POSTSCRIPT: Rocket 3, Sea Dogs 5

A collection of recaps from yesterday’s 5-3 Saint John Sea Dogs win over the PEI Rocket…

The Telegraph-Journal’s recap. “While it's early in the season, there was a sense of relief around Saint John's dressing room after the triumph.”

Let’s Go Rocket’s recap. “The Rocket lost their second straight game this season and drop to 1-2-0-1 on the season.”

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. “Bolstered by the return of three players from NHL camps, the Saint John Sea Dogs earned their first win of the season Sunday, 5-3 over the Prince Edward Island Rocket.”

SN’s Live Blog Replay.

Here are some news and notes…

WELCOME BACK: Danick Gaithier was in beast mode yesterday, putting up three goals and an assist to guide Saint John to their first victory. It was his first game back since taking part in Phoenix Coyotes rookie camp.

"It's faster and I think that helped me when I came back here,'' Gauthier told the Telegraph-Journal. "I think (playing at the camp) made me faster and (helped) me to make better decisions with the puck. With the pros, it's harder and tougher.''

Alexandre Beauregard returned from Coyotes camp as well and had a fight. Scott Oke scored a goal, added an assist, and was a +3 in his return from Dallas Stars rookie camp.

AUGER: Sebastien Auger played very well in the Sea Dogs goal, making 40 saves to earn the first win of his QMJHL career. It was a solid rebound game after he got lit up for eight goals last week in Bathurst.

GALLANT RETURNS: Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant returned to the team after missing Friday’s game in Cape Breton. Gallant was a guest coach at Toronto Maple Leafs training camp on Saturday. “It was fun,” Turk told News 88.9 prior to the game.

ASSISTS: Colin Campbell became the first Sea Dog to get two assists this season when he fed Brock Morrison on the team’s first goal. Campbell was given the lone assist when the goal was announced but Oliver Cooper was later awarded a helper as well.

GOOD START FOR COOPER: Speaking of Cooper, the rookie has started the season on a solid note. With his assist in yesterday’s game, the Fredericton native now has two goals and two assists in four games.

ROCKET POWER PLAY: PEI’s power play entered the game ranked first in the league at 50% but it failed to connect on six chances yesterday.

LOTS OF SHOTS: Both goaltenders were kept busy as PEI fired 43 shots on Sebastien Auger and Saint John let 37 shots go on Maxime Lagace.

GORDIE HOWE HAT TRICK: Scott Oke’s goal, assist, and fight yesterday gave him a Gordie Howe hat trick. According to Chris Phillips of HockeyFights.com, it was the first one this year in the QMJHL.

HURTING: Saint John only dressed five defensemen on Sunday as Rory Craddock and Benjamin Hade were both hurt. According to News 88.9, Craddock is suffering from a head injury while Hade has a lower body ailment.

Ryan Kelly, Kevin Gagne, Tyrone Sock, Jason Seed, and Spencer MacDonald dressed as defensemen.

LETTERS: Kevin Gagne wore the captain’s ‘C’ for Saint John again. Alexandre Beauregard, Danick Gauthier, and Scott Oke all wore an ‘A’ on their sweaters.

FIGHT NIGHT: With all the talk about the QMJHL attempting to put a ban on fighting, the Sea Dogs and Rocket didn’t seem to care. A total of four fights took place in the game.

Here is Oliver Cooper vs Kelly Bent:

Alexandre Beauregard vs Olivier Croteau:

The other fights saw Devon Oliver-Dares face Marc-Andre Levesque and Dylan Capstick take on Scott Oke.

All of these scraps took place on family ticket package day at Harbour Station. The horror. 

TWEETS: Pierre Durepos was happy to hear his team finally got their first win of the season. “Day two done,” he tweeted. “She was a tough one, but hearing that the boys pulled out a huge win back in Saint John makes me pretty happy!”

Durepos is currently in Los Angeles taking part in Kings camp.

Stephen MacAulay, who is in St. Louis attending Blues camp, also chimed in.

“Glad to see we got win No. 1 back in Saint John,” he tweeted. “Danick Gauthier with a monster game. Keep er going boys.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Here are the SeaDogsTV highlights from yesterday’s game.

OUT OF TOWN: Acadie-Bathurst 3 at Cape Breton 5; Quebec 4 at Blainville-Boisbriand 2; Shawinigan 5 at Gatineau 2

NEXT GAME: The Val-d’Or Foreurs will be the first Quebec team to make the trek to Saint John this season. They play the Sea Dogs at Harbour Station this Friday at 7:30pm.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation