Final Score: Cape Breton 2, Saint John 7
Saint John Goals: Zach Phillips (12, 13), Gabriel Bourret (4), Kevin Gagne (3), Steven Anthony (6), Stephen MacAulay (5), and Michael Kirkpatrick (6)
Cape Breton Goals: Morgan Ellis (3) and Cory MacIntosh (2)
Winning Goaltenders: Jacob DeSerres and Frederic Piche
Losing Goaltender: Alexandre Veronneau
THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Screaming Eagles: 1/5, Sea Dogs: 1/3
Shots on Goal: Screaming Eagles: 9+6+11=26, Sea Dogs: 11+8+10=29
Length: 2:10
Attendance: 3,751
SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
The big scratch for Saint John was Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Simon Despres. It was a surprising scratch as there was no suspicion of any kind of injury prior to the match.
Yahoo! Sports’ Nathan White tweeted this during the first period:
Simon Despres out of lineup for the Saint John Sea Dogs with shoulder injury, hoping to rest it in time for Monday's Super Series.Although the 19-year old did appear to tweak his shoulder a bit on the Sea Dogs’ recent road trip, it is now believed that he was suffering from a hip problem as pointed out by News 88.9 and the Telegraph-Journal. From today’s newspaper:
Sea Dogs defenceman Simon Despres sat out Friday's game with a minor hip injuryDespres has had some problems with his hip in the past but it can’t be too serious if he is still expected to play in Game One of the Subway Super Series on Monday.
Jason Cameron was also scratched for Saint John.
DOGS SHOOT DOWN EAGLES
It was a bit of a sluggish game for the Saint John Sea Dogs but they still managed to defeat the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 7-2 – and make it look rather easy at that.
Coming off a four game road trip through northwestern Quebec last week, it wasn’t a surprise that the Sea Dogs came out of the gate a bit slow. It was Saint John’s first home game since October 17th.
"We expected some of it with the (return) from the road trip (to Val-d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda) and we were real sluggish,” said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant to the Telegraph-Journal.
Their slow start was seen when Eagles captain Morgan Ellis made it 1-0 at 16:07 of the first period on the power play. But just over a minute later at 17:15, a Gabriel Bourret point shot found its way to the back of the net to tie the affair at 1-1.
Zach Phillips made it 2-1 at 2:38 of the second period to give the Dogs a 2-1 lead. Michael Kirkpatrick then fed a streaking Kevin Gagne at 8:51 to make it 3-1 which was followed by Steven Anthony beating Cape Breton goaltender Alexandre Veronneau at a sharp angle to make it a 4-1 game. But the Eagles would not just go away, scoring at 15:30 to make it 4-2 after two periods.
In the third, Phillips scored his second of the match at 9:03 to make it 5-2. Less than a minute later, Saint John hit cruise control as Stephen MacAulay posted his name on the score sheet at 10:01 to give his squad a 6-2 lead. The scoring was finished off when a Kirkpatrick tipped a Guillaume Cloutier point shot past Veronneau to give Saint John a 7-2 win.
MAKING HISTORY
By scoring his 84th career goal, Michael Kirkpatrick is now the Sea Dogs’ franchise leader in goals scored. By recording a goal last night, Kirkpatrick moved past Ryan Sparling to who had held the record.
The topic of discussion by everyone after he scored the goal was in the ironic fashion that he achieved the record. Kirkpatrick, a Cape Breton native, broke Sparling’s record, also a Cape Breton native, against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. If this goal had have been scored at Centre 200 in Sydney, we’re pretty sure the world would have stopped moving for a few minutes.
"I wasn't thinking about (the record) for most of the season, but I was thinking about it tonight,'' said Kirkpatrick, who also had two assists, to the T-J/Cape Breton Post. "I got a couple of texts from Ryan Sparling this week and he said he wouldn't want anyone else to break it. That was pretty special coming from Sparling.''
Kirkpatrick is well on his way to breaking the franchise record for points and assists as a Sea Dog as well. Both records are held by Sparling.
Jacob DeSerres pulled his groin at some point during the second period, forcing Frederic Piche to replace the goaltender to start the third period. DeSerres played well, stopping 13-of-15 shots and showed no obvious signs of an injury. Piche stopped all 14 shots he saw in the third period.
DeSerres sat on the Sea Dogs bench for the third period. After the game, he gingerly left the bench to celebrate with his teammates but didn’t skate much farther than the blue line before hoping back into the bench area.
At the time of this post, his status was still unknown. Luckily for Saint John, Piche has proven to be a stellar goaltender who can carry the load if need be. If DeSerres is out for any length of time, it would be interesting to see who they would call-up.
WHEAT KINGS REUNION WAS A BUST
What was supposed to be a 2010 Brandon Wheat King goaltenders reunion party was a complete bust. Sea Dogs goaltender Jacob DeSerres left the game due to injury and Eagles netminder Andrew Hayes didn’t even start in goal. Both goaltenders were picked up by the QMJHL clubs off waivers.
HOME SWEET HOME
Harbour Station – it’s been a long time.
It was the Sea Dogs’ first home game in roughly three weeks after playing the past six games away from home. The home cooking worked its magic yet again as Saint John improved to 9-0-0-0 on home ice this season. Not only have the Sea Dogs been perfect at the Station, but they have been dominant as well.
The Dogs also won their sixth straight match.
BAD OMEN
The kid that skates around the ice during the pre-game video montage completely wiped out when he hit the carpet in the neutral zone.
Paul tweeted this in:
He said that he was watching the video, and didn't see the carpet. He said they never put the carpet out during the intro.He got up as fast as he could though and turned on the burners to get down the ice for the player introductions. We give him full props for that.
HIGHLIGHTS
QUICK HITS
Scott Oke was named the Dickies hardest working player of the game… no Saint John player had a minus rating… with Simon Despres out of the lineup, rookie defensemen Tyrone Sock and Guillaume Cloutier were both inserted… the Saint John Mill Rats have done a nice job at promoting themselves. They were at the game and had a booth setup with pocket schedules and other goodies… Jonathan Huberdeau had three assists… Huberdeau, Michael Kirkpatrick, and Zach Phillips all had three point nights… the Eagles were without three of their star players: Taylor MacDougall, Brad Cuzner, and Spencer Metcalfe… the Eagles wore their colour blind third jerseys... the Sea Dogs beat Cape Breton by the same score in the same building earlier this season... to relive the game, check out the SN Live Blog Replay.
NEXT GAME
Tonight at 7:00 pm, the Sea Dogs host the Chicoutimi Sagueneens at Harbour Station.
Photo Credits: David Connell, David Connell
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