GAMEDAY
Shawinigan Cataractes vs Saint John Sea Dogs
2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup – Round-Robin
Tonight at 8:00pm
Radio: News 88.9 | TV: Sportsnet/TVA Sports | Live Blog:
SN
Centre Bionest – Shawinigan, Que.
PREVIEW
SHAWINIGAN, Que. – Just like on Monday, tonight’s game is
not an elimination game for the Saint John Sea Dogs. But it might as well be
treated like one.
The loser of tonight’s MasterCard Memorial Cup game
between the Sea Dogs and Shawinigan Cataractes will have the toughest road of
any team to win the Memorial Cup. A loss tonight would mean they would have to
win three games in four nights beginning tomorrow to become champions. It’s not an impossible task
but a very, very difficult one.
If the Sea Dogs win this evening, they will advance to
Friday’s semi-final game where they would play the winner of tomorrow’s
Shawinigan-Edmonton tie-breaker. If the Cataractes win tonight, they would
advance straight to Sunday’s final and London would face the winner of the
Edmonton-Saint John tie-breaker.
This is the game that everyone has been waiting for. With
both teams sitting at 1-1, it just makes tonight’s contest that much more
important.
These are two teams that showed they don’t like each
other during the regular season. There were six fights over the four-game season
series. There were also two players suspended multiple games for illegal hits.
All four games were highly intense and two were decided by one-goal.
Despite all that has gone down between these two
franchises since Shawinigan was awarded hosting rights for this year’s
tournament, the Sea Dogs are downplaying any kind of rivalry.
"Last year we were disappointed when we didn't get
to host the Memorial Cup, there's no doubt," Sea Dogs coach Gerard Gallant
told Buzzing The Net. "But that's long in the past. There's no big
rivalry, us and Shawinigan. I think us and Shawinigan are the two best teams in
our league supposedly, so that's the rivalry. We play other [Maritimes] teams,
Moncton and Halifax [Mooseheads], our rivalry is as big with them as it is with
Shawinigan. It's not like there's going to big six fights.”
Shawinigan and Saint John battled for first overall in
the league standings all year. The Cataractes stumbled a bit down the stretch
and the Dogs beat them by six points. The Cataractes finished the regular
season with a record of 45-16-3-4 for 97 points.
The Cats swept Rouyn-Noranda in the first round of the playoffs before
falling in seven games to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the second round. Saint
John and Shawinigan never got to meet in the playoffs but, tonight, they’ll face each other in the most important game of the year.
PLAYOFF NUMBERS
| Saint John | Shawinigan | |
| Record | 16-1 | 7-4 |
| Home Record | 9-0 | 4-2 |
| Road Record | 7-1 | 3-2 |
| Goals For/Game | 5.75 (1st) | 4.21 (3rd) |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.18 (1st) | 2.51 (2nd) |
| Shots For/Game | 35.38 (2nd) | 37.88 (1st) |
| Shots Against/Game | 26.11 (3rd) | 25.52 (1st) |
| Overall PP | 28.2% (2nd) | 15.1% (14th) |
| Home PP | 39% (1st) | 25.0% (9th) |
| Road PP | 13.3% (12th) | 4.0% (16th) |
| Overall PK | 88.2% (1st) | 83.3% (3rd) |
| Home PK | 82.1% (7th) | 77.3% (10th) |
| Road PK | 94.6% (1st) | 90.0% (2nd) |
| PIM/GAME | 16.1 (8th) | 17.1 (6th) |
| Attendance | 5,522 (3rd) | 3,961 (7th) |
LEADING SCORERS – PLAYOFFS
Shawinigan
| Player | GP | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Kirill Kabanov | 11 | 4 | 9 | 13 |
| Michael Chaput | 11 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| Yannick Veilleux | 11 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
Saint John
| Player | GP | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Stanislav Galiev | 17 | 16 | 18 | 34 |
| Charlie Coyle | 17 | 15 | 19 | 34 |
| Zack Phillips | 17 | 9 | 23 | 32 |
GOALTENDERS - PLAYOFFS
Shawinigan
| Goaltender | Record | GAA | SV% |
| Gabriel Girard | 4-0-0-0 | 2.86 | 0.886 |
| Alex Dubeau | 3-3-1-0 | 2.08 | 0.919 |
Saint John
| Goaltender | Record | GAA | SV% |
| Mathieu Corbeil | 16-0-1-0 | 2.18 | 0.917 |
| Sebastien Auger | 0-0-0-0 | - - - | - - - |
GIRARD
Gabriel Girard will start in goal for the Cataractes once
again. He made 24 saves for the Cataractes in their 6-2 victory over the London
Knights on Sunday night. The netminder started three of the four regular season
games against Saint John going 1-1-1-0.
SEASON SERIES
The Sea Dogs and Cataractes split the season series with
each tea, picking up a win in the opponents building. Shawinigan was the better
team, picking up five of a possible eight points. We took a look back at all four games earlier today.
PREVIEWS
There are a few solid game previews out there for this.
Sportsnet.ca – Cataractes aim for berth in final vs Sea
Dogs
Buzzing The Net - Saint John, Shawinigan have old scores
and new goals in heated QMJHL matchup
London Free Press – Memorial Cup a coin-flip
GOOD START
Some Shawinigan players are off to a good start at the
Memorial Cup. Michael Chaput leads all players in scoring with three goals and
two assists for five points. Brandon Gormley is tied for second with two goals
and two assists for four points.
NOTES
- Shawinigan allowed the fewest goals against in the QMJHL’s regular season with 179.
- Cataractes went 22-8-1-3 at home during the regular season.
- Michael Chaput’s three goals lead the Memorial Cup.
- Charlie Coyle is tied for the Memorial Cup lead in assists with three.
- Saint John is the “home” team tonight.
NEXT GAME
If Saint John wins, they will play in Friday’s
semi-final game. If Saint John loses, they play Edmonton in tomorrow’s
tie-breaker game.
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