GAMEDAY
Shawinigan Cataractes vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, December 3, 2011 at 7pm
Harbour Station
PREVIEW
SAINT JOHN – Two teams that hope to see each other in May
will meet for the first time this season tonight at Harbour Station.
The Memorial Cup hosting Shawinigan Cataractes roll into
Saint John to face the Memorial Cup defending Sea Dogs this evening at 7pm.
Normally, two of the top teams in the league facing off against each other
would be a big enough storyline. But what happened off the ice last April will
be everyone’s mind.
“We wish Shawinigan all the best, but we know our
organization had an outstanding bid from top to bottom. An incredible amount of
work went into this bid and we felt Saint John showed it was by far the best
option as a Memorial Cup host city,” Sea Dogs majority owner Scott McCain said
in reaction to the news in a release. “We’re obviously disappointed but, having
said that, we respect the decision and our organization will move forward.”
The choice has created a bizarre little rivalry that
should development quite nicely as the season goes on. How many rivalries have
been created off stuff that happened solely off-ice? But the Sea Dogs and
Cataractes will play each other a maximum four times this season, and with both
teams being serious contenders, the hate level can only get bigger.
The Cataractes are viewing tonight’s game as a hugematch. Hopefully the Sea Dogs are doing the same.
Shawinigan enters play tonight with a record of 20-8-1-2
for 43 points. They sit second in the Telus East Division and fourth overall in
the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. They are 8-4-1-1 on the road this year.
Saint John is 24-7-0-1 for 49 points. They sit first overall
in the QMJHL and are winners of three straight. They have been dominant on
home-ice this year, having lost just one of their 15 games at Harbour Station.
They have outscored opponents 81-34.
In the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings this week, the
Sea Dogs were ranked second while the Cataractes were No. 6.
IN NET: Gabriel Girard is expected to start in goal for Shawinigan tonight. He is 5-3-0-0 with a 3.00 goals against average and a 0.900
save percentage.
LAST GAME: The Cataractes are coming off a 3-1 win in
Bathurst last night. Anton Zlobin, Yannick Veilleux and Alexandre Grandmaison
scored for Shawinigan. Alex Dubeau made 24 saves for the win. Shawinigan went
0-for-5 on the power play.
Best Cataractes Video We Could Find on YouTube: Patrick Roy flipping out at some Shawinigan fans.
IN NET: Mathieu Corbeil will likely get the start in goal
for Saint John tonight. He has a record of 18-4-0-0 to go with a goals against
average of 2.14 and a save percentage of 0.918.
PHILLIPS: Zack Phillip enters tonight’s game on a 20-game
point streak. Over that span he has recorded 12 goals and 26 assists.
LAST GAME: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 2-1 overtime win
over the Moncton Wildcats on Tuesday. Stephen Anderson and Charles-Olivier
Roussel each scored in the contest. Mathieu Corbeil made 30 stops to pick up
the victory.
Chicoutimi at Acadie-Bathurst - 7:00 PM AST
Moncton at Cape Breton - 7:00 PM AST
Quebec at Halifax - 7:00 PM AST
Victoriaville at Rouyn-Noranda - 7:00 PM EST
Drummondville at Val-d'Or - 7:00 PM EST
THE RINK
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Average Attendance: 4,041
MEDIA GUIDE
Radio (Sea Dogs): News 88.9 FM
Live Web Feed: Telus
Television: None
Post-Game Coverage: Station Nation, Telegraph-Journal, Le
Nouvelliste, L’Hebdo du St. Maurice
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 Gabriel Bourret, Alexandre Beauregard
and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens tomorrow at 3pm at Harbour Station.
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