PHILLIPS PUTS UP FIVE POINTS IN WIN

STATION NATION PRECAP – OLYMPIC EDITION
FINAL: Sea Dogs 7, Olympiques 5

GATINEAU – Apparently, Zach Phillips doesn’t like the Olympics.

He doesn’t like the Gatineau Olympiques to much either, as he lit them up like a torch for two goals and three assists. His Saint John Sea Dogs would go on to victory by score of 7-5 on Wednesday night.

It was the game that nobody heard as News 88.9 aired the Canada Olympic Hockey game instead. It started well for the Sea Dogs as they led 6-1 after two periods. But the defense let their guard down in the final frame and allowed the Olympiques to score five goals.

Marco Cousineau stopped 23 shots on the night while Maxime Clermont and Derek Tait combined to allow seven goals on 32 shots.

Saint John went 0/4 on the power play while Gatineau went 2/5.

Zach Phillips had the only goal in the first period. His unassisted marker at 17:10 gave the Sea Dogs a 1-0 lead going into the intermission.

Saint John outshot the Piques 11-5 in the frame. Michael Kirkpatrick and Nicholas Pard both had two shots. No Gatineau player had more than one shot.

The only penalty in the period came at 00:31 when Vincent Bernard went to the box for Gatineau but they managed to kill it off.

Saint John took off in the second period. Jonathan Huberdeau scored his 14th of the year at 4:00 to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead.

Just 11 seconds later, Gatineau finally scored their first goal of the year against Saint John in two games played. Tye McGinn scored his 24th marker of the year to make it 2-1.

Phillips scored his second of the game at 8:50. That was followed by three straight goals that began with Tomas Jurco beating Clermont. Then Nathan Beaulieu scored at 13:35 followed by Mike Hoffman ending the second period scoring at 19:37.

All three goals - Jurco, Beaulieu, and Hoffman – were assisted by Phillips. Hoffman’s goal gives him 39 on the season which puts him just three back of tying Scott Howes’ team record of 42.

Shots in the middle stanza were 12-10 Saint John. The last time the Sea Dogs visited the Piques, the home team failed to register a shot on goal in the second.

Derek Tait took over in net for Gatineau in the third after Clermont allowed six goals on 21 shots.

In the third, Gatineau was determined to get back in this one. Hugo Laporte, Alex Noel, and Christian Ouellet scored three straight goals in under two minutes to make the score 5-4 Sea Dogs with half a game to go.

But at 15:37 Mike Thomas scored to give the Dogs back some insurance with his ninth of the year. Alexander Beaton, the only player who had scored a point against Saint John entering the game, scored at 19:35 to make things interesting but it was too late.

Shots in the third were 13-9 Olympiques.

NEXT GAME: Saturday night at 8:30 pm in Val-d’Or.