News & Notes From Saturday's Game

Some stuff from last night’s game…

• Definitely nice to see Saint John’s offense come alive last night and score six goals following a awful display on Friday. Unfortunately, the Sea Dogs were pretty bad defensively and that cost them big time.
• Also nice to see the Sea Dogs not just mail it in after getting down 6-1 in the second period. Oliver Cooper got Saint John within one in the third period but that would be as close as they would get.
• Cape Breton’s assistant coach mentioned on the Eagles post-game show that the game seemed to shift following Loic Leduc’s instigating infraction against Alexnader McQuaid midway through the second. The Sea Dogs scored four straight goals after that.
• How often do you see 15 goals scored in a hockey game? Halifax and Rouyn-Noranda combined for 20 goals on November 1^st and Rouyn-Noranda and Shawinigan combined for 19 on September 27^th.
• Don’t know about you, but I would much rather watch a game like this than a 2-1 game where there are a combined 30 shots.
• Cape Breton is on a roll right now. They have won four straight and are 8-2 in their last 10 games.
• The Screaming Eagles’ power play was rolling. They scored on each of their first three opportunities before cooling down in the third period. They finished the game 3-for-6.
• Cameron Darcy had a hat trick for the Screaming Eagles and Raphael Corriveau scored twice.
• Rarely do you see all four goaltenders get playing time in a game but that happened last night. Sebastien Auger, although he couldn’t have done much to stop the Eagles goals, allowed six goals on 27 shots and was replaced by Antoine Landry in the second. Chase Marchand was pulled after allowing Saint John’s fifth goal in the third and was replaced by Alex Bureau.
• The Sea Dogs only had four shots on goal in both the first and third periods. Bureau only made two stops in the third. 
• Spencer Smallman’s second period goal was his first since November 14^th.
• Matthew Highmore had three assists, moving him into third on the team in points with 22.
• Nathan Noel and Smallman each had a goal and two assists. Oliver Cooper had a goal and an assist.
• Marcus Cuomo had a good game, setting up two goals thanks to some hard work in the crease area. He was named third star.
• Alexander McQuaid’s assist on Jason Cameron’s third period goal was the first point of his QMJHL career.
• This was Saint John’s final home of the first half and last until December 28^th. They finished the first half with a 5-10-0-2 record at home.
• The Sea Dogs wore their black third jerseys for the second time this season.
• It was Christmas themed night at Harbour Station. The team had a Christmas themed intro video which featured the Nathan Noel/Nicolas Roy fight. Santa Clause was in the house.
• Before the game, Oliver Cooper was named the Irving Oil Player of the Month for November while the Canadian Tire Student of the Month was Samuel Dove-McFalls. Michael Abbott was also honoured for being the top fundraiser in the CHL’s MOvember challenge.
• The Sea Dogs were without forwards Lukas Walter (healthy) and Connor Donaghey (healthy) along with defensemen Will Thompson (healthy) and Michael Abbott (hand).

NOTES: $2,635 to the 50/50 winner… Danny Flynn was in attendance again… Justin Hache had a goal and three assists. He was also a +5… Kyle Farrell had eight shots… Hache had five hits… Olivier LeBlanc and Stephen Anderson each had four shots… Oliver Cooper had three shots… Saint John will play four games on the road to wrap up the first half… the Sea Dogs and Eagles play each other on December 20^th and 21^st in Sydney.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Charlottetown to face the Islanders on Friday night at 7pm.