GAMEDAY
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Moncton Wildcats
Today, December 18, 2011 at 4pm
Moncton Coliseum
PREVIEW
MONCTON – An up-and-down first half comes to a close this
afternoon in Moncton for the Saint John Sea Dogs.
It was an interesting first half to say the least. The
Sea Dogs rarely dressed the same lineup two straight nights because of injuries
and NHL camps. But despite icing depleted lineups for the majority of the first
half, Saint John has fared quite well and enter action today with a record of
27-10-0-1 for 55 points. They sit second in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League.
Saint John will once again be shorthanded today. Jonathan
Huberdeau, Nathan Beaulieu, Tomas Jurco and Charlie Coyle are all away in
Alberta taking part in world junior camps. Ryan Tesink, Stanislav Galiev and
likely Devon Oliver-Dares will miss today’s contest because of injury.
The Dogs will still have two of their top offensive weapons
in the lineup today, though. Zack Phillips, who has 18 goals and 34 assists for
a team high 52 points, and Danick Gauthier, who enters play today tied for the
league lead in goals with 31, are both expected to suit up this afternoon.
Saint John is coming off a 4-3 win over the Cape Breton
Screaming Eagles on Friday night. Scott Oke scored twice while singles came
from Zack Phillips and Kevin Gagne. The Dogs led 4-0 entering the third period
but nearly blew it, hanging on for a 4-3 win.
On the road this year, the Sea Dogs are 11-7-0-1 and have
outscored opponents 68-63. They are 1-0-0-0 at the Moncton Coliseum.
Moncton has also been shorthanded of late. According to Saturday’ Times & Transcript, Moncton was without defensemen Brandon
Gormley, Patrick Downe and Cameron McDonald and forwards Marek Hrivik, Alex
Saulnier, Devon MacAusland and Olivier D'Aoust for Friday’s game against
Halifax.
The Wildcats have been average in the first half. They
have a record of 17-17-2-0 for 36 points and sit fourth in the Maritimes Division
and 12th overall in the league. They are a miserable 3-6-1-0 in
their last 10 games and have lost five straight.
Moncton is coming off a 2-0 loss to the Halifax
Mooseheads on Friday night. It was Teddy Bear Toss night and fans were forced
to throw their stuffed animals on the ice after the Moose scored an empty net
goal. That’s just awkward.
This is the third meeting of the season between the ‘Cats
and Dogs. The last time they met, Saint John won 2-1 in overtime and this
happened.
Olivier D’Aoust is still serving his eight-game
suspension for the hit on Jason Seed and will not play tonight. Also in that
game, Danick Gauthier put an elbow up in the face of Brandon Gormley but did
not receive a penalty. Today could be a physical game between the two provincial
rivals.
These two teams will face each other again in Moncton on
New Year’s Eve in the first half of a home-and-home series. The second game goes
January 2nd at Harbour Station.
OTHER GAMES
Halifax at Cape Breton - 4:00 PM AST
Acadie-Bathurst at Quebec - 3:00 PM EST
Chicoutimi at Drummondville - 4:00 PM EST
ARENA INFO
Venue: Moncton Coliseum
Seating Capacity: 6,803
Average Attendance: 3,886
MEDIA GUIDE
Radio (Sea Dogs): News 88.9 FM
Live Web Feed: Telus
Television: None
Post-Game Coverage: Station Nation, Telegraph-Journal,
Times & Transcript
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 return to action on Wednesday, December 28
to face the Titan in Bathurst.
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