POSTSCRIPT: Cataractes 7, Sea Dogs 4

A collection of recaps from last night’s 7-4 Saint John Sea Dogs loss to the Shawinigan Cataractes…

Our recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs’ season came to a crashing end on Friday night at Centre Bionest as the rival Shawinigan Cataractes won the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup semi-final game 7-4.

News 88.9’s recap. Featuring Tim Roszell’s goal calls.

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. The back-to-back President’s Cup champions came back from deficits of 2-1 and 4-2 before eventually falling to the host Cataractes, who were eliminated in the second round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs.

Buzzing The Net’s recap. "When we tied it up, I thought we had a real good chance of winning, but Girard made a real good glove save [on Tomas Jurco]," Sea Dogs coach Gerard Gallant said. "We didn't play well all night. Shawinigan played very well, they competed harder than us and that's why they won the game. Give full credit to them."

Sportsnet.ca’s recap. The Cataractes battled hard from start to finish and faced plenty of adversity along the way. When push came to shove after the Sea Dogs tied the game 4-4 midway through the third period, Shawinigan head coach Eric Veilleux had nothing more to do than look at this bench to realize everything would work out.

The Canadian Press’ recap. They’ve also ensured there will be a new Memorial Cup champion. The Sea Dogs, a powerhouse team that has won more than 200 games over the last three seasons, were looking to repeat after winning the Cup last year in Mississauga, Ont.

SN Live Blog Replay. See you in August.

MISSING IN ACTION: The Sea Dogs dressed the same lineup as they did on Wednesday. Scratches were forwards Devon Oliver-Dares, Oliver Cooper, Dylan McGuigan, and defensemen Spencer MacDonald and Jordan Moore and goaltender Richard Tingley.

FIRST PERIOD: It was a back-and-forth and fairly even first period. The crowd was into after the Cataractes took a 2-1 advantage. Shots would end up being 10-8 in favour of the Dogs and it ended with a 2-2 score.

SCORING FIRST: Zack Phillips gave Saint John a 1-0 lead just 4:29 into the game. The Dogs scored early in all four games they have played at this tournament. Getting good starts certainly wasn't a problem.

GALIEV: Just before Brandon Gormley gave Shawinigan a 2-1 lead in the first, Stanislav Galiev was down hurt after taking a high stick in the face. No call was made and the goal stood. Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant didn’t like the call and showed his displeasure when talking with the official.

Here's Galiev post-game via @camcharron.

DUREPOS: Pierre Durepos picked up an assist on Tomas Jurco’s first period goal. It was the first point of his Memorial Cup career.

BEAULIEU: Nathan Beaulieu certainly isn’t a crowd favourite in Shawinigan as he was booed every time he touched the puck. There seems to be no one reason as to why he was booed. He finished the game with an assist and a -4 rating. 

SECOND PERIOD: Shawinigan dominated the second period. They scored two goals and outshot Saint John 20-8. The building was jumping. It was all Shawinigan until Jonathan Huberdeau scored his bizarre goal at 16:39.

STRANGE ONE: For the second time this tournament, Jonathan Huberdeau scored from a long way out. While shorthanded, he bounced a shot from his own blue line that went upstairs on Girard who was over to one side of his goal anticipating to play it. It was a significant marker as it put the Dogs down by just a goal late in the second.

Huberdeau’s tournament ends with five goals and two assists. He had three goals and three assists last year when he was named the tournament’s MVP.

JURCO: Tomas Jurco tied it at 4-4 at 9:16 of the third. It was his second of the game and his third point of the tournament. He had four goals and an assist last year in Mississauga.

ZLOBIN: Anton Zlobin had a big game, recording three assists. He assisted on both of Shawinigan’s first two goals of the game and then on Michael Chaput’s second period power play marker. Zlobin now has three goals and four assists in the tournament.

GORMLEY: It seems like Brandon Gormley has always stepped it up in big games against Saint John. He had a goal and two assists last night to go with three shots and a +3 rating.

CORBEIL: Tough game for Mathieu Corbeil who allowed six goals on 36 shots in the final game of his junior career. He didn’t look as comfortable last night as he had during the playoffs. He finishes the Memorial Cup with a 2-2 record with a 3.51 GAA and a 0.881 SV%.

VS SHAWI: And so ends quite a season of Sea Dogs vs Cataractes. The series ends with each team winning three games. The Cataractes outscored the Dogs 21-16. No team won back-to-back games.

December 3, 2011 at Saint John – Cataractes 2, Sea Dogs 3 (OT)

January 12, 2012 at Saint John – Cataractes 4, Sea Dogs 1

February 4, 2012 at Shawinigan – Sea Dogs 2, Cataractes 1

March 11, 2012 – Sea Dogs 2, Cataractes 6

May 23, 2012 – Cataractes 1, Sea Dogs 4

May 25, 2012 – Cataractes 7, Sea Dogs 4

NOTES: Kirill Kabanov and Anton Zlobin each had five shots for Shawinigan… Jonathan Narbonne and Brandon Gormley were each a +3… Morgan Ellis had three hits… Tomas Jurco had six shots for Saint John… Stephen MacAulay had three hits.. the Dogs went 1/5 on the power play while the Cats went 1/4... Shawinigan outshot Saint John 37-28... the last time the Sea Dogs' season ended in a loss? May 10, 2010 in Moncton. The score? A 7-4 Sea Dogs loss.

HIGHLIGHTS: Couple of videos.

Open Ice Hockey’s recap.

THE FINAL: Shawinigan will play the Ontario Hockey League champion London Knights tomorrow night at 8pm in the Championship Final.

UP NEXT: The 2012 QMJHL Entry Draft is June 9 in Quebec City.