RIVALRY CUP: Friday's Game Sold-Out

Friday’s game against the Moncton Wildcats at Harbour Station is officially sold-out. The announcement was made during last night’s game against the PEI Rocket.

The Sea Dogs have released 200 standing-room-only tickets for this game, meaning a crowd of 6,497 could watch the Sea Dogs take on their provincial rival.

“It's the Moncton Wildcats, it's Friday night, it's the end of the season and both teams are obviously contenders for the President's Cup, so I think it's going to be one of the best hockey games played this year," Wayne Long, president of the Saint John Sea Dogs said Wednesday evening to the Telegraph-Journal.

With this being a Sea Dogs-Wildcats tilt, the Brunswick News Rivalry Cup Challenge will be in full swing. Moncton currently leads the challenge 14.5-10.5. With tomorrow’s game being a sell-out, Saint John picks up three points. If the Dogs win the game, they will pick up another two points and a single point if they lose in extra time.

The big challenge during Friday night’s game is the Sea Dogs' portion of the holiday food drive that was snowed out on January 2. Five points are up for grabs to whichever teams fans bring in the most non-perishable food items. The contest is based on weight, meaning canned items would be the best to give.

The Wildcats held their portion of the challenge on New Year’s Eve and brought in a ridiculous amount of grub.

The last Sea Dogs sell-out came against Acadie-Bathurst in game five of the quarter finals of the 2008 playoffs, Their last regular season sell-out came just under two years ago when the biggest crowd in franchise history watched the team defeat the Wildcats.

All-time, Saint John is 1-1 in front of regular season capacity crowds and 1-1 in playoff games.

ROAD TRIP CHALLENGE BIGINS
The Moncton Wildcats portion of the Rivalry Cup road trip challenge goes on Friday night. Any Wildcat fan wearing team apparel will be asked to parade on the ice during an intermission. The fans will be counted and whichever team has the most, wins two points.

Saint John fans are asked to travel to Moncton on March 14 to parade on the ice. Unfortunately, the Wildcats will likely win this contest because the March 14 game has been moved to an 8:00 pm Sunday start time.

The game will air live coast-to-coast on Rogers Sportsnet.

A LOOK AHEAD
A sell-out tomorrow means the Wildcats lead the challenge 14.5 to 13.5. Moncton will likely sell-out their game against Saint John on March 14, meaning Moncton will have a 17.5 to 14.5 lead.

We will assume that Moncton wins the road trip challenge for the reasons listed above, giving them a 19.5 to 14.5 lead. If Saint John wins the food drive, it will be tied at 19.5 points apiece. This means that winning the food drive is a must if Saint John wants to win the Rivalry Cup.

With the challenge tied the battle will finish on the ice. Four of the six games between the two teams have gone to overtime of shootout, making a win very important in this situation.

Obviously these are not the final standings but they are a realistic guess of what may unfold.

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