The Saint John Sea Dogs looked a lot more like the Saint John Sea Dogs on Tuesday at the Memorial Cup in Windsor, defeating the WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds 7-0. The result moves Saint John into Friday's semifinal game where they'll play the loser of Wednesday's match between the Erie Otters and Windsor Spitfires.
After a scoreless first period, the Sea Dogs cranked up the offence in the second, scoring six goals on just 14 shots. That included three goals in a 53-second span.
Joe Veleno scored twice for Saint John while singles came from Chase Stewart, Mathieu Joseph, Spencer Smallman, Cole Reginato and Bokondji Imama all scored for the Sea Dogs. Callum Booth stopped all 31 shots he faced in the win.
The Thunderbirds' loss ends their season. They went 0-3 at the Memorial Cup.
Seattle goaltender Carl Stankowski was pulled after allowing four goals on 14 shots. Rylan Toth allowed three goals on 14 shots in relief.
To the notes...
- Saint John had their best start of the tournament - by far. On his first shift of the game, Chabot nearly opened the scoring but hit the crossbar.
- Eansor had Seattle's best chance of the period during some four-on-four play, taking the puck away from Saint John and entering the zone all alone. Eansor managed to get the puck through Booth but it trickled just wide of the post.
- Veleno opened the scoring at 1:14 of the second period. After Seattle failed to clear the puck, Veleno fired a wrist shot that beat Stankowski clean, giving Saint John a 1-0 lead.
- Saint John made it 2-0 at 14:04 when Jakub Zboril skated behind the net and fed Stewart in front. Stewart jammed the puck past Stankowski for his fourth goal of the entire season.
- Then at 14:19, Joseph ripped a wrist shot past past the Seattle netminder's blocker, making it 3-0. The goal was reviewed for offside but called a good goal.
- Saint John quickly made it 4-0 at 14:57 when, after some nice work from Julien Gauthier behind the net, Smallman backhanded the puck past the Seattle netminder.
- The Sea Dogs' fourth goal ended Stankowski's night. He was replaced by Toth for the second straight game.
- At 16:29, Saint John scored to make it 5-0. Simon Bourque was along the wall and threw the puck in front for Reginato. The Saint John captain had an empty net to keep the Dogs' downpour coming.
- Then at 17:13, Imama was in the slot and got spun around. The veteran forward was still able to get a hard wrist shot off while falling to a knee, making it 6-0 Saint John.
- At 6:21 of the third, Matthew Highmore drove to the net but was stopped by Toth. Veleno was there though and put in the rebound, making it 7-0 Sea Dogs.
- Veleno's goal came on his first shot of the Memorial Cup.
- There was an issue with the glass in the second period which caused a delay.
- This is the most goals Saint John has ever scored in a Memorial Cup game.
- Seattle didn't use their timeout until Saint John scored their fifth goal.
- Imama and Matthew Highmore each had two assists.
- The CHL did not suspend Zboril after he was given a game misconduct during Monday's game.
LINEUP
— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) May 23, 2017SCRATCHES
The Sea Dogs were without defencemen Ian Smallwood, Oliver Felixson and David Comeau along with forwards Landon Quinney and Samuel Leblanc.
TURNING POINT
Saint John's three quick goals in the second period, which made it 4-0, made it all Sea Dogs.
SN THREE STARS
1. Joe Veleno
2. Bokondji Imama
3. Callum Booth
TWEET OF THE GAME
NEXT GAMEShout out to my @SJSeaDogs Mafsks in the #MemorialCup My man @SeaDogsDK holding it down #brrrrap #PortCityRise https://t.co/fA696wbmIq— Jonathan Torrens (@TorrensJonathan) May 24, 2017
The Sea Dogs will face the loser of Wednesday's Erie/Windsor game in Friday's semifinal.
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