PRE-SEASON GAMEDAY: vs PEI

GAMEDAY

PEI Rocket vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Tonight at 7:30pm

Radio: None | Webcast: None | TV: None | Live Blog: SN

qplex – Quispamsis, NB

PREVIEW

QUISPAMSIS, NB – The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League pre-season begins tonight for the Saint John Sea Dogs and the PEI Rocket. The two teams battle this evening at 7:30pm at the qplex in Quispamsis.

Both teams have been practicing and scrimmaging this week. Both teams will likely be icing young lineups tonight.

The Sea Dogs have just three returning regular players participating in training camp right now. The returnees include forwards Oliver Cooper and Devon Oliver-Dares and goaltender Sebastien Auger. So, there are sure to be plenty of new faces wearing Sea Dogs jerseys tonight.

The Rocket have been rebuilding their team for, like, eternity so they should have plenty of new faces playing tonight as well. Alexis Pepin, the second over pick in June’s QMJHL Entry Draft, should see action at some point this weekend.

“Alex Pepin has looked really strong,” Rocket head coach Gordie Dwyer said to The Guardian. “He seems to be the real deal so far.”

According to the Rocket’s Twitter, Charles-Olivier Lajoie will get the start in goal tonight for PEI.

Saint John and PEI play again tomorrow afternoon at 2pm in Pownal. The Sea Dogs also play the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Wednesday in Tracdie-Sheila.

LAST GAMES

Saint John’s last game was back on May 25 at the Memorial Cup in Shawinigan. The Sea Dogs lost the Memorial Cup semi-final game 7-4 to the Cataractes, ending their season. Tomas Jurco scored twice while Jonathan Huberdeau and Zack Phillips added singles. Mathieu Corbeil allowed six goals on 36 shots.

The PEI Rocket missed the playoffs and haven’t played a game since March 18. The Rocket fell 6-1 to the Halifax Mooseheads with Josh Currie scoring PEI’s only goal. Antoine Bibeau allowed six goals on 33 shots.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

The Sea Dogs went 7-0-0-1 against PEI last season while the Rocket went 1-7-0-0 against Saint John.

Their last meeting was on March 2 at Harbour Station when the Rocket fired just 15 shots on net in an 8-1 loss. Jonathan Huberdeau had four goals, Stephen MacAulay two, and Zack Phillips and Stanislav Galiev each had one marker. Mathieu Corbeil made 14 saves for the win while Maxime Lagace allowed eight goals on 41 shots. Louick Marcotte scored PEI’s goal.

NOTES

• The Sea Dogs will unveil their new third jersey in a pre-game ceremony tonight. They will not be worn for tonight’s game. However, jerseys will be on sale.
• Tonight’s game will be sold out or close to it. Reserved seats sold out yesterday and a limited number of standing room tickets were put on sale.
• This is the second straight year that the Sea Dogs and Rocket have met at the qplex. 1,351 fans watched Saint John defeat PEI 5-4 in a shootout last year. There were three shorthanded goals scored in the game.

OTHER GAMES

Victoriaville at Shawinigan - 7:00 PM EDT

Rouyn-Noranda at Val-d'Or - 7:00 PM EDT

Chicoutimi at Baie-Comeau - 7:30 PM EDT

Gatineau at Blainville-Boisbriand - 7:30 PM EDT

Sherbrooke at Drummondville - 7:30 PM EDT

Quebec at Rimouski - 7:30 PM EDT

NEXT GAME

The Sea Dogs and Rocket battle again tomorrow at 2pm in Pownal, PEI.