GAME DAY
Saint John Sea Dogs vs PEI Rocket
Tonight, March 16, 2011, at 7:00 pm
Charlottetown Civic Centre
CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – On the road for the final time this regular season, the Saint John Sea Dogs’ quest for Quebec Major Junior Hockey League history makes a stop in Prince Edward Island to take on the Rocket at 7:00 pm.
This contest was originally scheduled for Tuesday, December 28 but was postponed “due to hazardous weather conditions and the accumulation of snow in eastern New Brunswick.”
This is the final week of the 2010-11 QMJHL campaign and the Sea Dogs are in select company when it comes to their impressive record of 56-6-1-2. The top-ranked team in Canada is two wins away from tying the all-time league record for wins in a single season. With three games left on their schedule, Saint John can break the mark.
After tonight's game, the Dogs head back home to play the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday and Harbour Station and then host these same Rocket Sunday afternoon.
But in order for the Dogs to break the record, they must buckle up for a match against the pesky PEI Rocket this evening at the Charlottetown Civic Centre.
Saint John is 6-0-0-0 against PEI this season but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some close moments. Most notably was the game on January 11 at Harbour Station when Rocket netminder Evan Mosher was in full-out beast mode, making 67 saves through 65 minutes of action. Luckily for the Dogs their sharpshooters came through in the breakaway contest and earned the team a 3-2 victory.
With a respectable record of 31-25-3-6, the Rocket sit fourth in the Maritimes Division and are three points back of the Moncton Wildcats for third-place with three games remaining. If the playoffs started today, the Rocket would play the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
PEI has been playing pretty well of late and are 6-2-1-1 in their last 10 games.
THE NUMBERS
| Saint John | PEI | |
| Record | 56-6-1-2 (1st Maritimes) | 31-25-3-6 (4th Maritimes) |
| Home Record | - - - | 16-13-2-2 |
| Road Record | 26-6-0-1 | - - - |
| Streak | 6-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Last 10 | 9-1-0-0 | 6-2-1-1 |
| Goals For | 307 | 206 |
| Goals Against | 157 | 209 |
| Overall PP | 24.5% (5th) | 19.0% (12th) |
| Home PP | - - - | 20.2% (11th) |
| Road PP | 26.0% (4th) | - - - |
| Overall PK | 83.4% (1st) | 82.3% (3rd) |
| Home PK | - - - | 81.7% (6th) |
| Road PK | 80.2% (5th) | - - - |
| PIM/GAME | 13.0 (14th) | 13.1 (13th) |
NOTES: The Sea Dogs are led by Jonathan Huberdeau who reached the 100-point mark last Sunday in Cape Breton. Zack Phillips is second on the team with 92 points. Both players have suited up for 64 games… Huberdeau leads the squad in goals with 41 while Phillips is second with 38… Huberdeau also leads the club in assists with 59. Phillips is second with 54 while Michael Kirkpatrick has 50… Phillips is sixth in the league in power play goals with 15… Mike Thomas, Alexandre Beauregard, and Huberdeau are tied for seventh in shorthanded goals scored with three each… Stanislav Galiev is third in game winning goals with eight… Phillips is 11th in first goals with seven… Jurco is second in insurance goals with seven… Huberdeau is a league best plus-58… Kirkpatrick is second in the league in dangerous shots with 179… Kirkpatrick is sixth in total shots with 233… 39-2-0-1 when scoring first… 34-3-0-0 against their own division… averaging a league high 4.72 goals per game… averaging a league low 2.42 goals against per game… averaging 36.63 shots per game, a league high… averaging 26.92 shots against per game, the fifth lowest total in the QMJHL… Huberdeau has scored in five straight games… Jason Seed’s status for this game is unknown. He left the team last week after a death in his family and is expected to return sometime this week.
PROBABLE STARTER: Jacob DeSerres was not in net for any of the Sea Dogs’ last three games due to illness. But News 88.9 stated on Sunday that the netminder was feeling much better and should be ready to go. DeSerres has a record of 26-2-0-0, a goals against average of 2.20, and a save percentage of 0.917. His GAA is tops in the league and his SV% is good for third.
LAST GAME: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 4-1 victory in Cape Breton on Sunday afternoon over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Aidan Kelly, Alexandre Beauregard, Stanislav Galiev and Jonathan Huberdeau all scored for the winners. Mathieu Corbeil made 19 saves in net to pick-up the victory.
NOTES: The Rocket are led by Ben Duffy who has 77 points in 65 games. Andrej Nestrasil has 64 points, good for second on the team, in ten fewer games… Duffy leads the team in goals with 35 on the season… Nestrasil has a team high 45 assists. Duffy is a close second with 42… the suspended Philippe Paradis is a Rocket best plus-19… Duffy is 11th in the league in power play goals with 12… Paradis is ninth in shorthanded goals with three… Paradis is seventh in first goals with seven… Adam Polasek leads the QMJHL in shorthanded assists with five… Samuel Morneau is sixth in the league in dangerous shots with 145… Morneau is seventh in total shots with 232… goaltender Evan Mosher has played the most minutes of any netminder this year with 3087:38 minutes played… Mosher has made a league high 1,572 saves… Matthew Hobbs is third in power play goals amongst defenseman with nine… 23-5-1-1 when scoring first… 18-15-1-3 against the Maritimes Division… averaging 3.17 goals per game… averaging 3.22 goals against per game… averaging 30.11 shots for per game… allowing 33.48 shots against per game on average… Duffy has scored in four straight home games… Duffy has gotten a point in nine straight home games.
PROBABLE STARTER: 20-year old Evan Mosher will likely get the start between the pipes this evening for the home team. He has a record of 23-21-3-6 with a goals against average of 2.74 and a save percentage of 0.918. Mosher faces a lot of shots and has the second best save percentage on the QMJHL this season. When he is on, he can be the best goaltender in the league.
LAST GAME: The Rocket are coming off a 5-3 victory over the Moncton Wildcats Sunday afternoon at the CCC. PEI had goals from Andrej Nestrasil, Ben Duffy, a pair from Josh Currie, and Samuel Morneau to erase a two-goal Wildcats lead and earn the win. Evan Mosher made 28 stops in net.
BEST ROCKET VIDEO WE COULD FIND: To make it a fair fight, the Rocket had two players fighting former Sea Dogs enforcer Brett Gallant.
SUSPENDED
The Rocket will be without one of their best forwards this evening in Philippe Paradis. The Chicago Blackhawks prospect was given a three-game suspension by the QMJHL yesterday after he gave Wildcats forward Alex Saulnier a concussion with a hit to the head.
Paradis will miss the Rocket’s final three regular season games but will return for the post-season.
ON PLAYING THE DOGS
Rocket goaltender Evan Mosher on playing Saint John tonight to The Guardian:
“They’re skilled up front but also have some good grinders up front. They can get those dirty goals,” said Mosher after Rocket practice Tuesday. “When we’ve kept their shots outside we’ve actually had close games. We’ve gotten in trouble when we let them in close.”OTHER GAMES TONIGHT
Moncton at Halifax - 7:00 PM ADT
THE RINK
Venue: Charlottetown Civic Centre
Capacity: 3,718
Average Attendance: 1,810
QMJHL Arena Guide
MEDIA GUIDE
Radio (Sea Dogs): News 88.9 FM
Live Web Feed: Telus
Television: None
Post-Game Coverage: Station Nation, Telegraph-Journal, The Guardian
Live Coverage: Follow Station Nation on Twitter (www.twitter.com/station_nation) for live in game coverage. All tweets will also appear in the SN Live Blog that is posted on this site.
AFTER THE BUZZER
Friday at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station, the Sea Dogs host their first round playoff opponent – the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. It is the second-to-last game of the regular season for both teams.
Photo Credits: PEI Tourism, Marc Henwood/Station Nation, PEI Rocket Facebook, CCC Facebook
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