POSTSCRIPT: Mooseheads 3, Sea Dogs 5

By Station Nation Staff

SEA DOGS – MOOSEHEADS GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Halifax 3, Saint John 5
Saint John Goals: Jonathan Huberdeau (23, 24), Zach Phillips (23), Kevin Gagne (4), and Mike Thomas (9)
Halifax Goals: Darcy Ashley (9), Trey Lewis (3), and Luca Ciampini (3)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Jacob DeSerres
Losing Goaltender: HAL – Mathieu Corbeil
News 88.9 Top Dog: Jacob DeSerres
Dickies Hardest Working Player: Steven Anthony

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Mooseheads: 2/8, Saint John: 2/8
Shots on Goal: Mooseheads: 18+21+7=46, Sea Dogs: 8+7+20=35
Length: 2:14
Attendance: 3,802

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Defenseman Simon Despres was unavailable for today’s game because of his participation in Team Canada’s world junior evaluation camp in Toronto which began Sunday.

Jason Cameron was the extra forward and was a healthy scratch.

NOT A GREAT WIN. DOGS WIN 5-3.
It wasn’t the greatest of wins – but the Saint John Sea Dog will surely take the two points.

“We were soft and we didn't want to go in the corners first,'' said Jonathan Huberdeau to the Telegraph-Journal. “I don't think we were ready, but we won the game and that's the positive point. We have to work hard in practice this week to be ready for (two upcoming games in) Cape Breton because today was not a good game for us.''

The Sea Dogs ended up with a 5-3 win over the Halifax Mooseheads who sit just five points ahead of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar for the final playoff spot in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Despite being outshot by a large margin for the entire first period, Saint John finished the opening 20 minutes with a 2-0 lead. Zach Phillips opened up the scoring at 12:03 and then Huberdeau scored 49 seconds later to get the Sea Dogs ahead quickly.

In the second period, Kevin Gagne fired one past Mooseheads goaltender Mathieu Corbeil to give the Dogs a commanding 3-0 advantage. But the Moose didn’t go away as Darcy Ashley scored on a power play to get the Herd on the board.

In the third frame, Trey Lewis beat Sea Dogs goaltender Jacob DeSerres with a point shot to make it a one goal affair. But Saint John then began to take the play over. Huberdeau scored his second of the game at 15:58 on the power play to give the Dogs an insurance marker.

Mike Thomas then scored on an empty net in the final minute to give the Dogs a 5-2 lead. Luca Ciampini showed a lot of heart though in the dying seconds, beating DeSerres with 14 seconds left to make it a 5-3 final.

"I hope we were really tired,'' Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant to the newspaper. "I hope that was the reason we played that bad. We capitalized on some scoring chances, but the lack of effort in the first two periods was really embarrassing.

PERFECT AT HOME
With the victory, Saint John closes out the unofficial first-half of their home schedule with an amazing 17-0-0-1 record. Their only blemish was a shootout loss to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. Even though the Sea Dogs lost, it was stunning that the game even went into extra time.

I will be awhile, however, until the Dogs return to the friendly confines of Harbour Station. Saint John doesn’t play at home until the annual Rivalry Cup New Years Eve game at the Station against the Moncton Wildcats.

SAME MOOSE LINEUP
The Mooseheads played well against the Quebec Remparts on Saturday night at the Metro Centre, falling 3-1 to one of the league’s best. The Moose chose to stick with the same lineup for Sunday's game in the SJ.
From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:

Defenseman Simon Desmarais and forwards Andrew Ryan and Matthew Boudreau were healthy scratches for the Mooseheads

Things won’t get any easier for the Mooseheads as their top scorer, Martin Frk, now leaves the club to attend the Czech Republic national junior team tryout camp

WHAT WOULD HOPKINS DO?
Referee Jeff Hopkins was one of the officials in the game. He tweeted this prior to puck drop:

Game Day.. On way to Harbour Station with my Timmy Ho's in hand for a QMJHL Tilt. Halifax @ Saint John Today!

Can’t go wrong with Tim Horton’s.

ANTHONY ‘A’ OKAY
Steven Anthony was good to go in this game. He left in the first period of Friday’s game against the Lewiston MAINEiacs after blocking a shot with his hand and did not return. News 88.9’s Tim Roszell says Anthony has a rather large bruise of his hand.

With Simon Despres away at Team Canada selection camp, Anthony was given the ‘A’ to wear on his sweater. It worked well for him as he assisted on Zach Phillips’ first goal, a marker that featured some nice passing work from the solid trio.

PENALTIES
The Sea Dogs were uncharacteristically undisciplined in this game. The Sea Dogs took eight penalties, allowing the Moose to score on two of the man advantage opportunities. Even worse, two of the penalties were tfor oo many men.

Saint John has been one of the least penalized teams in league this season, and to see the Dogs continuously taking bad penalties has been rare.

Halifax, not surprisingly, took eight penalties of-their-own. The Mooseheads average a league high 18.1 minutes in the box per game.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
A farewell from the Sea Dogs franchise on the final home date prior to the holiday break:

Photo courtesy of Blair R. Cameron Jr.

SOLID PLAY
Halifax has played been some good hockey over the past two games. They have both been loses, but it’s a step in the right direction for a franchise that has been brutal on the ice for three straight seasons.

"You know what, last night and tonight I thought we played two excellent games against two of the elite teams in Canada," said Mooseheads head coach Bobby Smith to the Chronicle Herald. "We outshot Quebec 30-19 and we had a 39-15 advantage on Saint John after two periods today but (lost). We had two extremely good games but these guys are both near the top of the national rankings for a reason."

“We played extremely well on Saturday night against Quebec and we played extremely well tonight against Saint John,” said Smith to Metro Halifax. “We had chances to be in much better shape ... The guys played really hard ... But Quebec and Saint John are first and third for a reason and our game was excellent.”

Yes, the Sea Dogs played poorly, but the Herd definitely deserve some credit for their showing.

HIGHLIGHTS



QUICK HITS
It was ‘Holiday Fun Day’ at Harbour Station, which, for the first time, featured no Teddy Bear Toss because of bedbug concerns… Danick Gauthier returned from a one-game suspension… it was only the seventh time all season that the Sea Dogs had been outshot by an opponent. Saint John is 5-1-0-1 in those contests. They are 4-0-0-0 when being outshot at Harbour Station… the Mooseheads fired 46 shots on net but only 25 of them were considered dangerous. Saint John fired 24 of those shots on goal… Jonathan Huberdeau now sits third in league point getting with 52 points. His 24 goals now place him third in the QMJHL’s goal scoring race… Huberdeau and Nathan Beaulieu had a team high six shots… Carl Gelinas ripped eight shots on goal for the Mooseheads… at the holiday break, Saint John is averaging 3,852 fan per game… Huberdeau was given an honourable mention in the Buzzing The Net CHL three stars last night… to relive the game, check out the SN Live Blog Replay.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs look to avenge a loss in Cape Breton from earlier this season on Friday at 7:00 pm at Centre 200.