Recap: Sea Dogs lose 6-0

FINAL: Saint John 0, Cape Breton 6

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SYDNEY, NS - Saturday's Saint John Sea Dogs game ended abruptly in the third period due to a medical emergency on the team's bench.

54 seconds into the third period at Centre 200 and the Cape Breton Eagles leading 6-0, play was halted and the Sea Dogs bench cleared out. The situation involved Sea Dogs head coach Travis Crickard, who reportedly collapsed on the team's bench.

Both teams were sent to the dressing room as medical staff attended to Crickard, who was eventually taken out on a stretcher and sent to hospital. According to reports, Crickard was conscious and in stable condition.

This post will be updated with further info as it comes in.

The medical emergency rightfully took precedence over what was another rough outing on the ice for the Sea Dogs. Cape Breton scored twice in the opening 10 minutes and outshot Saint John 15-4 in the opening frame. The Eagles followed that up by scoring four times in the middle frame.

Cam Squires netted a pair of goals for the Eagles while singles came from Olivier Houde, Jacob Newcombe, Cam MacDonald and Luke Patterson. Nicolas Ruccia made 11 saves in the win.

Patrick Leaver made 22 stops in the loss. The Sea Dogs, who registered just six dangerous shots through two periods, were without leading scorer Eriks Mateiko due to injury.

This weekend's back-to-back losses were significant for Saint John. The Quebec Remparts picked up four points by defeating the Gatineau Olympiques in back-to-back shootouts. With six games remaining for both clubs, the Remparts now own the 16th and final playoff spot and have a four-point lead on the Sea Dogs.

LINEUP

Simek - Peddle - Beveridge

Elliott - Miller - Fournier

Reynolds - Groulx - Beaulieu

Calder - Laforge - Beaudry

Tivey - Ianniello

Bilodeau - Mann

MacLean - Amyot

Leaver

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Eriks Mateiko (injury) and Luka Benoit (healthy) along with defensemen Olivier Duhamel (healthy) and Jeremie Richard (healthy).

NOTES: The Sea Dogs were without leading scorer Eriks Mateiko due to an injury... Matteo Mann (suspension) and Nico Laforge (healthy scratch) both drew back into the Saint John lineup... Patrick Leaver, who played most of Friday's game after Justin Robinson was pulled, got the start in net... the Eagles honoured their overage players before the game — which included former Sea Dogs forward Cam MacDonald... this was the final meeting of the season between the Sea Dogs and Eagles... this was Cape Breton's final home game of the regular season... faceoffs were 24-8 in favour of Cape Breton... Cam Squires, Jacob Newcombe and Tomas Cibulka each had two assists... Saint John has now lost 12 straight road games.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs return home and host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Thursday at 7 p.m.