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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
BATHURST - The Saint John Sea Dogs' returning players stepped up in their season opener on Friday.
Eriks Mateiko scored twice while Vince Elie and Pavel Simek added singles in Saint John's 6-4 victory over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at the KC Irving Regional Centre. Tristan Dassylva, who appeared in just one game last season, and rookie Egan Beveridge also scored in the victory.
Overage goaltender Patrick Leaver, making his QMJHL debut, made 37 stops in the win.
Saint John took the lead early in the second period and never trailed again. They struggled to pull away from the Titan though and went back-and-forth on scoring for much of the night. These two should play fairly even games against one another this year and Friday's game was certainly an indicator of that.
Emile Perron, Donovan Arsenault, Milo Roelens and Joseph Henneberry all scored for Bathurst. Josh Fleming made 20 stops in the loss.
Not long after Luka Benoit was stopped on a breakaway, Perron opened the scoring at 12:37 of the first period when he fired a shot from the circle past Leaver.
Saint John quickly tied the game at 13:43. Peter Reynolds was on the goal line and fired a pass in front to Mathis Gauthier. The puck bounced to Mateiko who beat Fleming to tie things up at 1-1.
Saint John took a 2-1 lead at 4:55 of the second. After grabbing the puck in the corner, Reynolds fed Mateiko who cut in front of the crease and beat Fleming to give the Dogs their first lead of the game.
Elie made it 3-1 at 5:52. Saint John entered the zone on a three-on-one with Simek carrying the puck. Simek fed Elie who beat Fleming to extend their lead.
Bathurst got back within one at 7:37. A Jared Cosman point shot was stopped by Leaver but Arsenault was on the doorstep to put in the rebound.
Dassylva fired a shot near the top of the circle at 11:17, beating the Titan 'tender up high to make it 4-2 Saint John. Then at 12:56, Leaver turned the puck over behind the net and the Titan eventually got it in front where Roelens put in a bouncing puck to make it 4-3.
Elie stripped William Bishop of the puck near the blue line and went in on a two-on-none with Simek at 8:20 of the third. Elie fed Simek who beat Fleming to give Saint John a 5-3 advantage.
The Titan got back within one with a Henneberry power play goal at 12:26. But Saint John responded yet again with Beveridge finishing off a nice passing play to put the Sea Dogs up 6-4 at 12:41.
LINEUP
Mateiko - Reynolds - Reinhart
Simek - Elie - Benoit
Akkouche - Beveridge - Bellemare
Calder - Beaulieu
Tivey - Ianniello
Bilodeau - Gauthier
Dassylva - Amyot
MacLean
Leaver
Robinson
SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Kency Pierre-Noel, Sam-Luca Thifault (injury) and Nico Laforge (injury) along with defenseman Matteo Mann (injury/NHL camp).
DEBUTS: Forward Egan Beveridge; defensemen Benjamin Amyot and Matthew MacLean; and goaltender Patrick Leaver all made their QMJHL debuts for the Sea Dogs on Friday. Defenseman Mathis Gauthier made his Sea Dogs debut.
FIRST OF THE YEAR: Emile Perron's first period goal was the first goal scored in the entire CHL this season.
The first goal of the 2023-24 @QMJHL season belongs to the @ABTitan's Emile Perron!
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) September 22, 2023
Emile Perron marque le premier but de la nouvelle saison de la @LHJMQ ! pic.twitter.com/TQPAph87iT
COSMAN POINT: Overage defenseman Jared Cosman, who the Sea Dogs released to make room for Patrick Leaver, recorded his first point as a member of the Titan, posting an assist on Donovan Arsenault's second period goal (which was scored on Leaver).
FIRST Q POINT: Tristan Dassylva's second period goal was his first QMJHL goal and point. He had appeared in 15 QMJHL games over the previous two seasons. Egan Beveridge, who was making his QMJHL debut, scored his first career goal in the third period. Chad Bellemare recorded his first QMJHL point on Beveridge's goal.
NOTES: This was officially game No. 1 on the QMJHL schedule... this was (obviously) the Titan's home opener so the team's full roster of players was introduced before the game... the game didn't begin until 7:20 p.m... Eriks Mateiko, who opened the scoring for Saint John, had nine points against Bathurst last season — which were the most points he recorded against any team... not sure the issue but a bunch of players from both teams were tossed from faceoffs... Saint John scored on two of their first four shots in the second period... according to Titan broadcaster Peter Assaff, the Titan fall to 9-17 in home openers all-time... Peter Reynolds had two assists in his first game as Sea Dogs captain. Reynolds also went 12/28 on faceoffs... Bathurst had a 51-31 edge in the faceoff circle... attendance was 2,134.
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play their home opener tomorrow night, hosting the Titan at 7 p.m.
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