DOGS BITE BACK

STATION NATION POST-GAME
FINAL: Sea Dogs 7, Mooseheads 1

HALIFAX – The Saint John Sea Dogs will head into the holiday break on a happy note as they downed the Halifax Mooseheads 7-1 on Friday night at the Metro Centre.

The Sea Dogs had lost two straight games, including an ugly 4-2 loss to the Herd at home on Thursday. Saint John sent a message tonight that they will not be beat again by the worst team in the league. The Sea Dogs got it done with their sticks and their fists as four fights broke out. Halifax leads the QMJHL in fighting majors so far this season.

Scoring for the winners were Nicholas Petersen, Stephen MacAulay, Mike Thomas, Nathan Beaulieu, Tomas Jurco, and a pair from Mike Hoffman. Halifax’s goal came off the stick of Linden Bahm in the first period.

Gerrad Gallant set the tone of the first period with a big hit on Pierre Durepos early on. Gabriel Bourret had the first solid scoring chance but his one timer hit the side of the goal. Then Nicholas Pard’s shot rolled straight through the crease. Play went on for over five minutes without a whistle following puck drop.

Saint John made it 1-0 at 6:46 after Mike Thomas beat Halifax starter Mathieu Corbeil five hole. Stephen MacAulay was knocked off the puck and was then picked up by Thomas who wired a wrist shot by the Moose goalie.

Just 35 seconds later Thomas thanked MacAulay as he fed the Nova Scotia native a pass in front. All alone in the crease, he picked up his own rebound and backhanded it in. Right after the goal, Tomas Jurco shot just wide on the next rush.

Nathan Beaulieu threaded a pass ahead to Nicholas Petersen but tipped the one timer just wide. Then the Mooseheads had a good chance off a high and wide Carl Gelinas shot.

Halifax got within one goal at 11:36 after Linden Bahm netted his sixth of the season. He picked up the back end of a pass in the slot and fired a shot glove side by Karel St. Laurent. There was a delay following the goal due to teddy bears falling from the sky on Teddy Bear Toss night at the Metro Centre.

Right after the bears were picked uped, Thomas and rookie Sawyer Hannay dropped the gloves in a fierce tilt. Both players got some shots in but Thomas had the better swings in the fight before the two headed to the penalty box.

Brent Andrews split the defense and went in alone later on but shot wide of St. Laurent’s blocker. At the other end of the ice, Michael Kirkpatrick’s shot went off the post and Petersen somehow missed the empty net on the rebound. All of this on a well exececuted power play.

Saint John outshot Halifax 13-8 in the first period.

Jamie Bishop nailed Petersen to start the second period. Petersen went to the bench favouring his neck but did stay in the game. He did return after a few minutes.

It was a good thing he did return as the Pittsburgh Penguins prospect ripped a slap shot of the post and in. The puck went in-and-out so fast the officials had to review the goal. It was deemed a goal, giving Saint John a 3-1 lead.

Charles Bety went in alone on a breakaway but St. Laurent stood tall and made the pad save.

At 6:25 Mike Hoffman came in through center and backhanded a shot five hole that beat Corbeil to make it 4-1 Sea Dogs. Then the Sea Dogs took complete control with Danick Gauthier a good chance at the side of the goal followed by MacAulay whiffing on an empty net chance.

Saint John made it 5-1 thanks to the Ottawa Senators prospect Mike Hoffman. He was left all alone in the slot and accepted a pass from Galiev. Galiev dug the puck loose from Trey Lewis and handed off to Hoffman in front who scored his twenty-third goal of the season.

Bety went in on another breakaway but was stonned by St. Laurent. St. Laurent fell on the play with the rebound going out to the hash marks. The goalie sprawled to make the next save and several others in a scramble.

Then at the other end Jurco tried to jam a puck through but couldn’t. Gauthier gave a cross crease pass to the hometown boy MacAulay but shot the puck into the pads of Corbeil instead of the open cage.

Stanislav Galiev almost destroyed Alex Lemieux along the boards. But Lemieux bent down and Galiev rolled right over him and onto his back.

Nathan Beaulieu made it 6-1 when he blasted a shot from just above the faceoff circle on a delayed penalty call. Kirkpatrick did all the work before passing it to Beaulieu who scored just under the cross bar at 18:52.

Halifax outshot Saint John 12-10 in the second period.

Jessyko Bernard went hard into the net to start the final stanza. He ran over St. Laurent but both were okay. At 1:27 Sawyer Hannay took a questionable interference penalty but the Sea Dogs could not register any spectacular scoring chances.

Trey Lewis, who was called up Wednesday from Miramichi, decided to fight the heavyweight in Mike Thomas. The Sea Dogs captain got the decision but Lewis did very well and held his own. With this being Thomas’ second fight of the game, he was ejected from the match.

Former Sea Dog Matthew Stoddard did what he did best when he played in Saint John by pulling off a nice deke but shooting wide. Then Jurco did him one better by pulling off a stunning dangle in front but shot it through the crease.

Stoddard took two for hooking at 9:55. The best chance for Saint John on the power play came when Huberdeau ringed a shot off the outside of the post. Yet another fight took place as Charles Bety took on MacAulay in a quick one. Both players got a couple blows in before the visitor fell backwards. MacAulay was sent to the dressing room, leaving room for goaltender Marc-Antoine Gelinas to sit on the bench.

Saint John took their first two penalties of the game beginning at 13:52. The Sea Dogs managed to kill off both penalties however. Yann Sauve took on Gerrard Grant in a round of fisticuffs at 16:15. Sauve never really fought back as he was significantly taller than Grant. The linesmen eventually broke up the two. The fight left only 14 players on the Sea Dogs’ bench.

Hoffman and Galiev went in on a two-on-one but Galiev missed the empty net on a hard shot. But Tomas Jurco ended the scoring at 19:24 to put the Dogs up 7-1. Gagne gave a nice pass along the boards to Jurco who made a spin move in front to the backhand and netted his ninth of the year.

Shots in the third were 10-8 in favour of Saint John for a game total of 33-28 Sea Dogs.

Mathieu Corbeil picked up the loss and fell to 8-20-0 on the season. He made 17 saves while Joel Grondin made nine in relief. Halifax went 0/2 on the power play.

Karel St. Laurent picked up the win and improved to 11-2-0 on the season. Saint John went 1/5 on the power play.

NOTES: Nicholas Pard left the game after the first period and did not return. His status is unknown… Benjamin Lecomte did not make the trip to Halifax with the team and is healthy… see Station Nation tomorrow for more game notes.

TOMORROW: Beginning at 1:00 pm AST, the QMJHL trading period opens.

NEXT GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 4:00 pm at K.C. Irving Regional Centre.