News & Notes From Saturday's Game

Mooster club making a good time stuck on the highway heading to Saint John to cheer on the Moise pic.twitter.com/5AT2E0I92e
— Coleen Anne Andrews (@coleen24) March 8, 2014

The Halifax Mooster Club made the trip to Harbour Station yesterday. Their bus broke down about a half hour outside the city but they were able to make it on time. Good stuff.

Some other stuff from last night’s game…

• With Saint John losing and Shawinigan losing in a shootout, the Cataractes are now two points up on the Sea Dogs for the final playoff spot. The Dogs have four games remaining while the Cats have three.
• The team’s trio of overage players – Lukas Walter, David Weckworth, and Jason Cameron – were honoured before the game. A video tribute of pictures was played. The three were also named the game’s three stars.
• Halifax dominated at times in the first period, outshooting Saint John 8-0 in the first half of the frame and 13-4 overall. Saint John didn’t get their first shot until there was 9:17 left. Sebastien Auger and the Dogs were able to keep it scoreless though, which was good.
• Despite getting plenty of power play time in the second, Saint John just couldn’t get anything going offensively and that really cost them the game. They were outshot 15-4 by the Moose in the second.
• Saint John’s offense couldn’t get much of anything going this entire game. They had just four shots in each period for a game total of 12. Only four of those 12 shots were considered dangerous. The Dogs went 0-for-8 on the power play.
• The 12 shots ties Saint John with Bathurst (January 29^th) for the fewest shots in one game this season.
• This wraps up the home portion of Saint John’s regular season schedule. They finish the year with a 10-21-1-2 record at Harbour Station and were outscored 119-86.
• 5,824 were at the game for Fan Appreciation Day. It was the largest crowd of the season at Harbour Station.
• Defenseman Shane MacDonald made his QMJHL debut in this game, replacing Sheehan Kirkwood who was reassigned back to the MHL’s Valley Wildcats. MacDonald, wearing No. 2, had one hit and a fight against Samuel Leblanc in the second period.
• Philippe Gadoury was unreal in this game. He had two goals but could have easily had a few more.
• Nikolaj Ehlers’ goal scoring streak ended at eight games. But with an assist, he did extend his point streak to 10 games.
• Jonathan Drouin did not play for the Mooseheads. He was reportedly sick.
• The Moose are getting hot at the right time. They have won 10 straight games and are four points back of first-place Baie-Comeau with three to play. Halifax hosts Saint John next Friday.
• The Sea Dogs were without forwards Joey Richard (shoulder), Stephen Anderson (upper body), and Marcus Cuomo (healthy) along with defensemen Michael Abbott (wrist), Olivier LeBlanc (upper body), and Jeremy Doucet (upper body).

NOTES: The Sea Dogs wore their third jerseys… the screen above the Zamboni entrance was taken down. Place looked weird without it… Irving gave out clapper things… it was Fan Appreciation Day and unlimited things were given away throughout the game… MacKenzie Weegar had three hits… Weegar and Philippe Gadoury each had seven shots… only three Mooseheads didn’t record a shot… Jurij Repe had three shots – 1/4 of Saint John’s shots… Sebastien Auger played quite well… the team saluted their fans after the game and Jason Cameron spoke on the mic for a moment… $8,456 went to the 50/50 winner.

Via HockeyFights.com, here are all the fights from last night.

SN Three Stars

3. Change your clocks

2. Philippe Gadoury

1. The underappreciated FedEx puck delivery guy for his great work this season

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are in Bathurst this afternoon to take on the Titan at 3pm. This is the biggest game of the season for Saint John… until the next game.