RECAP: Midnight Win. Dogs Win 3-2.

FINAL: Rimouski 2, Saint John 3 (2OT)

SAINT JOHN – Zack Phillips scored at 10:18 of the second overtime period to give the Saint John Sea Dogs a 3-2 win in Game 1 of the 2012 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Championship Series. The Sea Dogs now lead the Rimouski Oceanic 1-0 in the best-of-seven affair.

Phillips scored off a scramble around the goal crease, ending marathon that went past midnight in Saint John. Nathan Beaulieu and Tomas Jurco had the other Sea Dogs goals while Mathieu Corbeil made 40 saves for the win in net.

Peter Trainor and Alex Belzile had the Rimouski goals. Alexandre Mallet added two assists. Jacob Gervais-Chouinard made 41 saves in the loss.

The Sea Dogs got off to a terrific start, scoring twice in the opening 72 seconds of the game. Beaulieu made it 1-0 45 seconds in. Jurco made it 2-0 at 1:12. After that, Rimouski started to climb back.

The Oceanic scored two power play goals in the second period. The first by Trainor at 5:52 and the second by Bezile at 13:20 to tie the match 2-2. That would be all the scoring until double overtime.

Shots were 44-42 Saint John in the game. Rimouski went a perfect 2-for-2 on the power play while Saint John went 0-for-1.

Dogs have some things to improve on in Game 2 tonight.

Highlights:

Random stuff after the jump.

• What a start. Two goals in the opening 72 seconds. Looked like Rimouski may have been a bit nervous with the building going nuts. Remember how Saint John started in Game 1 of the 2010 final.
• Fans stood on their feet and cheered until the Sea Dogs got their first shot on goal – which was a Nathan Beaulieu goal. Pretty awesome.
• Sea Dogs have got to get more shots on net. Too many attempts at fancy plays on Friday.
• Lots of credit to the Oceanic. They did a good job at shutting down Saint John’s offense for the most part after a shaky start. They had quite a few chances in OT to win it, too.
• As Derek Cooling said on the News 88.9 post-game show, the Sea Dogs just aren't firing on all cylinders right now and they haven’t been for the past few games.
• This was the first Sea Dogs home game that ever required double overtime.
• Thanks to the 8pm start time and Sportsnet timeouts, this game didn’t get over until around 12:10am Saint John time.
• Quite a few people stayed for the duration but quite a few left as well. Not going to job the people that left because, you know, some got to work in the morning or whatever.
• Mathieu Corbeil didn’t look as comfortable in net as he has been lately but he still made some very good stops. The Oceanic had a few good chances in OT but were denied.
• Looked like Jacob Chouinard was cramping up in the Rimouski net as OT went along. He was stretching during every stoppage in play. On the News 88.9 post-game show, they noted that Chouinard was chugging a lot of water.
• Fredericton native Peter Trainor is having a great post-season. He scored his 12^th goal of the playoffs in the second period.
• Really embarrassing when someone threw a Chuck-A-Puck on the ice during Rimouski’s first power play. This ain’t Baie-Comeau or a UNB game.
• No clue why people were trying to start The Wave in OT. The Wave should only be used when the game being played has lost its entertainment value (i.e. blowout, long stoppage in play).
• Lots of “Free Huberdeau” shirts in the crowd. They were talked about on the Sportsnet broadcast.
• Speaking of Huberdeau, he was shown on the big screen numerous times and got a loud applause.
• Nathan Beaulieu wore the "C" on his jersey.
• Each Game 1 in the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL final ended with a 3-2 score. 
• "Sea Dogs" was trending on Twitter last night.
• Nick Kypreos is still Nick Kypreos.

Game 2 tonight at 7pm. Could be the last home game of the year.