Friday, March 18, 2011
KIRKPATRICK, THOMAS QUESTIONABLE
From today’s Telegraph-Journal:
Meanwhile, 20-year-old forwards Michael Kirkpatrick (minor hip flexor) and Mike Thomas (lower-body bruise) are questionable for tonight's game.Kirkpatrick was a late scratch in Wednesday’s 5-2 loss against the Prince Edward Island Rocket. Saint John’s all-time leading scorer is third in team scoring this season with 29 goals and 50 assists in 62 matches.
Thomas’ injury likely happened in Wednesday’s game. The fifth-year Sea Dogs and captain of the top-ranked junior team in the land has 14 goals and 10 assists in 57 games this year.
The two shouldn’t be greatly missed as the Dogs host the 16th overall Screaming Eagles in a first-round playoff preview tonight. It would be unfortunate if neither 20-year old could play in the final weekend of the regular season, but, this is the time of year impact players are often given time off to rest up for the post-season.
Saint John wraps up the 2010-11 campaign Sunday at Harbour Station versus PEI and kick off their playoff run next Friday against Cape Breton.
PRE-GAME: vs Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
GAME DAY
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, March 18, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Harbour Station
PREVIEW
SAINT JOHN – Well here we are in the final weekend of the 2010-11 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season and the Saint John Sea Dogs are closing in on some league history.
The Sea Dogs host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles this evening at Harbour Station in a match that means nothing in the standings. But the game does mean something as a win would put the Dogs within one victory of tying the all-time QMJHL record for wins in a single season. A win would also keep Saint John’s hopes of becoming the first team in league history to go an entire season without losing a regulation game on home ice.
After this evening’s game, the Dogs host the Prince Edward Island Rocket on Sunday at Harbour Station. It is fan appreciation day and a limited amount of tickets are available.
But for now, the Sea Dogs are focused on this evening’s tilt with the Screaming Eagles. It was confirmed last weekend these two teams would meet in the first round on playoffs which will hopefully add some flavour to tonight’s match.
Saint John is 56-7-1-2 but are coming off a rare loss in Charlottetown on Wednesday night. The Rocket had their ways with Saint John, thanks in most part to the goaltending performance of Evan Mosher. PEI won the game 5-2.
The Sea Dogs have been pretty good against the Eagles this season and will look for a good bounce-back game tonight. Saint John is 6-1-0-0 against Cape Breton and 3-0-0-0 against them at Harbour Station this season. The two teams battled recently last Sunday in Sydney with the Dogs coming out on top 4-1 and also on March 5 at the Station with the home team winning 8-0.
The Eagles sit 16th overall in the QMJHL standings and last in the Maritimes Division with a record of 17-44-1-4. They play in Saint John tonight and close out their campaign Sunday afternoon in Halifax against the Mooseheads.
THE NUMBERS
| Cape Breton | Saint John | |
| Record | 17-44-1-4 (6th Maritimes Division) | 56-7-1-2 (1st Maritimes) |
| Home Record | - - - | 30-0-1-1 |
| Road Record | 7-23-0-2 | - - - |
| Streak | 0-5-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Last 10 | 2-8-0-0 | 8-2-0-0 |
| Goals For | 149 | 309 |
| Goals Against | 266 | 162 |
| Overall PP | 15.2% (16th) | 24.5% (5th) |
| Home PP | - - - | 23.2% (9th) |
| Road PP | 16.9% (14th) | - - - |
| Overall PK | 74.0% (17th) | 83.6% (1st) |
| Home PK | - - - | 86.1% (1st) |
| Road PK | 74.0% (17th) | - - - |
| PIM/GAME | 16.0 (6th) | 12.9 (14th) |
VIDEO: Capers for the Cup
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles shocked the internet today by actually uploading some videos on their once solid YouTube page.
Of all things to randomly post, the Eagles uploaded the video that was presented to the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup Selection Committee when they toured the Sydney area last month.
Here it is:
We’re not sure if this was the only video shown to the committee or not, but you have to wonder: where are the Screaming Eagles? Hardly any video of game action at Centre 200 or mention of the hockey club itself.
It’s a different presentation approach compared to what the Sea Dogs used.
Of all things to randomly post, the Eagles uploaded the video that was presented to the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup Selection Committee when they toured the Sydney area last month.
Here it is:
We’re not sure if this was the only video shown to the committee or not, but you have to wonder: where are the Screaming Eagles? Hardly any video of game action at Centre 200 or mention of the hockey club itself.
It’s a different presentation approach compared to what the Sea Dogs used.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 2, Rocket 5
By Station Nation Staff
FULL RECAP
ROCKET BLAST DOGS
CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – The Prince Edward Island took the lead and then went into shutdown mode Wednesday night in Charlottetown, handing the Saint John Sea Dogs a 5-2 loss in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
"It's a rewarding win obviously,” said Travis McIsaac to our boy Nolan Reid of the PEI Rocket Twitter account. “Everyone showed up and everyone emptied the tank tonight.
"You know beating a team like that feels good. Really, really good win for the guys."
The Rocket led 1-0 after one and 3-0 after two periods. The Sea Dogs’ powerful offense started to come to life in the third period, but by then, it was too late. Even when Saint John did apply some pressure, the Rocket would jump right back in and squash any chance of a comeback attempt.
PEI has been close to beating the Dogs at times this season and finally were able to put all together on Wednesday to pick up the win.
It certainly wasn’t the best game of the season for Saint John. The team looked flat at times and were not the dominant team that we have watched all season. The offense had a hard time generating anything, mostly because of Rocket netminder Evan Mosher
PEI opened the scoring at 17:33 of the first period as Olivier Croteau scored his eighth of the year to make it 1-0. Shots after 20 minutes were 9-8 in favour of the home side.
At 13:50 of the second frame, Ben Duffy netted his team-leading 36th marker of the year on backhand shot in close to give PEI a 2-0 advantage. 26 seconds later, Travis McIsaac scored to give the Rocket a stunning 3-0 lead halfway through the match. Shots in the middle session were 14-12 Saint John.
Who else other than Jonathan Huberdeau finally got the Dogs on the board in the third period after some hard work in the crease area. But the momentum created from the marker was quickly driven away by Duffy’s second of the match at 4:27 to give the Rocket back their three-goal lead.
On a power play at 16:26, Tomas Jurco scored to put the Dogs within two. But Alex Noel put the butter on the toast at 18:20 with an empty netter to give PEI a 5-2 victory.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
SHUTDOWN IN CHARLOTTETOWN
FINAL: Sea Dogs 2, Rocket 5
By Station Nation Staff
CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – Simply put, it was a rough night in Prince Edward Island for the Saint John Sea Dogs.
For only the seventh time this season, the Sea Dogs dropped a regulation Quebec Major Junior Hockey League contest. The PEI Rocket jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, going on to defeat Canada’s top-ranked junior team 5-2.
PEI had come close to beating the Dogs a few times this season and were finally rewarded for their efforts at the Charlottetown Civic Centre Wednesday. As usual, netminder Evan Mosher was a main reason as to why the Rocket were able to hang with and take down the Sea Dogs. Mosher made 37 saves in net – many of them in incredible fashion - and was third star of the game.
Scoring for the winners were Ben Duffy with two, Olivier Croteau, Travis McIsaac, and Alex Noel.
From a Sea Dogs perspective, this was just an ugly game. Were they tired from all the travelling last week? Were they sick and beat up? Or were they just not prepared for the contest since, in terms of standings and playoff positioning, had no meaning? Who knows, but the Saint John just didn’t have it tonight.
The offense had trouble getting any momentum going and the defense was a bit sloppy and unorganized all night long. But give the Rocket credit, they were able to shutdown the most offensively gifted team in the league for over two periods.
Jonathan Huberdeau and Tomas Jurco scored the lone goals for the Dogs. Jacob DeSerres, making his first start in over a week, made 24 saves in the loss. It was DeSerres’ first loss of 2011.
The game did have some meaning though as the loss means the Sea Dogs will not be able to break the all-time QMJHL single-season wins record. They can, however, still tie the mark if they can win their final two games of the season.
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