POSTSCRIPT: Wildcats 1, Sea Dogs 3

A collection of recaps from last night’s 3-1 Saint John Sea Dogs win over the Moncton Wildcats…

Our recap. After a cancelled game in Moncton yesterday, Saint John hosted the Wildcats on New Year's Eve at Harbour Station.

The Telegraph-Journal’s recap (paywall). A line of former Fredericton midget players took care of the scoring and Sebastien Auger provided outstanding goaltending as the Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the Moncton Wildcats 3-1 in front of 5,330 fans on New Year’s Eve at Harbour Station.

The Times & Transcript’s recap (paywall). The Moncton Wildcats finished 2012 in total frustration.

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

The Canadian Press’ recap. Noah Zilbert scored a hat trick and Sebastien Auger made 48 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs beat the Moncton Wildcats 3-1 in Monday's lone Quebec Major Junior Hockey Game.

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats met on New Year’s Eve at Harbour Station in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Monday night. The Sea Dogs came out on top with a 3-1 decision in front of 5,330 fans.

Moncton-Wildcats.com’s recap. Try as they might, but the Moncton Wildcats could not solve Seadog  goaltender Sebastien Auger, the result a 3-1 loss in Saint John  on New Year’s Eve.

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

DICKINSON: Forward Justin Dickinson played in his first game since December 16 where he was injured following a fight. He took warm up on Friday night but did not play. Playing in his third QMJHL game on Monday, Dickinson recorded one hit.

FIRST PERIOD: Saint John was outplayed for much of the period but managed to enter the first intermission up 2-1. Both goals were scored by Noah Zilbert. Moncton out shot the Dogs 18-6.

ZILBERT: What a game by Noah Zilbert. The Sea Dogs rookie, who entered the game with just two goals all season, recorded his first QMJHL hat trick and was the only Sea Dog to score on Monday night. His second goal was a beauty as he walked around a Moncton defenseman and slipped the puck five hole on Cole Holowenko. His third goal came with nine seconds left and the Moncton net empty. Zilbert now has five goals and three assists in 36 games.

SMALLMAN: Spencer Smallman recorded his first QMJHL point on Monday night, assisting on Noah Zilbert’s second goal in the first period. He added another assist, making an unselfish pass to Noah Zilbert who finished off his hat trick with an empty net marker.

SECOND PERIOD: Much like the first, the Sea Dogs were out shot by a wide margin but had the lead heading into intermission. Sebastien Auger was dialed in as Moncton out shot Saint John 15-8 in the period and 33-14 overall after two.

ANDERSON: Stephen Anderson had a great chance in the second period as Cole Holowenko misplayed the puck, giving the Sea Dogs forward an empty net. Unfortunately for Saint John, Anderson’s stick broke. That is some bad luck.

THIRD PERIOD: The last period was much like the first two as Moncton out shot Saint John 16-8 but failed to score a goal. Auger was the difference.

AUGER: And speaking of Auger, he was spectacular as usual in the Saint John net. He made 48 saves on Monday night, many of which were worthy of TSN’s Honour Roll. He was named the game’s first star. It was the fourth straight game that Auger faced 40 or more shots.

COOPER: Oliver Cooper had two assists last night, giving him 14 points in 36 games this year.

ATTENDANCE: 5,330 was the attendance on Monday night. It was Saint John’s largest crowd of the season.

STREAK: Last night’s win ended a four-game losing streak for Saint John, a streak that saw them get out scored 19-5. The Dogs are only 3-7-0-0 in their last 10 games.

VS WILDCATS: The Sea Dogs improved to an impressive 4-0-0-0 against the Wildcats this season while Moncton fell to 0-3-1-0 against Saint John. This means that the worst the Dogs could do is finish the season series with a split against their rivals.

STANDINGS: The Sea Dogs jumped ahead of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the standings with their win last night. They now sit fourth in the Telus Maritimes Division and 13^th overall in the league with a 17-20-0-0 record.

DIVISION: The Wildcats continue to struggle against teams within their division. Last night’s loss dropped them to 8-9-1-0 against Maritime Division teams.

NOTES: Ross Yates ran the Sea Dogs bench once again with head coach and general manager Mike Kelly away scouting… the Sea Dogs improved to 9-0-0-0 when leading after two periods… Saint John is 6-18-0-0 when being out shot by their opponent… 50/50 winner took home $6,458… only two Wildcats didn’t have shots on goal… Zilbert had a team high five shots for Saint John… Allain Saulnier and Yannick Veilleux each had six shots… welcome to 2013.

HIGHLIGHTS: Courtesy of SeaDogsTV.

OUT OF TOWN: There were no other games in the league on New Year’s Eve.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Halifax to take on the Mooseheads on Friday night at 7pm.

Photo: SeaDogsTV