PRE-GAME: Shawinigan Cataractes vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Game Day
Shawinigan Cataractes vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, February 20, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Harbour Station

Visiting Team: Shawinigan Cataractes
Record: 29-24-3-4 (3rd in Telus Central division)
Last Game: 4-2 loss at PEI last night
Leading Scorer: Pierre-Alexandre Vandall: 51 GP-29 G-41 A-69 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Dave Lebrecque (Philadelphia), Philippe Paradis (Toronto), and Charles-Olivier Roussel (Nashville)
Notes: Coming off a 4-2 loss in PEI last night. Antoine Houde-Caron and Michael Bournival scored the Cataractes in the loss. Gabriel Girard faced 25 shots in net while the Cats fired 31 at the Rocket. The game was described as “hard fought” by the Rocket’s Twitter page… the Cataractes are currently on a four game road swing through the Maritimes. They lost in Cape Breton on Wednesday, won last night in Charlottetown, play Saint John tonight, and travel to Moncton to face the Wildcats tomorrow. After that, four of their six remaining games are at home… they had lost five straight games until their win last evening… went 2-0 against Saint John last season en route to the Presidents Cup final where they lost in seven games to Drummondville. Current Sea Dog Nicholas Petersen was a member of that team… entering last night’s game, Shawinigan’s power play was ranked just behind Saint John’s with a rating of 23.7%… the Cats had the second worst penalty kill in the league before their game against the Rocket. They had a penalty kill rating of just 75.5% which was just ahead of Lewiston’s league worst efficiency of 75.2%… 12-15-1-2 on the road this season and are coming off a win… they have scored just 87 goals on the road this season in 30 games for an average of 2.86 goals per game… Gabriel Lemieux scored twice in the Cats’ 3-2 win over Saint John on October 3… in four games with Cape Breton this season before being traded, Michael Ward had three assists in four games.

WELCOME BACK
Goaltender Marc-Antoine Gelinas makes his Harbour Station return tonight. In 27 games played with Saint John this season, he had a sensational record of 21-5 and was a key part of the Sea Dogs’ 22-game winning streak.

He was not too happy with being traded from Saint John – and rightfully so. It’s not everyday the best goaltender in the league (as far as stats go) gets traded from the best team in the league for, what looked to be, a worse goaltender (again, as far as stats go). That didn’t stop Gelinas though as he has a respectable 7-7 record with a 2.62 G.A.A. since joining the Cataractes.

Another former Dog, Olivier Ouellet, was also sent to Shawinigan during the trading period after quitting the team in November. In a not so shocking move, Ouellet left the team this past week.

Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 47-9-1-0 (1st in Atlantic division)
Last Game: 6-2 Win at Halifax on Wednesday
Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick: 56 GP-25 G-48 A-73 Pts
NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).
Notes: First in the Atlantic division, first overall in the league, and ranked number one in Canada for the fifth straight week… the Sea Dogs’ only overtime loss came on October 3rd in Shawinigan when the Cats defeated the Dogs 3-2 at Bionest Centre. It is their only loss in non-regulation time… Saint John is 10-1 in overtime games this season and 8-0 in shootouts… Nicholas Petersen lead the way in that one game against the Cataractes. He has a team high two goals to along with an assist… Steven Anthony has the other goal against Shawinigan… Petersen and Danick Gauthier both have four penalty minutes against the Cats… Kevin Gagne is a –2 against the Cats while Christian Morin is a +2 in his one game with Val-d’Or… Mike Hoffman has a team high 225 shots this season in 46 games for an average of 4.89 shots per game. The next highest shot total belongs to Michael Kirkpatrick who has 161 shots. Pierre Durepos only has 40 shots in 57 games… 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games and are coming off a 6-2 win in Halifax against the last-place Herd… the Sea Dogs dropped to sixth in power play percentage with a rating of 23.9 after a frustrating game in Halifax. Entering Wednesday’s game, they were without a power play goal in their last 11 chances… Saint John continues to lead the league in goals scored with 265 in 57 games for an average of 4.6 goals per game. Victoriaville is second in the league with 253 goals for… owners of the best home record at 24-5-0-0. They are 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 at Harbour Station and are coming off a 4-2 loss to Cape Breton on Sunday… this is the fourth to last home for the Sea Dogs. This game also kicks off a two game home stand, which ends tomorrow against Rimouski…

THE INJURED
Danick Gauthier and Kevin Gagne both missed Wednesday’s game with minor injuries and could play tonight. Stephen MacAulay was hurt in the third period of that game after taking a hit from a determined Garret Clarke. He left and did not return.

GETTING CLOSE
We are no math experts, but we can smell a division title from a mile away. Saint John has a 12 point lead over second place Moncton both in the Atlantic division and overall in the league with 11 games remaining.

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

Last Season (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
2-0-2-0-0-0
Home: 1-0-1-0-0-0
Road: 1-0-1-0-0-0
Goals For: 2
Goals Against: 5

All-Time (GP-W-L-OTL-SOL-PTS):
8-2-4-1-1-6
Home: 4-2-1-1-0-5
Road: 4-0-3-0-1-1
Goals For: 22
Goals Against: 31

STATION NATION FACTS

• Market Square will be sponsoring tonight’s game with several exciting giveaways set to be staged throughout the evening. It is also Sea Dogs Night Out.
• Lots of records could be broken this season in the Sea Dogs Record Book. Saintjohnseadogs.com took a look at some of those this week.
• Shawinigan has a sweet mascot.
• The Cats have seven retired numbers. The numbers are 7, 14, 17, 18, 26, 27, 33.

THE RINK
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Year Built: 1993

MEDIA
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, L’Hebdo Journal
Post-Game Highlights: www.youtube.com/seadogstv

TWITTER
Station Nation will be tweeting during tonight’s game. You can follow us or follow along at www.twitter.com/station_nation.