News & Notes From Friday's Game

Some stuff from last night’s game…

• This was definitely one of the Saint John’s worst games of the year. The Dogs couldn’t get much of anything going offensively.
• Only four of the Sea Dogs’ 28 shots were considered dangerous by the league. Victoriaville had six more shots on goal and 22 of those shots were considered dangerous. It was a bad night.
• Saint John was awarded a full two-minute five-on-three advantage at 18:38 of the first as Mark Tremaine was called for cross checking and Ross Johnston was given a four-minute penalty for spearing. The Dogs were passing the puck around and stuff but were unable to hit the net with many shots. Lost opportunity for sure.
• Tigres goaltender Brandon Whitney made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season.
• After getting just 17 shots on goal on Thursday night in Halifax, Victoriaville had 15 on net in the first period.
• This was the final meeting of the regular season between the two. Victoriaville won both games and outscored Saint John 9-2.
• The good news about Teddy Bear Toss night: lots of bears were thrown onto the ice and will go to local charities.
• The bad news about Teddy Bear Toss night: fans threw the bears following Jonathan Diaby’s goal at 3:41 of the third. This kind of thing has happened before elsewhere, but to do it with over 16 minutes left in the third is odd. Even though Saint John was having a bad night offensively, they still had plenty of time to get a goal.
• Weird atmosphere for the toss, too. It’s usually party time when the Teddy Bear Toss goal is scored. It was just kind of awkward last night.
• The Sea Dogs players didn’t look too impressed when the bears started flying after the Tigres’ goal.
• Speaking of Diaby, he had two goals in this game. This was just his second game of the year.
• As expected, Jurij Repe took Michael Abbott’s spot on the top power play unit and ran the point with Oliver LeBlanc.
• Fredericton native and Tigres rookie Luc Deschenes took warmup but was scratched in this game. This was Victoriaville’s only visit to Saint John this year. They are in Moncton on Sunday.
• The Sea Dogs were without forwards Connor Donaghey (healthy) and Kelly Bent (healthy) along with defensemen Michael Abbott (hand) and Alexander McQuaid (healthy).

NOTES: Scotiabank gave out thunder sticks at the door… Scotiabank pretty much dominated this game… Danny Flynn was in attendance… Carl-Antoine Delisle and Petr Sidlik each had two assists… Saint John was the better team in the faceoff circle, winning 36 of 65 draws… Stephen Anderson had two of Saint John’s four dangerous shots… $3,200 to the 50/50 winner.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Saturday night at 7pm. This is Saint John’s final home game before the Christmas break.