PRE-GAME: PEI Rocket vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Game Day
PEI Rocket vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, December 29, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Harbour Station

Visiting Team: PEI Rocket
Record: 20-14-1-3 (4th in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 3-0 loss at Cape Breton on Sunday
Leading Scorer: Joel Champagne: 36-18-25-43
Notes: The Rocket have five NHL draft picks: Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Jordan Southorn (Buffalo), Chris Doyle (New York Rangers), Benjamin Cassavant (Washington), and Joel Champagne (Toronto)… PEI has no New Brunswick native players on their roster… 4-5-0-1 in their last 10 games… have lost three straight games… the Rocket are ranked fifth in the league in penalty killing with a rating of 80.6%... 10-7-0-3 on the road this season and have lost three straight… Benjamin Cassavant and Chris Doyle each have six points against Saint John this season… Cassavant has been a Sea Dog killer this season, scoring four goals against the Dogs in five games… Brendan Wright has 12 penalty minutes against the Sea Dogs… Jarred Struthers and Adam Polasek are a team worse -5 against Saint John… on December 19, PEI traded disgruntled forward Brandon Street to Victoriaville for Bradley MacDonald… the Rocket will be missing therapist Kevin Elliot tonight. Elliot is the assistant therapist for team Canada at the world juniors in Saskatoon… Rocket assistant coach Corrada Micalef will be missing the game because he is the assistant coach for Team Quebec at the World Under-17’s in Timmons, Ont… Jimmy Oligny will miss the game due to Team Quebec duties at the Under-17 championships… the Rocket were victims three times in Saint John’s epic 22-game winning streak… goaltender Marco Cousineau shutout the Sea Dogs 4-0 on October 13 at the Civic Centre.

Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 32-6-1-0 (1st in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 5-4 Win at Acadie-Bathurst on Sunday
Leading Scorer: Nicholas Petersen: 31-22-23-45
Notes: Mike Thomas will miss the game because he is serving the second of a three game suspension for taking his helmet off during a fight… Jonathan Huberdeau will miss the game because he is playing for Team Quebec at the World Under-17’s… the Sea Dogs called up Andrew Langan from Woodstock before Sunday’s game in Bathurst. The Dogs will likely dress all seven defenseman again with the team playing a forward short… Stanislav Galiev leads all QMJHL rookies in scoring with 10 goals and 28 assists in 38 games played. His +30 rating is tops among first year players… have the league’s second best road record of 15-3-0-0… they are 9-1-0-0 in their last 10 home games but are coming off a 4-2 loss to the last place Halifax Mooseheads on December 17… have yet to allow a shorthanded goal at Harbour Station this season… have played the fourth fewest home games in the league… have the third worst penalty kill in the league with a rating of 74.4%... Mike Hoffman, Nicholas Petersen, and Michael Kirkpatrick all have a team high five points against PEI this season… Hoffman has had an eventful few games with the Rocket that include a fight, a fractured foot, and five goals in five games… newly acquired left winger Christian Morin makes his home debut tonight. In one game against the Rocket this season, he is -1 and has registered six shots on goal… coaches Mike Kelly and Gerard Gallant are PEI natives.

Saint John vs PEI:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
5-3-2-0-0-6
Home: 2-1-1-0-0-2
Road: 3-2-1-0-0-4
Goals For: 14
Goals Against: 14

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
8-6-2-0-0-12
Home: 4-4-0-0-0-8
Road: 4-2-2-0-0-4
Goals For: 31
Goals Against: 23

All-Time- Not Including This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
26-15-8-1-2-33
Home: 14-9-3-1-1-20
Road: 12-6-5-0-1-13
Goals For: 115
Goals Against: 110

Station Nation Facts:

• It’s the first and only Toonie Tuesday tonight at Harbour Station. With the purchase of an adult seat, special $2 youth tickets are available for Tuesday’s game (all tickets subject to $1 surcharge), the final home match of the calendar year for Saint John. According to the Sea Dogs’ Facebook page, fans can purchase up to 10 $2 tickets.
• The big rumor going around lately has Rocket goaltender Marco Cousineau heading to Saint John in a package that includes 17-year-old rookie Zach Phillips. No media source has confirmed the rumor.
• This is the last game at Harbour Station for 2009 and the decade.
• The Rocket were hit with the H1N1 bug earlier this season.
• In PEI’s last game, Cape Breton’s Olivier Roy shutout the Rocket on Sunday as he made 30 saves. Ben Duffy of the Rocket had a team high four shots.
• In Saint John’s last game, the Sea Dogs almost blew two three goal leads but hung on for a 5-4 road win in Bathurst. Tomas Jurco and Mike Hoffman both had a pair of goals.
• Results this season have been 6-1 PEI in Saint John, 4-0 PEI in PEI, 5-2 Saint John in Saint John, 4-1 Saint John in PEI, and 4-1 Saint John in PEI.

Important Info:
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297

Saint John Media: Radio- News 88.9 FM (www.news889.com)
Live Video Streaming: www.qmjhl.mytelus.com
Post-Game Coverage: www.stationnation.blogspot.com, Telegraph-Journal, The Guardian
Post-Game Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/user/seadogstv

Twitter
Follow us on Twitter @station_nation for in game updates during tonight’s game.