Recap: Sea Dogs lose 6-1

FINAL: Gatineau 6, Saint John 1

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs' season came to a close on Friday night at TD Station.

The Gatineau Olympiques skated away with a 6-1 win to clinch the best-of-seven first round series 4-1. Gatineau, a contender to win the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship, was heavily favoured in this series and outscored Saint John 30-5.

Vincent Maisonneuve, Tristan Luneau, Cam MacDonald, Olivier Nadeau, Samuel Savoie and Zach Dean all scored for the Olympiques on Friday. Luneau also had two assists.

Francesco Lapenna made 30 saves in the win.

Much like Wednesday's contest, the Sea Dogs hung around in the first period and found themselves down just 1-0 despite being outshot 17-6. But in the second, the Olympiques started to finish on their chances, scoring three teams to take a commanding 4-1 lead.

To Saint John's credit, they didn't mail it in in the third despite falling behind 5-1. They even pulled goaltender Ventsislav Shingarov for an extra attacker.

Eriks Mateiko scored Saint John's only goal in the loss. 

Shingarov made 43 saves in the loss. It was the third time in this series that he faced 46 or more shots.

LINEUP

Burns - Reynolds - Reinhart

Mateiko - Cournoyer - Beaulieu

Akkouche - Burbidge - Elie

Simek - Laforge - Drover

Tivey - DesRoches

Ianniello - Cosman

Bilodeau - Despont

Shingarov

Brideau

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defenseman Jeremie Richard (injury) along with forwards Harrison Ballard (heathy), Luka Benoit (healthy), Nathan Casey (injury) and Sam-Luca Thifault (injury).

MACDONALD: Former Sea Dog Cam MacDonald scored on a backhand shot in the second period, ending any momentum Saint John gained from Eriks Mateiko's goal. MacDonald finishes the series with three goals.

Un troisième pour Mac!

A third one for Mac!#goOLgo♠️ pic.twitter.com/qaDSdpeseG

— Olympiques de Gatineau (@OlympiquesGAT) April 7, 2023

END OF AN ERA: This was the final game of junior hockey for Sea Dogs captain Charlie DesRoches and forwards Brady Burns and Alex Drover. DesRoches and Burns were the lone players remaining from Saint John's 2018 draft class that set the foundation for this era of Sea Dogs hockey.

DesRoches, Drover and Burns leave the ice one last time. End of an era in Sea Dogs hockey. pic.twitter.com/JB0vcDo2p8

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) April 8, 2023

THE CROWD: Attendance for the game was 4,796, a much larger crowd than the previous two Saint John home games, which featured crowds under 1,600. Ticket prices for the game were lowered to $7.

Attendance is 4,796. Much better. pic.twitter.com/YgS5Ft9JFv

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) April 7, 2023

NOTES: The Sea Dogs made no changes to their lineup with Danny Akkouche remaining as a forward... Gatineau forward Cole Cormier returned from the automatic one-game suspension he picked up for a slew foot in Game 3... former Sea Dogs head coach Gardiner MacDougall was in attendance... Tristan Luneau's second period goal was Gatineau's first shorthanded goal of the series... Eriks Mateiko's goal at 8:22 of the second was just Saint John's 10th shot of the game... Mateiko's goal was his first point of the series... Olivier Nadeau's second period goal was reviewed but was declared a good goal... Jacob Beaulieu finished the game with three hits, all of which came in the first period... the Sea Dogs pulled Ventsislav Shingarov with 6:20 to play in the third. Francesco Lapenna tried for a goalie goal twice... Charlie DesRoches had six shots... Riley Kidney had seven shots... Gatineau won 42 of 66 faceoffs... the 50/50 winner took home $9,145.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs will begin pre-season play in August.