GAMEDAY 5 - vs Foreurs

GAMEDAY

Val-d’Or Foreurs vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Tonight, September 23, 2011 at 7:30pm

Harbour Station

PREVIEW

SAINT JOHN – Some unfamiliar faces visit Harbour Station tonight as the Val-d’Or Foreurs make their one and only regular season stop in Saint John tonight to face the Sea Dogs at 7:30pm.

The Foreurs enter action this evening with a 3-3-0-0 record. They sit second in the Telus West Division and eighth overall in the league. They are currently on a big road swing through the Maritimes that includes stops in Bathurst, Moncton, Saint John, and Charlottetown.

Val-d’Or has done well on their trip so far with wins against Bathurst and Moncton. After tonight’s game they will travel to Prince Edward Island to face the Rocket tomorrow night.

Although most Sea Dogs fans probably aren’t too familiar with the Foreurs’ roster, they do feature some notable names in Benjamin Casavant, Cedrick and Samuel Henley, and Fredericton native Matt Murphy.

Saint John will be looking to continue the momentum they gained from their first win of the season last Sunday against PEI. Danick Gauthier had a hat trick in the game while Brock Morrison and Scott Oke also scored in Saint John’s 5-3 win.

The Sea Dogs’ lineup is still missing several of its star players due to National Hockey League training camps but they are slowly beginning to come back. This past week saw Mathieu Corbeil, Pierre Durepos, and Stanislav Galiev all assigned to Saint John.

With a strong game tonight against Val-d’Or and another against Bathurst tomorrow, the Sea Dogs could be a .500 hockey team by the end of the weekend.

NOTES: Michael Beaudry leads the Foreurs in scoring with six points (two goals and four assists)… former PEI Rocket forward Benjamin Casavant leads the team in goals with four. Nicolas Larocque-Marcoux has three markers this year… Beaudry has a team high four assists. Cedrick Henley has three helpers… Beaudry, Cedrick Henley, and Julien Leduc are a team high +3… Larocque-Marcoux, Nicolas Dionne, and Vincent Dunn are each a -3… Mathieu Guertin has a team high 18 penalty minutes. His 18 minutes ties him for the league high… Val-d’Or has been outscored 21-16 in their six games this season… Gelinas’ one shorthanded goal ties him for the league lead… Beaudry is tied for second in game winning goals with two... their power play is running at 16.7% which is good for 12th in the league... Val-d'Or has the second worst penalty kill in the league with a 65.5% rating.

ROAD TRIP: The Val-d’Or Foreurs are currently on a big time road trip through the Maritimes. They defeated the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 3-2 on Tuesday and the Moncton Wildcats 7-3 last night. They play in Saint John tonight and travel to PEI to face the Rocket tomorrow.

FORMER DOG: Nicolas Larocque-Marcoux played a whole three games with Saint John during the 2008-09 season. He was selected by the Sea Dogs in the ninth round of the 2008 QMJHL Entry Draft.

IN NET: Francois Tremblay has played in all six games for the Foreurs this season. He has a record of 3-3-0-0, a 3.17 goals against average and a 0.893 save percentage.

Alexandre St. Arnaud has played in one game and has a 8.41 GAA and a 0.778 save percentage.

LAST GAME: The Foreurs are coming off a 7-3 win last night in Moncton. Benjamin Casavant had a hat trick while Guillaume Gelinas, Michael Beaudry, Matthieu Theriault, and Nicolas Larocque-Marcoux added a goal each. Francois Tremblay made 28 stops in net.

Best Foreurs Video We Could Find On YouTube: We used this video last year, but it is still the most epic Steve Begin video out there.

NOTES: Danick Gauthier leads the Sea Dogs in scoring entering tonight’s game with five points – three goals and two assists… Gauthier’s three goals is also a team high. Oliver Cooper and Brock Morrison each have two goals… Gauthier, Cooper, Colin Campbell, and Spencer MacDonald are all tied with a team high two assists… Gauthier and Scott Oke are both a team high +3… defenseman Jason Seed is a Sea Dogs worst -8. Devon Oliver-Dares is -7… MacDonald has served a team high 15 penalty minutes… Saint John has been outscored 22-12 in their four games this season… the Sea Dogs are 1-1-0-0 on home ice… Saint John’s power play is ranked second worst in the league with a rating of 9.4%... the Sea Dogs’ penalty kill is ranked 14^th in the QMJHL and is running at 70%.

IN NET: Charlie Millen and Sebastien Auger have split the goaltending duties for Saint John so far this season. Millen has a record of 0-2 to go along with a goals against average of 5.09 and a 0.839 save percentage. Auger is coming off his first career win, improving his record to 1-1, his GAA to 5.50 and save percentage to 0.843.

The Sea Dogs’ No. 1 goaltender Mathieu Corbeil was returned to club this week by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He had a 13-1-1 record, a 2.17 GAA and a 0.908 save percentage with the Sea Dogs last year in the second half. No idea if he is starting tonight.

WHO’S BACK: Along with Corbeil, defenseman Pierre Durepos and forward Stanislav Galiev are expected to play some time this weekend now that they have returned from NHL camps.

Galiev was the only one to get into some pre-season action as he suited up for the Washington Capitals earlier this week. Corbeil has been at Columbus Blue Jackets training camp while Durepos was a free agent invite to Los Angeles Kings camp.

WHO’S STILL GONE: Zack Phillips (Minnesota), Stephen MacAulay (St. Louis), Ryan Tesink (St. Louis), Nathan Beaulieu (Montreal), Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida) and Tomas Jurco (Detroit) are still away at NHL camps.

LAST GAME: The Sea Dogs are coming off their first win of the 2011-12 season thanks to a 5-3 victory over the PEI Rocket last Sunday at Harbour Station. Danick Gauthier had a hat trick while Brock Morrison and Scott Oke added single markers. Sebastien Auger made 40 saves in the win.

OTHER GAMES

Rouyn-Noranda at Halifax - 7:00 PM ADT
Shawinigan at Drummondville - 7:00 PM EDT
Quebec at Victoriaville - 7:00 PM EDT
Cape Breton at Baie-Comeau - 7:30 PM EDT
Blainville-Boisbriand at Gatineau - 7:30 PM EDT
Chicoutimi at Rimouski - 7:30 PM EDT

THE RINK

Venue: Harbour Station

Capacity: 6,297

Average Attendance: 3,825

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

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.

NEXT GAME

The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tomorrow night at 7pm at Harbour Station. Fans are asked to bring food donations to the game.

Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Arm chair sports, Marc Henwood/Station Nation