GAMEDAY 11 - vs Tigres

GAMEDAY

Victoriaville Tigres vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Today, October 9, 2011 at 3pm

Harbour Station

PREVIEW

SAINT JOHN – Revenge will be on the minds of the Saint John Sea Dogs this afternoon as they host the Victoriaville Tigres. Game time is 3pm at Harbour Station.

The Tigres embarrassed the Sea Dogs 7-0 last weekend in Victoriaville, handing Saint John their first shutout loss in nearly two years. It wasn't pretty.

Yannick Dube and Brandon Hynes both had a pair of goals in the victory while Carl-Antoine Delisle, Pierre-Luc Pelletier and Danick Emond also scored. Goaltender David Honzik, who has been fairly average this season after a sensational playoff run last year, earned the shutout by stopping all 30 shots he faced.

Sea Dogs goaltender Mathieu Corbeil was yanked after allowing four goals on 21 shots. Charlie Millen, who was put on waivers by the Dogs yesterday, allowed four goals on 21 shots in relief.

Both the Tigres and the Sea Dogs are expected to strong contenders in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season. Victoriaville enters play today with a record of 8-3-0-0 which is good for eighth overall in the league and third in the tough Telus East Division. The Tigres were ranked fifth in the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings this past week.

Victoriaville is wrapping up a short trip through the Maritimes this afternoon. The team defeated the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 5-3 on Friday night, had yesterday off, play the Sea Dogs today and then head home. The team bus could be seen driving down Station St. before yesterday’s game.

Saint John enters play with a record of 6-4-0-0 and sit in a tie for first in the Maritimes Division and eighth overall in the league. After an 0-3 start, the team has gone 6-1-0-0 since. They were ranked sixth in the Top 10 this week.

The Sea Dogs have added two big pieces and lost one since that game last Saturday in Victoriaville. Jonathan Huberdeau made his season debut last night against Rimouski while Charles-Olivier Roussel made his Sea Dogs debut. Stanislav Galiev is out indefinitely with a broken wrist.

Today should feature an entertaining contest.

NOTES: Yanni Gourde enters action today as the league’s leading scorer with nine goals and 17 assists for 26 points. Philippe Maillet is second on the team in points with 17… Gourde’s nine goals are a team high. Maillet and Yannick Dube are tied for second with eight goals each… Gourde’s 17 assists are by far a Tigres high. The next closest is Maillet who has nine. Philippe Halley has eight helpers…. Frederic Tanguay leads Victoriaville in plus/minus with a rating of +14. Carl-Antoine Delisle is +12… Brandon Hynes is a team worst -5… Simon Darveau has a Tigres high 39 penalty minutes… Gourde’s 17 assists are a league high… Dube is tied for third in power play goals with five… Darveau’s 39 penalty minutes are a league high… Maillet is tied for the league lead in shots taken with 50… the Tigres have outscored their opposition 58-37 in 11 games… 4-2-0-0 on the road this season and have outscored opponents 31-26… their power play is running at 28.1% which is good for sixth in the league… owners of the seventh best penalty kill with a rating of 78.3%.

IN NET: David Honzik has a 3-3-0-0 record with a 3.79 goals against average and a 0.874 save percentage since returning from Vancouver Canucks camp. He recorded a shutout last weekend in the Tigres’ 7-0 win over Saint John.

                                       

LAST GAME: The Tigres are coming off a 5-3 victory in Bathurst on Friday night. Philippe Halley had two goals while Carl-Antoine Delisle, Phillip Danault and Stefan Fournier had single markers. David Honzik made 23 saves for the win in net.

Best Tigres Video We Could Find On YouTube: Some pre-game pumpage.

NOTES: Danick Gauthier still leads the Sea Dogs in scoring after a big night last night against Rimouski. Gauthier has seven goals and two assists on the year for nine points… Gauthier’s seven goals are a team high. Zack Phillips, Scott Oke, Stanislav Galiev, Olivier Cooper and Tomas Jurco are all tied for second in Sea Dogs goal scoring with three markers each… Phillips has a team leading five assists. Oke, Ryan Tesink, Aidan Kelly and Tyrone Sock are all tied for second in team assists with four… Oke is a team high +8… Jason Seed is a team worst -7… Spencer MacDonald has a team leading 21 penalty minutes… Gauthier and Phillips each have two power play markers… Gauthier leads Saint John in shots on goal with 28… Gauthier is tied for the league lead in insurance goals with two… Saint John has been outscored 40-38 in 10 games this season… 4-1-0-0 on home ice and have outscored their opponents 25-14… the Sea Dogs’ power play improved to 15^th in the league with a rating of 18.3% after connecting three times last night… Saint John’s penalty kill is operating at 71.7% which is good for 14^th in the league.

IN NET: Mathieu Corbeil is 5-1-0-0 this season with a 2.57 goals against average and a 0.910 save percentage. His stats are among the best in the league.

The team put Charlie Millen on waivers yesterday, meaning the backup role belongs to Sebastien Auger.

OUT OF ACTION: Stanislav Galiev will miss the contest and many more with a broken wrist. He is expected to be out for a few weeks.

LAST GAME: The Sea Dogs are coming off an 8-2 win over the Rimouski Oceanic last night at Harbour Station. Stephen MacAulay and Danick Gauthier each had two goals while Zack Phillips, Tomas Jurco, Scott Oke and Charles-Olivier Roussel added singles. Ryan Tesink had four assists. Mathieu Corbeil made 19 saves for the win.

OTHER GAMES

Cape Breton at Halifax - 2:00 PM ADT

P.E.I. at Acadie-Bathurst - 4:00 PM ADT

Rimouski at Moncton - 4:00 PM ADT

Val-d'Or at Blainville-Boisbriand - 4:00 PM EDT

Chicoutimi at Drummondville - 4:00 PM EDT

Rouyn-Noranda at Gatineau - 4:00 PM EDT

Quebec at Shawinigan - 4:00 PM EDT

THE RINK

Venue: Harbour Station

Capacity: 6,297

Average Attendance: 3,795

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, La Nouvelle Union

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 hit the road for Quebec this week. They visit the Gatineau Olympiques on Wednesday at 8:30pm.

Photo Credits: QMJHL, Google