RECAP: Welcome Back. Dogs Win 6-2.

FINAL: PEI 2, Saint John 6

QUISPAMSIS, NB – There were plenty of new faces in the Saint John Sea Dogs lineup on Friday night but the final result looked oh so familiar.

Oliver Cooper and Mathieu Newcomb each scored twice as the Sea Dogs defeated the Prince Edward Island Rocket 6-2 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League pre-season action at the qplex in Quispamsis.

Saint John led 2-1 after one and 5-1 after two. The Sea Dogs outshot the Rocket 30-23 on the night.

All things considered, it was a pretty good showing by the Sea Dogs. It’s a rebuilding year and there will be plenty of ups and downs. But to start exhibition play off with a 6-2 victory is a good confidence booster for both the players and the fan base. These kids got some game.

PEI had the better chances early on in the first period but goaltender Richard Tingley held the fort. The Sea Dogs slowly started to pick up some momentum and Jeremy Brown nearly opened the scoring when he hit iron.

The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 6:42. At 8:20, Cooper opened the scoring with assists going Benjamin Hade and Jeffrey Krichew.

The Sea Dogs made it 2-0 at 12:16. Newcomb broke through the Rocket defense and fired a shot past PEI starter Charles-Olivier Lajoie. The beautiful goal got a loud ovation from the sellout crowd of 1,427.

PEI made it a 2-1 affair at 17:46 as Daniel Perigo beat Tingley upstairs. That’s the way it would end heading into intermission.

Eric Theriault gave Saint John a 3-1 lead just 33 seconds into the second period.

At 10:32, Cooper struck again. Marcus Cuomo sent the puck to Cooper on a two-on-one and the second year Sea Dog forward made no mistake, giving Saint John a 4-1 advantage.

Newcomb netted his second of the match at 15:46, firing a hard shot top corner to give the Dogs a commanding 5-1 lead.

The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 17:03 and had some good pressure on but could not add to their lead.

In the third, Mackeznie Brown connected on the power play at 2:54 to give the home side a 6-1 lead.

After some rough stuff in front of the Saint John goal, Devon Oliver-Dares, who wore the C on his sweater for this game, got the extra penalty to send PEI to the power play. Alexandre Chenier-Allard scored on the man advantage at 12:45 to make it a 6-2 game. That is the way this one would end up.

Tingley made 11 saves in the Saint John net while Alex Fournier, who took over halfway through the second period, made 10 stops.

NOTES: Mackenzie Brown and Ryan Kelly were both a +3… Olivier Leblanc and Spencer Smallman each had two assists… bunch of Sea Dogs had three shots… Oliver-Dares had five hits… Matthew Bursey, who often has big time games against Saint John, had five shots for the Rocket… the Sea Dogs are now 2-0 all-time at the qplex.

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