GAMEDAY 7 - at Armada

GAMEDAY

Saint John Sea Dogs vs Blainville-Boisbriand Armada

Tonight, September 28, 2011 at 8pm

Centre d’excellence Sports Rousseau

PREVIEW

BOISBRIAND – The Memorial Cup champions begin their first Quebec road trip of the season tonight against their expansion cousins.

The Saint John Sea Dogs visit the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada this evening at 8pm at the Centre d’excellence Sports Rousseau. The Montreal Junior, who entered the league along with the Sea Dogs as the St. John’s Fog Devils in 2005-06, moved to Boisbraind in the off-season to become the Armada.

The team name apparently means “force, cohesion, unity, and the pooling of forces....like a fleet of ships entering combat.” It does not stand for the Nissan car brand (pictured).

Over the summer, the Armada unveiled some interesting yet stylish jerseys. They made the bold move to go with black and white rather than colour. The Gatineau Olympiques and Los Angeles Kings are both currently wearing a similar style of sweater.

As for on the ice, Boisbriand has been struggling of late. After winning their first three games by a combined score of 14-3, the Armada are losers of four straight and have been outscored 21-7.

Boisbriand enters play tonight in fourth place in the Telus West Division and 11^th overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League standings.

The Sea Dogs enter play today with a 3-3 record and winners of three straight. After a rough start, Saint John has turned things around thanks to the return of National Hockey League campers.

This is the first game of a three-game road trek for Saint John. The Sea Dogs are still winless on the road this year. 

NOTES: The Sea Dogs enter play tonight as winners of three straight. They have outscored their opposition 16-9 over their last trio of contests… Danick Gauthier still leads the Sea Dogs in scoring with five goals and two assists for seven points… Gauthier’s five goals are a team high. Stanislav Galiev and Oliver Cooper each have three markers each… Scott Oke leads the team in assists with four. Aidan Kelly, Tyrone Sock and Spencer MacDonald each have three… Gauthier is a team best +6 while Galiev is a +5 since his return… Jason Seed is a Sea Dog worst -8. He has played in all six games… MacDonald still leads the squad in penalty minutes with 13… Saint John’s power play is running at 15.8% which is good for 14^th in the circuit… the Sea Dogs’ penalty kill is ranked second worst in the league with a rating of 67.9%... Gauthier is tied for the league lead in insurance goals with two.

IN NET: Mathieu Corbeil has started the last two games for Saint John after returning from Columbus Blue Jackets training camp. He is 2-0 with a 2.88 goals against average and a 0.906 save percentage.

Charlie Millen and Sebastien Auger have both seen action in the Sea Dogs net this season as well.

WELCOME BACK: The Sea Dogs welcomed back several players over the weekend after they had been assigned to junior by their NHL clubs. Zack Phillips, Pierre Durepos, and Stanislav Galiev all played last weekend.

Stephen MacAulay, Ryan Tesink, Nathan Beaulieu, and Tomas Jurco have all been assigned back to Saint John as well and should see action on this road trip.

STILL GONE: Jonathan Huberdeau is the lone Sea Dog remaining at an NHL training camp and it certainly doesn’t look like he’ll be coming back in the immediate future. He is still playing well at Florida Panthers camp and could start the year – or even stick – in the NHL.

“We spoke [with agent] briefly on Monday,” said Panthers general manager Dale Tallon to George Richards of the Miami Herald. “We're really going to wait until Friday. If he makes our team, we're going to try and get something done.''

ROAD TRIPPING: This is the first big road swing for the Sea Dogs this season. They play the Armada tonight, have tomorrow off, visit the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Friday night and the Victoriaville Tigres on Saturday.

LAST GAME: Saint John is coming off a 6-2 victory over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Saturday at Harbour Station. Stanislav Galiev and Danick Gauthier each had a pair of goals while Zack Phillips and Oliver Cooper each scored singles. Mathieu Corbeil made 26 saves in the game.

NOTES: There is a guy in the QMJHL named Christopher Clapperton who just so happens to lead the Armada in scoring. He has two goals and five assists for seven points in seven games… Dylan Anderson, Alexandre Lemieux, and Cedrick Paquette each have an Armada leading three goals this year… Jess Tanguy has a team high six assists. Clapperton is second with five… Clapperton is also a team high +4… Toliver Bergeron is a team worst -3… three players have a team high 13 penalty minutes… the Armada’s power play is ranked 15^th in the league with a rating of 15.6%... their penalty kill is ranked 12^th in the league and is running at 71.4%... Dylan Anderson is tied for second in game winning goals in the league with two… Clapperton’s seven points place him sixth in rookie scoring... former Lewiston Maineiacs (RIP) head coach JF Houle is currently the Armada’s head coach… according toNord Info, Ilya Nikolaev may be suffering from a concussion. He did not play on Saturday.

IN NET: The Armada’s No. 1 netminder, Etienne Marcoux, has been out since the Aramda’s home opener when he hurt his shoulder making an unreal save.

Jean-Christophe Plouffe and William Racicot are the other two ‘tenders on the Armada’s roster. Racicot has seen the most action and has a 0-3-0-0 record to go along with a 3.66 goals against average and a 0.857 save percentage.

HERTZBERG: According to TVA Sports, Viktor Hertzberg is expected to join the Armada for tonight’s game. He has not played a match yet this season.

He recorded 24 goals and 32 assists in 48 games last year.

LAST GAME: The Armada are coming off a 6-0 loss the Drummodville Voltigeurs on Saturday. Jean-Christophe Plouffe allowed four goals on 14 shots while William Racicot let in two on 14 shots.

Best Armada Video We Could Find On YouTube: Here is what the Armada’s inaugural home game looked like in hyper speed.

OUT OF TOWN

P.E.I. at Cape Breton - 7:00 PM ADT
Victoriaville at Chicoutimi - 7:30 PM EDT

THE RINK

Venue: Centre d’excellence Sports Rousseau

Capacity: 3,100

Average Attendance: 3,034

QMJHL Arena Guide

MEDIA GUIDE

Radio (Sea Dogs): News 88.9 FM
Live Web Feed: Telus
Television: None
Post-Game Coverage: Station Nation, Nord Info
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.

UP NEXT

The Sea Dogs visit the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Friday night 8pm for the second game of their road trip through Quebec.

Photo Credits: Nissan, Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Google