Gravel, Sea Dogs make more shootout history

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - This year's Saint John Sea Dogs team seems to love marathon shootouts.

For the second time in this young season, the Sea Dogs needed a lengthy shootout to decide a game, going 11 rounds in a 6-5 victory over the Victoriaville Tigres on Saturday. Just a couple weeks ago in Sydney, the Sea Dogs and Eagles went nine rounds in a 2-1 Saint John win.

On Saturday, Eriks Mateiko scored in the second round but Justin Gendron quickly tied things up. There wouldn't be another goal scored until William Yared connected in the 11th round.

Following that Sept. 29 game, I wrote about how rare long Sea Dogs shootouts are. Now, let's update some of those notes.

A few fun facts from Saturday's game:

• This was the second longest shootout in Sea Dogs history. The longest was 12 rounds, which took place on Oct. 30, 2007 when Saint John fell 2-1 to the Lewiston Maineiacs at Harbour Station. Saint John has had two nine round shootouts, the latest being on Sept. 29 against Cape Breton.
• Charles-Edward Gravel stopped 10 of 11 shots he faced on Saturday, setting a new franchise record for saves in a shootout. Gravel and Travis Fullerton previously held the team record with nine saves each.
• Gravel and Tigres goaltender Jakob Hanlan combined for 19 saves, tying the Sea Dogs record for most combined saves in a shootout. There were also 19 combined stops made in that 2007 game between Fullerton and Maineiacs netminder Jonathan Bernier.
• Just nine games into the 2024-25 season, Gravel has made 19 saves in shootouts, which is the second most in a single season in team history. Fullerton owns the record, making 22 saves during the 2007-08 season.
• Sebastien Auger owns the record for most career shootout saves as a Sea Dog, making 39 during his four-year stint with the club.
• William Yared's shootout winner was his first career QMJHL shootout goal. He also had an attempt in that Sept. 29 game.

The longest shootout in league history was 19 rounds, which took place on April 29, 2022 between the Charlottetown Islanders and Moncton Wildcats.

Saint John is the first team to record two shootout wins this season. They are now 6-3-0-0 on the year.