POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 9, Huskies 4

A collection of recaps from last night’s 9-4 Saint John Sea Dogs victory in Rouyn-Noranda…

Our recap. Danick Gauthier is having a great start to his season.

La Frontiere’s recap. The Sea Dogs spoiled the Huskies’ home opener.

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. Sea Dogs Head Coach Gerard Gallant challenged his team to be better after Wednesday’s 5-1 loss in Gatineau, and the team answered the call early and often.

Huskies.qc.ca’s recap. After waiting a month to play a home game, the Huskies had a difficult night.

SN Live Blog replay. Saint John put up nine goals for the first time this season.

HOME OPENER: It was the Huskies’ home opener on Friday night after starting the year with 12 straight home games due to arena renovations. The Huskies still can’t play at the Iamgold Arena because of the renovations, so the Jacques Lapperiere Arena will have to do for now.

The players were introduced and then there was a long ceremony at centre ice to honour former Huskies forward Sergeu Ostapchuk who was killed in the Lokomotiv plane crash last month.

Ostapchuk spent two seasons with Rouyn-Noranda.

THE RINK: According to News 88.9 there were plenty of problems throughout the day with the Jacques Laperriere Arena in preparation to hosting the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League contest.

There was a small delay just before the opening puck drop as there was a problem with the Rouyn-Noranda goal.

The official attendance was 1,578 which is the smallest crowd the Sea Dogs have played in front of this season.

TECH STUFF: The Telus webcast actually worked for the game although it offered a unique camera angle. The camera was basically positioned on the glass behind the Huskies bench, resulting in a very close view of the action in the neutral zone.

The QMJHL website had its problems throughout the contest, posting the message “we are now having technical problem, we're really sorry” during the game.

GAUTHIER GOALS: Danick Gauthier scored a natural hat trick on Friday to give him 10 goals on the year. It was his second hat trick of the season.

Gauthier has 10 goals in 11 games after scoring 11 in 65 contests last year. He is definitely proving his worth as a 20-year old forward.

Gauthier seems to like scoring in bunches. He has scored three goals in two games and two goals in two contests.

THE CAPTAIN: Jonathan Huberdeau wore the ‘C’ on his sweater for the first time last night, helping his team to victory by scoring a goal and adding two assists. Stephen MacAulay, Kevin Gagne and Nathan Beaulieu each wore an ‘A’.

Evidence that Huberdeau wore the ‘C’:

AUGER: Sebastien Auger started in goal for Saint John. The rookie netminder had not started a game since facing the PEI Rocket on September 18 at Harbour Station.

He played well in the first two periods but he and the Sea Dogs struggled in the first half of the third period, allowing three goals in less than two minutes. Auger made a total of 16 saves on the night.

D.O.D. RETURNS: Devon Oliver-Dares returned to the lineup on Friday after missing the previous three games because of a sore back. Oliver-Dares had one shot and a fight with Antoine Quevillon in his return.

The other fight saw Dillon Fournier take on Ryan Tesink.

NOT PLAYING: Forward Stanislav Galiev missed the contest because of a broken wrist. Defenseman Ian Saab was suspended following his hit-from-behind in Gatineau on Wednesday.

WHEN SCORING FIRST: The Sea Dogs improved to 7-0 on the season when scoring first.

ROAD TRIP: Saint John is now 1-1-0-0 on their Quebec road swing. The trip ends tonight in Val-d’Or.

OUT OF TOWN: Moncton 1 at P.E.I. 2; Gatineau 2 at Victoriaville 3; Baie-Comeau 5 at Rimouski 3

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs finish their road trip tonight at 8pm in Val-d’Or against the Foreurs.

Photo Credits: Huskies website