FINAL: PEI 3, Saint John 2
By Tim Lumsden
SN Staff
SAINT JOHN - Saint John played host to The Million Acre Farm
on Wednesday evening as the Sea Dogs faced off against the Rocket.
Guarding the net for Saint John was Sebastien Auger while
PEI had Antoine Bibeau stepping into net for the evening.
FIRST PERIOD
Alex Micallef took the first penalty of the evening with
four minutes for high sticking at 7:10. That was quite a stretch before any
penalties. The Dogs scored on the man advantage but was ruled no goal after
video review apparently showed a kicking motion by Maxime Villemaire.
Jurij Repe was called for hooking at 12:47, sending the
Rocket to the power play.
This was when things got interesting. PEI’s Matej Beran
scored the first goal of the game. At the same time, Ian Saab took a roughing
penalty as well as an abuse of officials misconduct at 14:31. Just like that,
it was 1-0 for PEI.
Alexis Pepin took the next penalty at 17:37 for slashing
while his teammate, Victor Provencher, took the last penalty of the penalty at
19:56 for holding. This would start PEI off short a man as they headed into the
second period.
It was obvious that PEI dominated that period with over
double the shots on goal. They led the Sea Dogs 17-8 in shots after the first
20 minutes of hockey.
SECOND PERIOD
2:46 was the time of a Ryan Graves penalty as he was sent
off for interference.
PEI went up 2-0 at 6:00 with Alex Micallef’s unassisted
goal on Sebastien Auger.
This was soon answered by Jakub Izacky at 7:21.
Villemaire and Anderson snagged the assists on the goal as the Sea Dogs closed
the game 2-1.
Noah Zilbert headed to the box at the nine-minute mark
for tripping.
Matthew Bursey was called for interference at 11:35 and
so he skated over to the penalty box for a little time out.
Steven Duda headed to the box himself at 15:27 after he
was handed a holding penalty. Although this was the last penalty of the period,
it would not be the last of the excitement. Stephen Anderson scored his 11th
of the season at 19:41 to tie the match up.
As the buzzer went off, it was a tied game with a score
of 2-2 and the Sea Dogs headed back to the dressing room with a renewed sense
of hope. This was a much better period for Saint John with a shots on goal
total of 12 for both teams.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period got underway and it was obvious that
this was going to be a hard fought battle as both teams tried to maintain
control of the puck.
Kevin Laliberte took a tripping penalty early on at 5:24,
giving Saint John an early advantage however they were unable to convert it
into a goal.
At 8:49, Yan Pavel Laplante’s high sticking penalty sent
the Dogs back on the power play but once again, PEI held strong and prevented
the score from changing from the tied 2-2 game.
That wasn’t the last you saw of Laplante however as he
broke the tie at 15:24 with assists from Graves and Provencher. With only four
and a half minutes left of the game, Saint John was now placed in the hot seat.
Try as they might however, the Sea Dogs could not break
through Bibeau’s defenses. The game would end 3-2.
NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.
NEXT GAME: Saint John returns to Harbour Station on Friday
evening as they play host to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan for Saint John’s last
regular season home game. Puck drops at 7:30pm.
Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
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