Sunday, May 6, 2012

POSTSCRIPT: Oceanic 2, Sea Dogs 3

A collection of recaps from last night’s 3-2 Saint John Sea Dogs victory over the Rimouski Oceanic…

Our recap. Charlie Coyle’s second period shorthanded penalty shot proved to be the winner as Saint John defeated the Rimouski Oceanic 3-2 in Game 2 of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Championship Series.

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

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. Coyle scored a short-handed penalty shot goal, and set up a power-play marker by Tomas Jurco to increase his Quebec Major Junior Hockey League-best points total to 32.

The Canadian Press’ recap. "It was a foot race and I just tried to use my body," Coyle said about the play that led to the penalty shot. "I have a big body, so I try to use it to my advantage. Being a power forward, that's what I have to do.”

L’Avantage’s recap. Harbour Station was completely sold out on Saturday.

Journal de Quebec’s recap. Jacob Chouinard played will in net for Rimouski.

SN Live Blog Replay. Unreal atmosphere for possibly the last Sea Dogs home game of the year.

MISSING IN ACTION: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Jonathan Huberdeau (serving the second game of a two game suspension), Grant West, Oliver Cooper, and Dylan McGuigan as well as defenseman Jordan Moore.

SERIES: With the win, Saint John now owns a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-seven President’s Cup final over the Oceanic. The next two games – three if needed – will be played in Rimouski.

GOOD STUFF: This was one of the best games the Sea Dogs have played over the past couple weeks. Although it ended as a one-goal win, Saint John could have easily won the match by a wider margin (especially if they had been able to hit the open net when the game was still 3-1 late in the third).

"I loved our team tonight," Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant told the Canadian Press. "I thought we played hard and competed hard and did the right things with the puck. For the majority of the time, I thought we had an excellent game.

"It was a 3-2 win, but I thought we dominated at times and took control of the game. I just think territorially we played really well."

The Sea Dogs did dominate the Oceanic in the shots on goal category, outshooting Rimouski 32-16. The Oceanic had just four shots on goal halfway through the game.

HOME: This win improved the Sea Dogs to a perfect 9-0 at home this post-season. They have outscored opponents 59-20 over that nine game span.

ROAD: Rimouski entered this series with a terrific 7-2 road record in the playoffs but will now head home after back-to-back road loses. They are now 7-4 and have outscored opponents 35-30.

SIR CHARLES: Charlie Coyle is quickly becoming a legend in Saint John. With a goal and an assist on Saturday, Coyle now has 32 points this post-season, breaking Michael Kirkpatrick’s record for points in one playoff by a Sea Dog.

One of the main reasons Coyle has become so popular among Sea Dogs fans is that he is clutch. He now has five game winning goals in the playoffs thanks to his shorthanded penalty shot goal last night that ended up being the difference in this contest.


Probably one of the loudest moments we’ve ever heard at Harbour Station.

JURCO: As Neate Sager points out over at Buzzing The Net, lost in all the Coyle hubbub has been a rather solid playoff by Tomas Jurco. The Slovak scored again last night, giving him 10 goals and 12 assists in 14 games. He had 18 points in last year’s playoff run.

Jurco scored 50 seconds after Danick Gauthier in the second period to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead. Jurco also scored the second Sea Dogs goal in Friday’s game.

STRAKA: Solid game for Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Petr Straka. He scored both Rimouski goals, beating fellow Jackets prospect Mathieu Corbeil. He now has nine goals in the playoffs.

ROUSSEL: Charles Roussel was hitting just about everything that moved in the first period. He finished the game with a Sea Dogs high four hits. He also missed an open net late in the third with Rimouski’s goaltender on the bench. “I just asked the league if they could changed the hockey nets to soccer ones,” he tweeted last night.

POWER PLAY: After going a perfect 2/2 on the power play in Game 1, Rimouski went 0/5 on the man advantage in Game 2. Their power play hasn’t been great on the road this post-season as it is running at just 11.4%.

WELCOME BACK: Spencer MacDonald returned to the Saint John lineup on Saturday, playing his first game since Game 1 of the first round where he injured his bicep. He made an impact in this one, assisting on Jurco’s second period power play goal.

NOTES: Coyle, Zack Phillips, and Gauthier all had four shots… along with Roussel’s four hits, Maxime Villemaire had three… Jerome Gauthier-Leduc and Peter Trainor both had three shots for Rimouski… Robbie DeFulviis had four hits… although they only had 16 shots, the Oceanic did have a few very solid scoring opportunities… this was Saint John’s first complete sell out (all seats plus standing room) of the playoffs… Kevin Gagne continues to fly under the radar this post-season. He now has 14 points in 15 playoff games…according to the QMJHL game sheet, Jason Seed was the only Sea Dog to have a plus rating. He was a +1… that was Coyle’s second penalty shot goal of the playoffs… there were quite a few Oceanic fans at the game… the Sea Dogs improved to a perfect 11-0 when scoring first in the playoffs… if this was the Sea Dogs’ final home game of the year, what a way to go out.

HIGHLIGHTS: Courtesy of SeaDogsTV.



NEXT GAME: These two teams have a few days off to prepare for Game 3. That game will not be played until Wednesday night at 8:30pm at Colisee Rimouski. 

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