is the box score, where you can now see where goals, shots, hits and faceoffs are actually taken and performed by who. Incredible.

Meanwhile, the OHL still isn’t recording shots or faceoffs. Get with the times, man.

Wednesday News & Notes

The #CBSE have turned it up a notch since the end of the trade period, winning a @QMJHL league high 10 of 12 games... pic.twitter.com/rfXuxQF2xL
— Screaming Eagles (@CBSEHockey) February 10, 2015

An interesting tweet was sent out by the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles yesterday, showing how each team has performed since the Jan. 7 trade deadline.

The Sea Dogs have had their struggles since the deadline, recording five wins in 14 games. They've been outscored 54-42. 

Saint John is in a fight for home ice in the first round of the playoffs. They currently sit sixth overall with a 28-18-1-6 record, six points ahead of the ninth-place Shawinigan Cataractes. The top eight teams will receive home ice.

Some other news and notes:

• The Hockey News got to know Charlie Coyle.
• The Canadian Press has an article on Thomas Chabot.
• The Cape Breton Post has an article on former Sea Dogs captain Olivier LeBlanc.
• The Sea Dogs are finally on Instagram.
• The Sea Dogs are back in action on Friday when they travel to Bathurst to battle the Titan at 7:30 p.m.

RECAP: Sea Dogs Win 3-1

FINAL: Moncton 1, Saint John 3

Lorne Webster | SN Staff

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs (28-18-1-6) defeated the Moncton Wildcats (34-16-0-3) 3-1 Sunday afternoon at Harbour Station. It was only the second win for Saint John in the seventh of nine meetings between the two this season.

Adam Marsh, Juraj Siska and Thomas Chabot scored for Saint John while Jacob Sweeney replied for Moncton.

The Wildcats opened the scoring on a power play at 10:49 of the first, when Sweeney sneaked into the slot and one-timed a Conor Garland pass past Sebastien Auger. For fight fans, Justice Dundas scored a decisive win over Lane Cormier before the seven-minute mark. Cormier barely saw the ice after that. Marsh's bullet to the short side over Alex Dubeau's shoulder, off a face-off win by Nathan Noel with 18.2 seconds left, tied the score at 1-1. Saint John had 14 shots against 9 for Moncton.

Siska converted in close after a slick three-way passing play with Dan Del Paggio and Luke Green at 12:13 of the second to give Saint John a lead 2-1. While the Sea Dogs did a great job of controlling the play, especially wearing down the Wildcats along the boards, Moncton outshot Saint John 11-5 in the second period.

At 10:55 of the third, Auger stoned Ivan Barbashev on a penalty shot with a big pad save to maintain the one-goal lead. With 0.7 seconds left in the game, Chabot lofted the puck from near his own goal line into an empty net to make the final score 3-1. Saint John led on the shot clock 16-11 in the third and 35-31 overall.

GAME DAY 53: vs Wildcats

A preview of today’s game between the Moncton Wildcats and Saint John Sea Dogs…

When and where: Today at 3 p.m., Harbour Station

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/96.1 NewSong FM/QMJHL Live

Records: The Wildcats are first in the Maritimes Division, third overall in the QMJHL and ranked eighth in the CHL Top 10 rankings with a record of 34-15-0-3 for 71 points. The Sea Dogs are second in the Maritimes and seventh overall with a 27-18-1-6 record for 61 points.

Last games: The Wildcats are coming off a 9-3 win over the Sherbrooke Phoenix last night in Moncton. Taylor Burke and Will Smith each had two goals while singles came from Dominic Talbot-Tassi, Liam Murphy, Lane Cormier, Noah Zilbert and Bronson Beaton. Alex Dubeau made 25 saves in the win. The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-2 win over the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Friday at Harbour Station. Mathieu Joseph had two goals while Justice Dundas, Samuel Dove-McFalls and Adam Bateman added singles. Sebastien Auger made 30 saves in the win.

2014-15 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 1-4-0-1 against the Wildcats this season while Moncton is 5-1-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Jan. 10 at Harbour Station where the Wildcats defeated the Sea Dogs 3-2. Noah Zilbert had two goals for Moncton and Taylor Burke added a solo marker. Saint John goals came from Jason Bell and Daniel Del Paggio. Alex Dubeau made 27 saves in the win while Alex Bishop made 28 stops in the loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Wildcats: Noah Zilbert

Random stat: Noah Zilbert has six goals and three assists in 17 games with the Wildcats this season.