POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 5, Wildcats 2

A collection of recaps from yesterday’s 5-2 Saint John Sea Dogs win over the Moncton Wildcats…

Our recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs wrapped up the unofficial first half of the season with a 5-2 victory over the rival Moncton Wildcats in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action on Sunday afternoon.

The Times & Transcript’s recap. "We got behind 3-0 (early in the second period) and it's tough to come back against a team like Saint John. It's tough being in a slump going into the Christmas break. We're missing a lot of key guys right now. Once we get our full lineup again, we'll be a better team."

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. Stephen MacAulay led the way with two goals for the Sea Dogs, Zack Phillips had a goal and an assist a day after signing his first NHL contract with the Minnesota Wild, and Grant West and Kevin Gagne added singles. Mathieu Corbeil made 23 saves for the win, Saint John’s third in the last four games.

SN Live Blog Replay. Merry Christmas.

MISSING IN ACTION: Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau (Canada), Tomas Jurco (Slovakia) and Charlie Coyle (USA) and defenseman Nathan Beaulieu (Canada) all missed yesterday’s contest due to their participation in world junior camps.

Forwards Stanislav Galiev (wrist), Ryan Tesink (knee), and Devon Oliver-Dares (head) all missed the game due to injury.

ALSO MISSING IN ACTION: The Wildcats were also quite shorthanded on Sunday afternoon. They were without the services of Brandon Gormley, Marek Hrivik, Patrick Downe, Alex Saulnier, Olivier D'Aoust, Cameron McDonald and Devon MacAusland.

RECALLED: Dylan McGuigan was recalled once again as Danny Wicks was sent down. He has five goals and 10 assists in 32 games with the Maritime Junior Hockey League’s Truro Bearcats.

On Sunday, McGuigan had one shot and went 4/9 in the faceoff circle. In five games with the Saint John this season, he has one assist.

GOOD START: Saint John had a good start to the game, much like they did on Friday in Cape Breton. They led 2-0 after one thanks to goals from Grant West and Stephen MacAulay. Shots were 13-6 in favour of the Dogs after 20 minutes. Danick Gauthier had a team high three shots in the opening frame.

REVENGE: Grant West, who the Sea Dogs picked up after he was put on waivers by the Wildcats, scored a beautiful goal in the first period, beating Roman Will with a deke. He’s been a great pickup by the Dogs as this wasn’t the first time he showed off some skill. It surely felt good doing it against the team that released him.

SAULNIER FAIL: An embarrassing moment for Allain Saulnier before the game. After being introduced, he tripped over the carpet that was lying on the ice while going full speed.

“Yep it finally happened, two days after kissing the floor of the showers @Sauly19 falling on the carpet while getting introduced #rookiemove,” tweeted teammate Olivier D’Aoust.

His twin brother, Alex, tripped over the carpet lastmonth.

VS MONCTON: Saint John improved to 2-1-0-0 on the year against Moncton. They have outscored the Wildcats 8-6.

ON THE ROAD: Saint John went 12-7-0-1 on the road in the first half and outscored opponents 73-65. They are 2-0-0-0 at the Moncton Coliseum this season.

MacAULAY: Big game for Stephen MacAulay on Sunday afternoon as he scored two goals, giving him eight on the year. He scored on a breakaway in the third period giving the Sea Dogs a key 4-2 lead.

GAGNE: Kevin Gagne enters the break on a hot note having scored in both Sunday’s and Friday’s game. He now has six goals on the year, tying a career high. He had six goals in 59 games last year.

QUICK HITS: The game was sponsored by Kellogg’s cereal. Tony the Tiger was in house… the Sea Dogs had 36 shots on goal yesterday – which isn’t a huge number – but every member of the team had at least one shot on net… Grant West and Danick Gauthier both had a team high four shots on goal… Charles-Olivier Roussel had a team high four hits… Allain Saulnier had a Moncton high six shots on goal… Scott Trask had five hits… 4,204 watched the game, giving Moncton an extra Rivalry Cup point…

HOLIDAY BREAK: The Sea Dogs now have a long break for the holidays. They don’t return to action until December 28.

TRADES: The trading period opened today and runs through January 7.

TONIGHT: This eveing at 10pm on TSN2, Team Canada takes on Team Finland in World Junior Hockey Championship pre-tournament action. 

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at the KC Irving Regional Centre on December 28. 

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation