POSTSCRIPT: Rocket 2, Sea Dogs 1

A collection of recaps from last night’s 2-1 Saint John Sea Dogs loss to the PEI Rocket…

Our recap. At 9:33 of the third period, Ryan Graves scored what proved to be the game winner as the PEI Rocket edged the Saint John Sea Dogs 2-1 on Saturday night at Harbour Station in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

The Guardian’s recap. Ryan Graves’ first goal of the season was the game winner Saturday for the P.E.I. Rocket.

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

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs shot down/were dropped by the Prince Edward Island Rocket by a score of 2-1 in front of 4,182 fans in Saturday’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action at Harbour Station.

PEIRocket.com’s recap. Ryan Graves scored his first goal of the season and it proved to be the game winner Saturday night as the PEI Rocket took down the St. John Sea Dogs by a score of 2-1 at Harbour Station in St. John.

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without Olivier LeBlanc (World Under-17s – Team Quebec), Ian Saab, David Weckworth (lower body), Jonathan Huberdeau (World Juniors – Team Canada), Matthew Highmore (World Under-17s – Team Atlantic), and Jurij Repe (broken hand).

Per News 88.9, defenseman David Mosher was back with his junior A club in Truro.

Also, in an interview with News 88.9 before the game, Sea Dogs head coach and general manager Mike Kelly said he was not happy the Stephen MacAulay trade news broke before the game. Kelly said he had considered playing MacAulay on Saturday with the Dogs dressing a shorthanded lineup.

FIRST PERIOD: PEI led 1-0 after one and out shot Saint John 15-4. But, the QMJHL website listed dangerous shots as just 5-2 in favour of the Rocket, which seemed pretty accurate. Neither team generated many great scoring chances. There were plenty of penalties as PEI went 1-for-4 on the man advantage.

FIGHT: Not a bad tilt between Justin Dickinson and Patrick McGrath in the first period at centre ice. McGratch has 22 fights this season while Dickinson now has two since joining the Sea Dogs.

There were two other fights in the game. PEI leads the league in fights with 61 on the season.

SECOND: Saint John had a bit more jump in the second period, out shooting PEI 12-10. Jakub Izacky tied the match up at 1-1. There were two more fights and some big hits. Wild times.

DUDA: Defenseman Steven Duda picked up an assist on Jakub Izacky’s second period goal. It was his first point since November 28. Duda was also a +1 with two shots and two hits. He now has four assists on the year in 30 games.

AUGER: Goaltender Sebastien Auger was solid as usual in net, making 33 saves in the loss. He faced 35 shots but only 13 shots were listed as dangerous by the league. It was the first time in five games he didn’t face 40 or more shots.

GRAVES: Ryan Graves picked a good time to score his first goal of the season. He scored what proved to be the game winner at 9:33 of the third period. He now has a goal and eight assists in 39 games this season.

CURRIE: Josh Currie had two assists in this game and is now the leading point scorer in the QMJHL. He now has 65 points in 39 games.

STANDINGS: The Sea Dogs fell to 19-21-0-0 with last night’s loss. They are fifth in the Telus Maritimes Division and 14^th overall in the league standings.

NOTES: As the rest of the league has, the Sea Dogs have switched to their white jerseys for home games in the second half… Alex Micallef had two shots… Victor Provencher had six hits. The entire Saint John team had five… Mackenzie Brown had five shots.

HIGHLIGHTS: Courtesy of SeaDogsTV.

OUT OF TOWN

Baie-Comeau 3 at Shawinigan 2

Cape Breton 0 at Moncton 4

Rimouski 3 at Blainville-Boisbriand 5

Victoriaville 6 at Rouyn-Noranda 3

Quebec 2 at Val-d'Or 3

TUESDAY: The QMJHL’s trading deadline is on Tuesday at 1pm Atlantic.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Oceanic in Rimouski on Friday night.