RECAP: RIP Stompin' Tom. Dogs Lose 3-2.

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 11^th 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