Recap: Sea Dogs win 3-0

FINAL: Sherbrooke 0, Saint John 3

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs handed the Sherbrooke Phoenix just their second loss of the year on Friday at TD Station.

Eriks Mateiko, Olivier Groulx and Elliot Dubé all scored in a 3-0 win over the Phoenix, who entered the game sitting second overall in the QMJHL standings and were ranked No. 4 in the latest CHL Top 10 rankings.

Charles-Edward Gravel made 31 saves to earn his first shutout win of the season.

It was a solid performance by the Sea Dogs who played one of their more complete games of the year. Even when they bent and the Phoenix were pressing, Gravel was there to bail them out.

Mateiko opened the scoring just 4:03 into the first period, redirecting a Nate Tivey point shot. Then at 8:06 of the second, Zachary Morin – making his QMJHL debut – made a lovely pass through the neutral zone to Groulx who had a step on the Phoenix defense. Groulx then beat Sherbrooke goaltender Jacob Brochu to double Saint John's lead.

The Phoenix pulled Brochu with over three minutes remaining in the third period but the Sea Dogs quickly made them pay. Dubé scored into the empty net at 17:48 to make it a 3-0 final.

The win improved the Sea Dogs to 5-3-0-0 on the season.

LINEUP

Peddle - Mateiko - Cross

Morin - Groulx - Beveridge

Rozzi - Dubé - Yared

Miller - Schenk - Beaulieu

Reynolds

Tivey - Duhamel

Bilodeau - Mann

MacLean

Gravel

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defensemen Benjamin Amyot (injury), Cruz Scanzano (healthy), Julien Bonnet (healthy) and Giuliano Caputo (healthy) along with forward Reid Calder (healthy). Caputo was scratched after warmup.

DEBUT: 17-year-old Zachary Morin made his Sea Dogs debut, skating in the team's second line with Olivier Groulx and Egan Beveridge. Morin setup Groulx's second period goal with a long pass, giving him his first QMJHL point. He finished the game with three shots and a +1 rating.

Rookie lap for Zachary Morin. pic.twitter.com/4wWijitLqy

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) October 11, 2024

NOTES: It was "Stampede at the Station" night with the Sea Dogs wearing Canadian tuxedo style jerseys... Eriks Mateiko served his first game as Sea Dogs captain... Saint John went with 13 forwards and five defensemen... former Sea Dogs forward Chad Bellemare played against his old team for the first time... Nate Tivey had two assists and a team high four shots... Olivier Groulx had a goal and an assist... this was Charles-Edward Gravel's first shutout since last year's playoffs when he was a member of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar... during the three stars presentation, Gravel tossed his stick into the crowd... attendance was only 2,006. A light crowd for a Friday night.

HIGHIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are back in action tomorrow night at 7 p.m. against the Victoriaville Tigres.