PRE-GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Halifax Mooseheads

Game Day
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Halifax Mooseheads
Tonight, February 17, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Halifax Metro Centre

Visiting Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 46-9-1-0 (1st in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 4-2 loss vs Cape Breton on Sunday
Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick: 55 GP-24 G-47 A-71 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).
Notes: The Sea Dogs are coming off a tough loss against the Screaming Eagles on Sunday. Saint John was completely outplayed by the Eagles despite the close score and shots on goal totals… Nathan Beaulieu has missed the last two games with an ankle injury after blocking a shot against Bathurst a week ago… Stephen MacAulay has missed the Sea Dogs’ last three games after suffering an upper body injury and returning home due to the death of his grandmother… Will Johnston, who scored the Dogs’ first goal against the Eagles, was sent back to Summerside of the MJAHL yesterday… first in the Atlantic division, first overall in the league, and are ranked number one in Canada for the fourth straight week… 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games and are coming a loss at home… have scored the most goals of any team in the league with 259… owners of the fifth best power play in the league with a rating of 24.3%. They allowed the game winner against Cape Breton while on the man advantage… 22-4-1-0 on the road this season and are 3-0-0-0 at the Metro Centre. 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 road games and have won three straight… had a seven game winning streak snapped on Sunday. Also snapped was Mike Hoffman’s 14-game point streak… have allowed the second fewest goals against on the road this year with 79. Halifax has scored only 69 goals on the road… one bad game has cost Stanislav Galiev the rookie scoring lead. He now sits one point back of the rookie lead with 54 points in 55 games. He leads rookies with a +34 rating but was a -3 against the Eagles… Nicholas Petersen has scored a team high six goals in five games against Halifax and has added two assists for eight points… rookie Zach Phillips has a team high five assists versus Halifax… Mike Thomas has 14 penalty minutes against the Herd in five games… not one player has a minus rating against Halifax. Rookie Pierre Durepos is a team high +9.

Home Team: Halifax Mooseheads
Record: 13-39-1-4 (6th in Atlantic Division)
Last Game: 2-1 loss at Rimouski on Sunday
Leading Scorer: Tomas Knotek: 50 GP-23 G-24 A-47 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Peter Delmas (Colorado)
Notes: The Mooseheads are coming off two losses in Rimouski on a road trip that saw them lose more than just two games. Carl Gelinas, Peter Delmas, Jessyko Bernard, Garrett Clarke and Pascal Amyot all got injured… Metro Halifax- Expect Mathieu Corbeil in goal and forwards Jessyko Bernard and Carl Gelinas in the press box tonight. Corbeil is expected to continue to start while Peter Delmas nurses a hip injury, while Bernard has an abdominal strain and Gelinas has a knee sprain… former Sea Dog Pascal Amyot, who suffered a shoulder/chest injury on the weekend, is day-to-day but should be healthy enough to play… no call-ups are expected, which would leave Delmas on the bench as a backup… 3-5-0-2 in their last 10 games and are coming off two straight loses… sit last in the Atlantic division and last overall in the QMJHL. They are 12 points out of the final playoff spot currently held by Lewiston… have scored a league worst 147 goals for… have allowed the fourth most goals in the 18-team league with 232 against. Moncton has allowed only 142… have taken the third most amount of penalty minutes with 958… Sawyer Hannay is second in the league in fighting majors with 13. That’s two back of former Moosehead Spencer Metcalf… have the third worst home record in the league with a record of 10-16-1-3. They are 4-4-0-2 in their last 10 games at the Metro Centre and are coming off two straight wins… Halifax leads the league in fights with 56 this season… Carl Gelinas has a team high three goals against the Sea Dogs this season to go along with an assist… Linden Bahm and Pascal Amyot are team worst -7 against Saint John this year.

Saint John vs Halifax:
This Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
6-5-1-0-0-10
Home: 3-2-1-0-0-4
Road: 3-3-0-0-0-6
Goals For: 27
Goals Against: 12

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
8-5-3-0-0-10
Home: 4-2-2-0-0-4
Road: 4-3-1-0-0-6
Goals For: 32
Goals Against: 28

All-Time-Not including this season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
26-11-13-1-1-24
Home: 13-6-6-1-0-13
Road: 13-5-7-0-1-11
Goals For: 86
Goals Against: 103

HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS THIS SEASON
Sep 20, 2009: Halifax Mooseheads 1 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 6
Oct 24, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 4 @ Halifax Mooseheads 0
- Despite firing 40 shots at Sea Dogs goalie Marc-Antoine Gelinas the Moose lose 4-0 at their annual Pink in the Rink II: Pink Ice event in front of just under 7,000 fans.
Nov 04, 2009: Halifax Mooseheads 2 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 3
- Nicolas Pard broke the hearts of the Mooseheads as he scored the winner with just 83 seconds left as Saint John nipped the Moose 3-2.
Dec 17, 2009: Halifax Mooseheads 4 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 2
- The Mooseheads would return to Harbour Station a month later but this time they would not be denied. Mathieu Corbeil turned in a brilliant 33 saves performance which lifted the Mooseheads to an upset 4-2 win over the Sea Dogs.
Dec 18, 2009: Saint John Sea Dogs 7 @ Halifax Mooseheads 1
Feb 05, 2010: Saint John Sea Dogs 5 @ Halifax Mooseheads 4 in OT
- The Mooseheads led the Sea Dogs 4-2 with 10 minutes to play before the Dogs scored 2 late goals and eventually won the game in a shootout 5-4.

STATION NATION FACTS:

• This is the last time these two teams meet at the Halifax Metro Centre this season. The two face each other once more at Harbour Station in March, which will be Saint John’s last regular season home game.
• With 12 games left, Saint John still enjoys a comfortable 12 point lead for first in the league.
• John Moore, voice of the Mooseheads on News 95.7, always has some good post-game content on his website at www.sportsandmoore.com. He has lots of video’s posted on his site.
• The team’s notables over the years include: Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Alex Tanguay, Ladislav Nagy, Ramzi Abid, Bobby Smith and Jakub Voracek.

Important Info:
Venue: Halifax Metro Centre
Capacity: 10,595
Area Guide Info: http://www.qmjhlarenaguide.com/mooseheads.htm

Saint John Media: Radio- News 88.9 FM (www.news889.com)
Live Video Streaming: www.qmjhl.mytelus.com
Post-Game Coverage: Chronicle Herald, Metro Halifax, Telegraph-Journal, www.stationnation.blogspot.com
Post-Game Highlights: www.sportsandmoore.com

TWITTER
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