RECAP: Sea Dogs win 6-0

FINAL: Bathurst 0, Saint John 6

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs got their "real" preseason schedule off to a strong start on Wednesday, defeating the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 6-0 at Harbour Station.

Nicholas Cardone, Anthony Boucher, Radim Salda, Brock Perry, Cole Reginato and Cedric Pare all scored for Saint John. Alex D'Orio made 13 saves for the shutout win.

The Titan, who didn't dress many regulars compared to Saint John, couldn't get a whole lot going offensively. Simon Boudreault-Belzile played the first half of the game in net and allowed two goals on 16 shots. Gabriel Waked allowed four goals on 20 shots in the second half of the game.

The Sea Dogs appeared to score a couple times in the opening half of the first period but the goals were called off on each occasion.

Cardone opened the scoring at 12:48 of the first, depositing a loose puck into the cage following a scramble in the crease.

The Sea Dogs took a 2-0 lead just 1:34 into the second when Boucher grabbed the puck from underneath the Bathurst netminder and slid it home.

Joe Veleno and William Poirier nearly made it 3-0 on a two-on-one. Poirier sent a perfect feed to Veleno who was then stopped by the pad of a stretch out Titan 'tender.

The Sea Dogs did take a 3-0 advantage at 16:08 when Salda scored his first preseason QMJHL goal with a shot from the point. The goal came with Saint John on the power play.

Perry scored at 12:47 of the third to make it 4-0 and then Reginato scored at 17:25 to give Saint John a 5-0 advantage. Pare rounded out the scoring summary, completing a nice passing play and ripping a hard shot from circle past Waked.

NOTES: Jeff Cowan acted as Sea Dogs head coach. Randy Jones and (Sea Dogs scout) JP Hamel joined him behind the bench as assistants... official attendance was 1,841, but the actual crowd was much smaller than that... Saint John went 1/6 on the power play... Cedric Pare was credited with seven shots... Radim Salda looked solid again on the backend... Saint John outshot Bathurst 15-2 in the third period... there's certainly a good chance Friday's game in Bathurst will feature a veteran Titan team against a fairly young Sea Dogs lineup - especially after tonight's lopsided score.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Titan in Bathurst on Friday night at 7 p.m.