GAMEDAY
Round 4, Game 3
Saint John Sea Dogs vs Rimouski Oceanic
Tonight at 8:30pm
Radio: News 88.9 | Webcast: Telus | TV: None | Live Blog:
SN
Colisee Rimouski – Rimouski, Que.
SERIES STATUS
Saint John leads the best-of-seven Quebec Major Junior
Hockey League Championship Series 2-0.
PREVIEW
RIMOUSKI, Que. – The 2012 Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League Championship Series shifts to Rimouski with Game 3 between the Saint
John Sea Dogs and Rimouski Oceanic being played tonight at the Colisee. Game
time is 8:30pm Atlantic.
The Sea Dogs enter tonight’s contest with a 2-0 series
lead after back-to-back 3-2 wins at Harbour Station over the weekend. The first
ended with Zack Phillips scoring in the second overtime period and the second
was won on a Charlie Coyle penalty shot.
Saint John struggled in Game 1 but played a much better
game on Saturday. Although it ended as a one-goal game, the Sea Dogs could have
easily won that match by two or three goals.
The Oceanic, who came close to winning Game 1 thanks to
several dangerous chances in overtime, were only able to fire 16 shots on goal
in Game 2 compared to the Sea Dogs’ 32. Although they didn’t score, Saint John
got off to a good start on Saturday, outshooting Rimouski 14-4 in the opening
frame.
The President’s Cup final now shifts to Rimouski for the
next two games at minimum. A Game 5, if necessary, would be played in the
Quebec city as well.
The Oceanic are 5-3 at home this post-season and have
outscored opponents 39-27. In the regular season they were 24-9-1-0 at home and
outscored opponents 136-113. One of those regular season home wins was a 4-3
victory over the Sea Dogs.
Saint John is 5-1 on the road in the playoffs and have outscored
opponents 30-15. They had their troubles playing in the hostile environment of the
Georges Vezina Centre last round, going 1-1 with both contests needing
overtime.
It will surely be a rowdy crowd tonight in Rimouski, but
the Sea Dogs have won big games in these kinds of environments before and they
are capable of doing it again.
A Sea Dogs win tonight will give them a stranglehold on
the series. An Oceanic win and they have life in this thing.
PLAYOFF NUMBERS
| Saint John | Rimouski | |
| Record | 14-1 | 12-7 |
| Home Record | 9-0 | 5-3 |
| Road Record | 5-1 | 7-4 |
| Goals For/Game | 5.59 (1st) | 3.70 (6th) |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.20 (1st) | 2.85 (4th) |
| Shots For/Game | 36.12 (2nd) | 31.17 (4th) |
| Shots Against/Game | 26.19 (3rd) | 27.52 (5th) |
| Overall PP | 29.9% (1st) | 20.3% (10th) |
| Home PP | 39% (1st) | 28.2% (6th) |
| Road PP | 15.4% (11th) | 11.4% (13th) |
| Overall PK | 87.7% (1st) | 78.3% (8th) |
| Home PK | 82.1% (7th) | 78.7% (9th) |
| Road PK | 96.2% (1st) | 77.8% (6th) |
| PIM/GAME | 16.2 (9th) | 16.5 (8th) |
| Attendance | 5,522 (3rd) | 4,211 (4th) |
LEADING SCORERS – PLAYOFFS
Rimouski
| Player | GP | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Alexandre Mallet | 19 | 9 | 15 | 24 |
| Alex Belzile | 19 | 7 | 16 | 23 |
| Petr Straka | 19 | 9 | 12 | 21 |
Saint John
| Player | GP | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Charlie Coyle | 15 | 15 | 17 | 32 |
| Zack Phillips | 15 | 8 | 21 | 29 |
| Stanislav Galiev | 15 | 12 | 15 | 27 |
GOALTENDERS - PLAYOFFS
Rimouski
| Goaltender | Record | GAA | SV% |
| Jacob Gervais-Chouinard | 10-4-1-0 | 3.01 | 0.893 |
| Carl Hozjan | 2-2-0-0 | 1.71 | 0.930 |
Saint John
| Goaltender | Record | GAA | SV% |
| Mathieu Corbeil | 14-0-1-0 | 2.20 | 0.916 |
| Sebastien Auger | 0-0-0-0 | - - - | - - - |
PLAYOFF SERIES
GAME ONE – Rimouski 2, Saint John 3 (2OT)
GAME TWO – Rimouski 2, Saint John 3
GAME THREE – Wednesday, May 9: 8:30 p.m. @ Colisee de
Rimouski
GAME FOUR – Thursday, May 10: 8:30 p.m. @ Colisee de
Rimouski
*GAME FIVE – Saturday, May 12: 5 p.m. @ Colisee de
Rimouski
*GAME SIX – Monday, May 14: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*GAME SEVEN – Wednesday, May 16: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*If necessary
SEASON SERIES
October 8, 2011 – Rimouski 2, Saint John 8
November 2, 2011 –Saint John 3, Rimouski 4
WELCOME BACK
The Sea Dogs will welcome back their captain tonight as
Jonathan Huberdeau returns from a two-game suspension. Huberdeau will play in
his first game since Game 5 of the semifinals against Chicoutimi which was
played on April 28 at Harbour Station.
Huberdeau has nine goals and nine assists in 13 playoff
games this year. He sits fifth in team scoring with 18 points.
GAME 3
Saint John has had success in Game 3 of the President’s
Cup final before.
In 2010, the Sea Dogs beat the Moncton Wildcats 6-4 at
Harbour Station. Danick Gauthier had a goal in that game.
Last year, the Sea Dogs beat the Gatineau Olympiques 5-0
in Game 3. Gauthier, Stephen MacAulay, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aidan Kelly, and
Mike Thomas had goals in that game. The Sea Dogs outshot Gatineau 35-17.
NOTES
- This is the first President’s Cup final to be played in Rimouski since 2005.
- Charlie Coyle leads the league in playoff scoring with 32 points in 15 games. Zack Phillips is second with 29.
- Jerome Gauthier-Leduc leads all defensemen in playoff scoring with 17 points in 19 games.
- Coyle has a league best 15 goals.
- Phillips has a league high 21 assists.
- Coyle has five game winning goals in the playoffs.
- Pier-Luc Pelletier is second in penalty minutes with 36.
- Coyle is a league best +25.
- Peter Trainor is third in rookie scoring with 17 points in 19 games.
ELSEWHERE
In the OHL, the London Knights are in Niagara for Game 4
of the OHL Championship Series. The Knights lead that series 2-1.
NEXT GAME
Game 4 of the Oceanic-Sea Dogs series is tomorrow night
at 8:30pm. The game will be broadcast on TVA Sports.
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