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| Photo: Saint John Sea Dogs |
SAINT JOHN - The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League pre-season got off to a rough start for the Saint John Sea Dogs on Tuesday night at TD Station.
Despite outshooting the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 50-19 and controlling much of the play, the Sea Dogs fell 6-3 in their first exhibition contest.
The Titan scored twice in the first 4:30 of the game and the Sea Dogs were forced to try and catch up all night long. Saint John heavily outshot Bathurst for most of the game - including 19-4 in the second period - but couldn't come away with the win.
Bathurst made the most of their few scoring chances. Ben Allison scored two goals for the Titan while singles came from Cael MacDonald, Mark Rumsey, Julien Bourget and Marc-Andre Gaudet. 16-year-old goaltender Jack Howatt allowed a goal on 23 shots while fellow rookie Pierre-Vincent Guignard allowed two goals on 27 shots.
Charlie DesRoches scored two goals for Saint John while Carter McCluskey scored a solo marker. Noah Patenaude allowed two goals on seven shots. Daniel Moody allowed four goals on 12 shots.
Just 44 seconds in, Allison intercepted a Saint John pass and beat Patenaude low through the five-hole. At 4:30, MacDonald fought off the Saint John defense and beat the Dogs netminder glove side to quickly make it 2-0.
Saint John got better as the period went along. Near the midway mark of the frame, Peter Reynolds and Brady Burns both hit the crossbar on the same shift - and both times the puck stayed out. Shots in the first period ended 15-5 in favour of the Sea Dogs.
Saint John got on the board at 6:08 of the second. Howatt stopped the original shot from William Villeneuve but McCluskey was able to slide the loose puck across the line, making it 2-1.
Teams swapped goalies at the halfway point of the period. With 6:38 left in the period, Liam Leonard was sprung on a breakaway only to be stopped by the pad of Guignard.
At 15:06, the Titan passed the puck around beautifully with Allison finishing off the play, beating an outstretched Moody.
Saint John got back within one at 4:12 of the third when DesRoches found the top corner on a power play. Just 28 seconds later, Rumsey fired a quick shot past Moody to give the Titan their two-goal lead right back.
At 5:58, Bathurst scored on just their 11th shot of the game when Bourget beat Moody on a scramble. Then on a power play at 8:40, Gaudet connected to make it 6-2.
DesRoches scored his second power play goal of the game at 12:43 to make it a 6-3 final.
LINEUP
Burns - Reynold - Girouard
McCluskey - MacDonald - Stairs
Savoie - Carruthers - Drover
Leonard - Bezeau - Vander Voet
Gartley - Inniss
Drapeau - Villeneuve
DesRoches - Dixon
Patenaude
Moody
NEW LOOK: For the first time in the COVID-19 era, the Sea Dogs welcomed Season Ticket Members into the building. Click here to take a look at some of the changes that could be seen around TD Station.
LETTERS: Nicholas Girouard, Christopher Inniss and Liam Leonard - all QMJHL veterans but newcomers to the Sea Dogs this season - each wore an 'A' on their jersey.
ROUGH NIGHT: Saint John's goaltending duo of Noah Patenaude and Daniel Moody had a rough opening night. Patenaude allowed two goals on seven shots. He was barely tested in the second period. Moody took over at the midway mark of the second and allowed three goals on the first four shots he faced. Moody seemed to settle in more once he faced some more rubber.
FAMILIAR FACE: Greg Leland, a former assistant coach with the Sea Dogs and now an assistant with the Titan, acted as Bathurst's head coach for this game.
NOTES: Cam MacDonald simply wore Anderson MacDonald's old No. 34 jersey... Saint John's first power play unit included Brady Burns, Peter Reynolds, Nicolas Girouard, Nathan Drapeau and William Villeneuve... late in the second period, Reynolds was given a 10-minute misconduct for being unsportsmanlike... Saint John dressed both of their first-round picks: Leighton Carruthers and Nathan Drapeau. Bathurst also dressed Lane Hinkley, their lone first-round pick... Villeneuve had six shots... every Sea Dogs skater recorded a shot on goal.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are in Bathurst on Thursday night. Game time is 7 p.m.
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