News & Notes From Friday's Game

CHARLOTTETOWN – Wanted to get a feel for the new fan experience in Charlottetown so bought seat one in this row. Good view. Problem was seats 1-3 had been removed (thanks Eastlink Centre!). Why was it removed? Where did it go? Will it ever return home? So many questions.

Some other stuff from last night’s game…

• Tough loss for the Sea Dogs. Saint John was leading 1-0 for much of the game but Charlottetown scored twice in the final seven minutes to earn the victory.
• The game-winner was scored on a power play at 18:35 by Jack Nevins. Neither team could get a whole lot going on the power play until that point.
• Charlottetown really stormed out of the gate in the third period, outshooting Saint John 20-3.
• Not much else to say about Sebastien Auger at this point. He was excellent in net again, making 45 saves in the loss. He made a really nice glove save early in the third on a penalty kill.
• Oliver Cooper had Saint John’s lone goal, scoring at 3:33 of the first. He is now tied with Nathan Noel for the team lead with 11.
• Another tough game for Stephen Anderson. He had a bunch of quality scoring chances – six dangerous shots according to the league – but only came away with an assist in the game. You get the feeling that at some point he is going to go on a tear.
• Ross Yates was not too happy about the penalty calls late in the third.
• The Sea Dogs have now lost five straight games overall and 11 straight on the road. They have not won a road game since October 6^th in Bathurst.
• The Islanders ended a nine-game losing streak. Last month, the Sea Dogs ended a nine-game losing skid with a win against the Islanders. That’s just how things go.
• Saint John is now 1-1 in Friday the 13^th games this year.
• The Dogs led after the first period for just the fourth time this season and led after two for just the sixth time.
• The Sea Dogs were without defensemen Olivier LeBlanc (flu) and Michael Abbott (hand) along with forwards Joey Richard (healthy) and Connor Donaghey (healthy).
• With LeBlanc not playing, rookie Will Thompson took his spot on the team’s top power play unit.
• Shawinigan defeated Bathurst last night. Saint John is, for now, in last place.
• Someone in the arena kept blowing a whistle throughout the first period. Early in the second, an announcement was made and explained that if the whistle kept getting blown the fan would be thrown out of the building.
• Pretty sure the centre ice scoreboard at Eastlink Centre was built before Confederation.
• Unlimited amounts of country music played at the game.

NOTES: $1,358 to the 50/50 winner… the Sea Dogs won 35 of 60 faceoffs. So that’s good… Antoine Bibeau replaced Eric Brassard for 45 seconds in the third, presumably to give the Isles a timeout/rest… Stephen Anderson’s six shots were a team high… Troy Vance and Yan Pavel Laplante each had six shots for Charlottetown… Deverick Ottereyes had five hits.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are scheduled to play in Moncton on Sunday afternoon. Storm of the century or whatever is touching down so I suppose it could be postponed.