RECAP: Tough Times In Tracadie. Dogs Lose 5-2.

FINAL: Saint John 2, Bathurst 5

TRACADIE-SHEILA, NB – The Acadie-Bathurst Titan scored three goals in the third period en route to a 5-2 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Wednesday night at the Aréna Révérend S.A. Dionne in Tracadie-Sheila.

Patrik Zdrahal, Sean Girard, Olivier Houle, Alexandre Gosselin, and Robert Davis scored for the Titan. Andrew Meredith added two assists. Jacob Brennan played the entire game in net, making 16 saves for the win.

The Sea Dogs, who fired just 18 shots on goal in the loss, had goals from Marcus Cuomo and Connor Donaghey. Sebastien Auger was solid in his first appearance this pre-season, making 24 saves in the first half of the game. Alex Fournier allowed three goals on 11 shots in the second portion of the match.

Although Bathurst outshot Saint John 40-18 overall and 30-11 through 40 minutes, the Dogs fought hard and managed to keep the match close until the third period. Saint John dressed mostly rookies and players with little QMJHL experience while the Titan had the likes of Zach O’Brien, Matthew Bissonnette, and Houle dressed on Wednesday.

The Titan opened the scoring at 4:32 as Zdrahal scored his second of the pre-season. Girard made it 2-0 at 9:44, ripping a wrist shot over the blocker of Auger.

The Sea Dogs got on the board at 13:21 as Cuomo scored on a bit of scramble in the crease area. Noah Zilbert picked up the lone assist.

Shots were 11-6 in favour of Bathurst in the first.

Cuomo headed off for kneeing at 7:59 of the second and then Justin McDonald fired the puck out of play at 8:38 and headed to the box to serve a delay of game penalty. The Titan had a few great chances during the 5-on-3 advantage but Auger came up huge.

Spencer Smallman had a great chance later on in the period as his shot snuck past Brennan but couldn’t quite get across the line.

Things got a little nasty at 19:57 as Bissonnette was given a five-minute penalty and game misconduct for boarding. Jeffery Krichew was hurt on the play and was helped off the ice by his teammates.

Shots heavily favoured the Titan in the middle frame as they outshot the Dogs 19-5.

Just 54 seconds into the third, Houle scored shorthanded to give Bathurst a 3-1 advantage. Saint John couldn’t get much of anything going on the power play.

At 7:20, Gosselin fired a point shot that was redirected on its way in to give the Titan a 4-1 lead. Donaghey got the Sea Dogs back within two at 8:57 but that would be as close as the visitors would get. Meredith setup Davis perfectly at 13:38 to make it a 5-2 final.

Shots in the third were 10-7 Titan.

Bathurst went 0-for-3 on the power play while Saint John went 0-for-1.

NOTES: Oliver Cooper wore the 'C' for Saint John… Devon Oliver-Dares had three shots… Ryan Kelly, Olivier Leblanc, Ryan Caswell, and Marcus Cuomo each had two hits… the Sea Dogs went just 26/70 on faceoffs… Zach O'Brien had eight shots for the Titan... 762 fans watched the game at the rink in Tracadie-Sheila. Strange place.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Moncton Wildcats on September 7 at 7pm in Amherst. 

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation