QUEBEC VS GATINEAU IN OTHER SEMIFINAL

The Quebec Remparts will face the Gatineau Olympiques in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s other semifinal.

The Remparts advanced to the third round following a 9-2 blowout victory over the Shawinigan Cataractes in Game Seven of their quarter-final series tonight. Vincent Barnard and Mikael Tam scored twice for the winners while singles came courtesy of Mirko Hoefflin, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Joel Champagne, Frederick Roy, and Matthew Brown. Louis Domingue made 27 saves in net for the win.

Quebec had 2-0 and 3-1 series leads but the Cataractes hung around and managed to take it to a Game Seven.

The Remaprts, the No. 3 seeded team and the highest seed remaining behind the top-ranked Saint John Sea Dogs, will now face the No. 5 seeded Olympiques. Gatineau advanced to the semifinals with a 4-2 series win over the Drummondville Voltigeurs.

Quebec finished the regular season with a record of 48-16-1-3 while Gatineau went 43-17-3-5.

Saint John will host the eighth-seeded Lewiston MAINEiacs in the other semi-final.

Only two of the top four seeds remain in the playoff race.

A TOUGH TRIP AHEAD

GATINEAU, Que. – The Canadian Hockey League’s top-ranked team is way up in Gatineau, Quebec preparing to kick off a three-in-three road trip through La Belle Province. It will be the Saint John Sea Dogs' last major Quebec road swing of the season and it will also be one of their toughest.

After Friday’s tilt against the Olympiques, the Sea Dogs travel to Victoriaville on Saturday and then close out the venture on Sunday in Shawinigan. Game time tomorrow night is 8:30 pm while the two other matches begin at 5:00 pm.

It will be a stiff test for Saint John. All three teams have above .500 records with the Tigres having the worst winning percentage at a fairly solid .559. Shawinigan sits sixth overall on the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League standings, Gatineau seventh, and Victoriaville ninth.

The Dogs sit comfortably atop the QMJHL standings with a nine-point lead over the Montreal Juniors with two games in hand. But Saint John will have to crank up the intensity level as all three squads should be pumped and ready to go. Although the three organizations have all clinched a playoff spot, all teams in the middle of the standings are jockeying for post-season positioning.

Saint John is currently on their hottest stretch of the season having won 14 straight and going 21 consecutive contests without losing in regulation. They are a decent hockey team.

Along with the winning streak, the weekend of action will provide some other interesting story lines. Tomorrow night, two of the league’s most dangerous offensive players in Saint John’s Jonathan Huberdeau and Gatineau’s Philip-Michael Devos will go head-to-head. Devos currently leads the QMJHL in scoring with 94 points while Huberdeau is third with 87.

On Saturday, the Dogs will travel to Victoriaville for the first time since the 2010 semi-finals. Saint John won the series 4-2, sending them to the President’s Cup final.

Finally, the trek will end Sunday afternoon as the Sea Dogs enter the Bionest Centre to play the Cataractes. These two teams met last Saturday at Harbour Station with Saint John prevailing by score of 7-3.

Of course, this match will see the two strongest bidders for the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup play each other. The Shawinigan media has been slamming the Sea Dogs of late, mainly about the drafting of Huberdeau saga. No clue what they might pull out of their hats this weekend.

As always, SN will have pre- and post-game coverage of every match as well as an in-game blog. Be there.

SEED TRADED TO SAINT JOHN

The Saint John Sea Dogs acquired some defensive depth this afternoon.

The club announced today that they have acquired 18-year old defenseman Jason Seed from the Gatineau Olympiques in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick in the 2011 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Entry Draft.

“We feel Jason offers us another experienced defenseman who has playoff experience,” said Sea Dogs director of hockey operations Mike Kelly in a release. “We feel this player gives us depth at a very important position and are thrilled to have him join our team.”

The Sea Dogs next game is this Tuesday against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at Harbour Station, but according to the Sea Digs website, “Seed is expected to join the team for practice Wednesday.”

Considered more of a defensive defenseman, Seed played in 46 games with the Olympiques last season, recording one goal, three assists, and 14 penalty minutes. He appeared in 11 playoff contests and recorded no points to go along with four penalty minutes.

This season, Seed has appeared in 37 games for Gatineau, registering just one assist to accompany 20 penalty minutes. The Ottawa native appeared in the Olympiques’ road game at Harbour Station in December.

Le Droit mentions that the Olympiques are pretty full on the backend, and Seed may have had difficulty maintaining a roster spot with several defenders returning soon.

The Sea Dogs have been without Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Simon Despres over the past few games due to him participating in the World Junior Hockey Championships. The tournament ends on Wednesday. Also, Kevin Gagne is out for an undetermined amount of time with an upper body injury.

Saint John’s defense wasn’t spectacular on Sunday against Moncton and both Gagne and Despres were definitely missed. With the QMJHL entering its stretch run, adding defensive depth with some experience can only be a positive thing.

The QMJHL's trade period ends on Thursday.

DOGS TAKE DOWN OLYMPIQUES

SN RECAP
FINAL: Olympiques 2, Sea Dogs 5

SAINT JOHN – Make it eight straight wins for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League club has been hotter-than-toast (pictured) over the past few weeks. Their hot play continued Saturday night at Harbour Station as the Sea Dogs defeated the Gatineau Olympiques 5-2.

Tomas Jurco had a pair of goals while Stanislav Galiev, Stephen MacAulay, and Zach Phillips added singles. Jacob DeSerres had another solid game in net, stopping 25 shots.

Another dominant first period guided Saint John to yet another home victory. The Sea Dogs improved to an insane record of 15-0-0-1 at Harbour Station this season.

Tye McGinn and Raphael Lafontaine scored for the visitors who had their seven game winning streak snapped. Francois Lacerte started the game in net for Gatineau, allowing three goals on 18 shots. Maxime Clermont relieved the goaltender to start the second period. He didn’t fare much better, allowing two goals on 17 shots.

LIVE BLOG: Olympiques vs Sea Dogs

Note: Comments are OFF

LAPORTE RETURNS TO SAINT JOHN

If you wear #7 on an opposing team at Harbour Station, you should probably be mentally prepared for a chorus of boos.

Angelo Esposito found that out in his four year Quebec Major Junior Hockey League career, hearing the boos every time he touched the puck. But Esposito was nothing more than your average draft dodger, opting to join the Quebec Remparts back in 2005 after he was believed to be going the NCAA route.

When you want a true villain who gained hate by on-ice play, there is only one place to look – Hugo Laporte.

The Gatineau Olympiques defenseman may never win the QMJHL’s top defenseman award or the National Hockey League’s Norris Trophy, but Laporte has a legit shot at winning an Academy Award some day as best male actor.

At the 19:00 minute mark of Game One of the QMJHL Quarter-Final series between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Olympiques last year, Laporte crossed the blue line and ran into a backward skating Mike Thomas. The two collided knee-on-knee in what look like an accidental collision.

Play happened at 1:30 of this video:

PRE-GAME: Gatineau Olympiques vs Saint John Sea Dogs

By Station Nation Staff

GAME DAY
WHO: Gatineau Olympiques vs Saint John Sea Dogs
WHEN: Tonight, 7:00 pm
WHERE: Harbour Station

VISITING TEAM: Gatineau Olympiques
Record: 19-8-2-2 (Tied 2nd in Telus West Division)
Last Game: 3-2 overtime win at Moncton yesterday
Leading Scorer: Jean-Gabriel Pageau (31GP-16G-15A-31Pts)
Notes: The Gatineau Olympiques arrive in Saint John with a record of 19-8-2-2 which places them in a tie for second in the tough Telus West Division with the Drummondville Voltigeurs. The two teams are six points back of the division leading Montreal Juniors. The Olympiques are tied for fifth overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League… Gatineau is coming off a 3-2 overtime win in Moncton against the Wildcats last night. Hugo Laporte and Philippe Halley scored in regulation while Adam Janosik scored at 4:11 of overtime on a power play to win the game for the ‘Piques. Former Cape Breton Screaming Eagles goaltender Francois Lacerte made 25 saves in the win. Gatineau scored two of their three goals on the man advantage… the Olympiques are streaking right now dispite some injuries to their squad. The team has won seven straight games and are 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 games… this is the third game of a four game road swing through Atlantic Canada for the Olympiques. Their trip started Wednesday with a 4-1 victory in PEI over the Rocket. The team then beat Moncton in overtime last night, play in Saint John this evening, and wrap things up tomorrow afternoon at Bathurst… on the road this year, Gatineau is 9-3-1-2 and have gained 21 of their 42 points away from home. They have outscored their opposition on the road 41-21… Gatineau’s power play is ranked tenth overall in the QMJHL with a rating of 0.206.Their rating slips to 0.200 on the road… the Olympiques’ penalty kill is ranked 13th in the league with a rating of 0.764. On the road, they are producing a penalty kill of 0.787… Jean-Gabriel Pageau leads the ‘Piques in scoring this season with 31 points in 31 contests. Pageau also leads the team in goals with 16 and assists with 15… Tommy Tremblay has a team best +19 rating… with Lacerte starting in goal last night, Maxime Clermont will likely get the call between the pipes this afternoon. The star netminder has a record of 14-4-1-2, a goals against average of 2.39, and a save percentage of 0.903. His last start was Wednesday in Charlottetown where he made 26 saves in a 4-1 Gatineau victory… Gatineau has taken the fourth most fighting majors of any team in the league this season with 35. They team is led by Scott Sandercock, who has five fighting majors to go along with his overall unreal name.

HOME TEAM: Saint John Sea Dogs
Record: 23-3-0-2 (1st in Maritime Division)
Last Game: 6-2 win vs Lewiston yesterday
Leading Scorer: Jonathan Huberdeau (28GP-20G-24A-44Pts)
Notes: The Saint John Sea Dogs come into today’s action with a record of 23-3-0-2 which is good for first in the Maritime Division and are currently eight points up on the second place Moncton Wildcats. The Sea Dogs are tied with the Montreal Juniors for first overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 48 points… the team was ranked second in this week’s edition of the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings… Saint John is coming off a rather solid win over a good team in the Lewiston Maineiacs last night at Harbour Station. Six different goal scorers - Jonathan Huberdeau, Danick Gauthier, Michael Kirkpatrick, Tomas Jurco, Simon Despres, and Mike Thomas - all scored for the winners. Goaltender Frederic Piche made 28 saves to pick up the win… the Sea Dogs continued their hot ways with a victory last night. Like Gatineau, Saint John has now won seven straight contests. They are 9-0-0-1 in their last 10 games and have picked 27 of a possible 28 points over the past 14 games. The squad has not lost in regulation since October 22nd in Bathurst… the team continues to lead the QMJHL in goals scored. They have now recorded 141 goals in 28 games for a per-game average of 5.03… Saint John continues to dominate at Harbour Station. The team is now 14-0-0-1 at home this season and have outscored their opposition by a whopping 80-29 margin. The Dogs are averaging 5.33 goals per-game at the Station in 15 matches… Saint John’s power play has been fairly solid over the past few games. The team now has a rating of 0.227 which places them seventh overall in the QMJHL… the Sea Dogs’ penalty kill is also ranked seventh with a rating of 0.807… Jonathan Huberdeau still leads Saint John in scoring with 44 points in 28 games… Huberdeau and Phillips both have a team high 20 goals. The two are tied with Drummondville Voltigeurs forward Ondrej Palat for second overall in league goal scoring with 20 markers each… Huberdeau also leads Saint John in helpers with 24, penalty minutes with 44, and has a league best +35 rating… 20-year old Jacob DeSerres will likely get the start in goal this evening. DeSerres has a record of 8-1-0-0, a goals against average of 2.66, and a save percentage of 0.902. His last start was Wednesday in Bathurst where he made 32 saves in a 7-2 Sea Dogs victory.

SEA DOGS POST-GAME NOTEBOOK

SEA DOGS – OLYMPIQUES GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Gatineau 2, Sea Dogs 4
Saint John Goals: Tomas Jurco (5), Yann Sauve (1), Jonathan Huberdeau (9), and Michael Kirkpatrick (6)
Gatineau Goals: Philippe Halley (1) and Tye McGinn (2)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Marco Cousineau (8-1-0)
Losing Goaltender: GAT – Maxime Clermont (4-6-0)
News 88.9 Top Dog: Jonathan Huberdeau

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Olympiques: 1/5, Sea Dogs: 0/5
Shots on Goal: Olympiques: 6+15+14=35, Sea Dogs: 15+4+3=22
Attendance: 1,996

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Steven Anthony did not dress after he injured his groin again on Tuesday. Will Johnston took his place in the Sea Dogs lineup but had limited ice time.

Kevin Gagne was out with a knee injury, Tyron Sock did not travel with the team, Aiden Kelly did not travel with the team, and Chuckie Schembri was a healthy scratch.

THE FAT LADY HAS SUNG
It’s all over for the Gatineau Olympiques.

Following a 4-2 loss to the Saint John Sea Dogs last night, the Olympiques were swept out of the second round of the 2010 post-season.

Gatineau put in their best effort of the series in the losing cause. The ‘Piques were leading 2-0 halfway through the game but Saint John stormed back to take control.

“We can’t play like that if we’re going to be successful in the next round,’’ Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant said to the Telegraph-Journal.

Saint John was outshot 15-6 in the first, thanks mostly to a five Sea Dogs penalties. But they managed to outshoot Gatineau 29-7 the rest of the way.

“We had a bad game and we didn’t come ready to play,” said the QMJHL coach of the year. “It was pretty disappointing for a period and a half. After that, we took over the game, but we gave that team a chance and it shouldn’t happen.”

"It's always tough to finish the season but I think the boys showed a lot of heart out there,” said Olympique Alex Noel to the Ottawa Citizen.”Even though we lost four straight, our last game was probably our best game. It just didn't go our way."

SEASON OF DOMINANCE
Regular season and post-season combined, Saint John finishes with a record of 7-0 against Gatineau this year. That includes a 4-0 record at the Robert Guertin Centre.

Saint John scored seven or more goals four times and shutout the ‘Piques three times.

Overall, Saint John outscored their Quebec opponent 41-13.

COUSY, COUSY, COUSY
Marco Cousineau was exceptional in the Saint John goal all night long, making some big saves at key times. He was peppered with 15 shots in the first period with the only goal coming on a Philippe Halley penalty shot.

The 20-year old finishes the series with a record of 4-0, a goals against average of 2.00, and save percentage of 0.912.

Cousineau also had to deal with what looked to be a fan with a bed sheet over his head all game behind the net. We looked him up on the interweb and found that he his called the "Ghost of Guertin."

At the other end of the ice, Maxime Clermont finishes the series with an 0-4 record, a GAA of 5.90, and save percentage of 0.844.

HOFFMAN WAS GOOD TO GO
Mike Hoffman was not suspended by the league following his charging major on Tuesday night. Hoffman was thrown out and given a five-minute major on the play.

Hoffman had one assist last night and was reunited with his regular line mates (Nicholas Petersen and Stanislav Galiev) for parts of the third period.

Rookie import Adam Janosik – the victim of the massive Hoffman hit – missed the game with headaches according to Le Droit.

The Sea Dogs’ overager and Ottawa Senators draft pick was booed throughout the game from the Olympiques faithful.

LAPORTE GOES OUT WITH A BANG
The lovable Hugo Laporte, who was the most entertaining Gatineau player to watch in the series, was in the middle of the action again. Laporte finished the game with a -1 rating.

In the first, Petersen took out Laporte with a big push in the corner. The trainer came out but he stayed in the game. Then later on, Jonathan Huberdeau shoved him to the ice forcing him to leave the game. Laporte returned late in the second period.

Fittingly, Laporte face washed Mike Thomas when the buzzer went to signal the end of the game.

Le Droit reports today that Laporte had dislocated his thumb in the tilt.

THE LEGEND GROWS
Jonathan Huberdeau came one step closer to having a statue built of him in Saint John. The 16-year freshman had the game and series winning goal on a slap shot from inside the blue line. It was his ninth marker of the playoffs and is now averaging a goal-per-game in the second season.

“Huberdeau is sick, tied for the league lead in playoff goals,” said a b, c in the comment section of today’s Telegraph-Journal.

“It’s unbelievable,’’ said Huberdeau. “I scored the winning goal and I think I played another good game, and it’s good for my confidence going into the next series.’’

Mad props to J4M13M on Twitter for pointing this out:

Huberdeau with 2 series-winning goals...so far.

HIGH FIVE TIME
Following the traditional handshakes after the game, the Olympiques stayed on the ice to salute their fans. But with short glass at the arena, the fans stood on the lip of the boards and received hand slaps from the parading Olympiques team.

The bag over this fans head above was a nice touch.

INTENSE PHOTO’S
The Ottawa Citizen has an epic photo gallery up from last night’s game.

OUT OF TOWN
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Drummondville took a 3-1 lead in that series with a 7-2 win over the Oceanic. The Victoriaville Tigres also completed a sweep Wednesday, knocking out the Quebec Remparts with a 4-2 win.

QUICK HITS
Saint John is now 8-1 in the post-season and are 4-0 on the road… this is the second playoff sweep in Sea Dogs history and the first in round two… all-time, Saint John is 8-2 in round two games. They are 0-4 in round three games… the Telus webcast had typical problems. At one moment, Tim Roszell turned into a much louder French man… Gatineau had their first lead of the series in the first period… Josh Domingues, Gatineau’s only overager, played in his last QMJHL game… there were lots of Sea Dogs fans at the game again... only 10 penalties were called. This a day after 22 were called.

NEXT GAME
The semi-finals open up next Friday (April 16) at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station. Pending a miracle by Rimouski, the Sea Dogs will be playing Victoriaville.

THE LIGHTS GO OUT IN GATINEAU

STATION NATION RECAP
FINAL: Sea Dogs 4, Olympiques 2

GATINEAU – Down two goals in the second period, it looked like the Saint John Sea Dogs’ celebration was going to put on hold.

Then the top team in the QMJHL's regular season woke up.

Tomas Jurco, Yann Sauve, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Michael Kirkpatrick scored to finish off the Gatineau Olympiques in a 4-2 win. With the victory, the Dogs swept the ‘Piques out of the post-season and head to the semi-finals.

Saint John ran into penalty trouble in the first, leading to a difficult period that saw the Sea Dogs outshot by a significant margin. But they never gave up and battled back like all good teams do at key times.

Marco Cousineau was also solid in net, making some huge saves at key times throughout the game. One of his goals against were on a penalty shot while the other came on a breakaway.

FIRST PERIOD
Hubert Labrie laid a big hit on Stephen MacAulay at the blue line to open the first frame. After Gatineau had some pressure early on, Tomas Jurco let a wrist shot go that just went wide of the post.

At 10:02, Nicholas Petersen went nuts and attacked Hugo Laporte. A huge scrum ensued following the solo battle, with Petersen picking a four minute minor on the play. The Olympiques’ trainer came out to see Laporte, but with him being Hugo Laporte, he stayed in the game.

Gatineau had some decent pressure on the power play but no solid scoring chances. Just after the Petersen penalty expired, Hoffman headed off at 14:03 followed by Nathan Beaulieu at 14:14 for delay of game.

Saint John’s penalty kill came up huge on the five-on-three. Christian Morin went down and blocked a huge shot followed by Pierre Durepos doing the same on a Laporte point shot. With just seconds remaining in the penalties, Marco Cousineau came up huge with the leather.

At 17:42, Philippe Halley broke loose on a breakaway but was hooked bluntly by Hoffman, giving the Gatineau center a penalty shot. After stopping the original breakaway, Cousineau couldn’t stop the second. Halley beat the Saint John net minder over the blocker to make it 1-0.

Jonathan Huberdeau got the Dogs some revenge by throwing Laporte to ice at the blue line. Following the hit, the Olympiques defender headed for the dressing room and returned late in the second.

With just seconds left in the frame, Maxime Clermont almost balked in the Gatineau goal after the puck hit the back glass and bounced into the crease. But luckily for Clermont and his team, the horn sounded to end the period.

Shots after one were 15-6 Gatineau.

SECOND PERIOD
Mitchell Porowski took down Simon Despres just 53 seconds into the second to put the Dogs up a man. But Saint John was hangover from their lackluster first period and produced a awful power play. When Porowski came out of the box, he was robbed by a crease cross pad save by Cousineau.

Tye McGinn opened up a 2-0 lead at 7:55 for Gatineau. McGinn caught the Saint John defense napping and broke in alone, beating the Saint John goaltender over the glove to give Gatineau a two goal lead.

But Saint John stormed back with Jonathan Huberdeau wiring a wide angle shot on net that produced a juicy rebound and was just missed by Mike Thomas. Then Nicholas Pard was stoned on a quick wraparound chance.

Mike Hoffman let go a big point shot from along the boards at 12:55. The puck went off the stick off of Tomas Jurco and redirected past a falling Clermont to make it a 2-1 game.

Olivier Croteau took a four minute penalty at 13:40 for slashing and roughing. On the man advantage, Petersen had two good chances in close but couldn’t get a good shot off on either of them. But at 16:02, Hubert Labrie headed to the sin bin for a slash to put the Sea Dogs up two men.

Just after Saint John failed to score on the five-on-three, Yann Sauve unleashed an innocent looking wrist shot go from inside the blue line. The puck hit something in front and fooled Clermont, tying the game at 2-2 after 40 minutes.

Saint John dominated the shot clock in the second period, outshooting the ‘Piques 15-4.

THIRD PERIOD
Kirkpatrick had a good chance early in the third as he batted a high rising puck out of the air with his stick with the disc landing in the crease. Then Stephen MacAulay almost put on a show for Central Scouting as he slapped a shot right on Clermont from the slot.

As the pace picked up, Croteau was open at the side of the goal. A big point shot was let go that was rebounded right to him but he swung the puck wide.

Saint John took over from there, with Kirkpatrick almost scoring off a redirection from behind the net. Then Stanislav Galiev broke in on a partial break but Clermont played the angle beautifully to stop it with his chest.

Saint John finally took the lead at 12:07 when Jonathan Huberdeau let go a slap shot from the rim of the faceoff circle that beat Clermont short side to make it 3-2 Sea Dogs.

Stephen MacAulay took a penalty at 16:48 to give the Olympiques one last chance to save their season. With Clermont on the bench, Gatineau had some great pressure and were determined to tie the tilt. Then after Cousineau made a sprawling save, Benjamin Laliberte had a wide open cage but couldn’t handle the bouncing puck.

But at 19:26, Kirkpatrick iced the game and the series with an empty net goal from just inside the blue line.

Rather fittingly following the final buzzer, Hugo Laporte gave a big face wash to Mike Thomas with his glove.

Shots in the third were 14-3 Saint John.

NOTES: See Station Nation tomorrow for Sea Dogs Post-Game Notebook.

NEXT GAME: Game one of the third round goes Friday, April 16 at Harbour Station at 7:30 pm.

PRE-GAME NOTES: Sea Dogs vs Olympiques

GAME DAY
What: Presidents Cup Playoffs: Round Two – Game Four
Who: Saint John Sea Dogs @ Gatineau Olympiques
When: 8:30 pm AST
Where: Robert Guertin Arena, Gatineau, Quebec

LINEUP NOTES
According to Tim Roszell on News 88.9's "The Drive" this evening, Steven Anthony is out with a groin injury again. The Vancouver Canucks forward played only his second playoff game yesterday but had limited ice time due to the injury.

Will Johnston will dress tonight. It is the tough guys first playoff appearance following an MJAHL suspension that was honored by the QMJHL.

HOFFMAN IS A GO
It does not appear Mike Hoffman will be suspended for tonights game. The 20-year old was thrown out 17 seconds into yesterday's game after he leveled Adam Janosik behind the net.

According to Le Droit today, Janosik returned to the game briefly before leaving because of headaches.

HULL ISN’T HAPPY
A rather nasty blog post by Jean-Francois Plante points out Nathan Beaulieu’s goal celebration following his breakaway maker in the third period.

Plante says that Beaulieu celebrated as if he had won the Stanley Cup, arguing that it was uncalled for with the game out of reach.

But Plante fails to mention that just before he scored, Beaulieu was hit hard from behind by a Gatineau player in the corner. There was no call on the play, but the Olympiques just assumed the whistled would blow and stood around like pylons, giving the Saint John defenseman a short break.

Beaulieu now appears to be the Hugo Laporte of Gatineau.

MEDIA
Radio: News 88.9 FM
Twitter: Station Nation

PRE-GAME: Game Four - Saint John Sea Dogs vs Gatineau Olympiques

GAME DAY
2010 Presidents Cup Playoffs – Round Two
Game Four: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Gatineau Olympiques
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Robert Guertin Arena

SERIES STATUS
Saint John leads the best-of-seven quarter-final series 3-0.

PRE-GAME PREVIEW
It’s do or die time for the Gatineau Olympiques.

Following a dominating 6-0 win by Saint John, the ‘Piques are on the brink of elimination. On the other side of the ice, the Sea Dogs can lock up a trip to the final four with a win. It would be the teams second trip to the semi-finals in three years.

Marco Cousineau is coming off a shutout for the Dogs and has won six straight playoff games entering tonight’s battle. Michael Kirkpatrick and Nathan Beaulieu both had a pair of goals last night.

A win by the Sea Dogs would also mean over a week off to rest up. A lose means the two teams meet up again on Friday in game five.

PREDICTIONS
Most predictions have Saint John winning the series in four or five games.

GET TO KNOW THE OLYMPIQUES
Visiting Team: Gatineau Olympiques

Playoff Record: 4-6
Record at Home: 1-3
Record on Road: 3-3
Power Play: 26.8%
Penalty Kill: 75.4%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Alex Noel (10GP-0G-8A-8Pts) and Denis Kindl (9GP-3G-5A-8Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 214-163

Reg. Season Record: 30-33-1-4 (3rd Telus East, 12th QMJHL)
Record vs Saint John: 0-3-0-0
Record at Home: 18-12-1-3 (10th)
Record on the Road: 12-21-0-1 (13th)
Power Play: 18.2%
Penalty Kill: 82.1%

Reg. Season Leading Scorer: Tye McGinn (50GP-27G-35A-62P)

NHL Draft Picks: Hubert Labrie (Dallas)

GET TO KNOW THE SEA DOGS
Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs

Playoff Record: 7-1
Record at Home: 4-1
Record on Road: 3-0
Power Play: 29.4%
Penalty Kill: 82.4%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick (8GP-5G-10A-15Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 15-11-0

Reg. Season Record: 53-12-1-2 (1st Atlantic, 1st QMJHL)
Record vs Gatineau: 3-0-0-0
Record at Home: 26-7-0-1 (3rd)
Record on Road: 27-5-1-1 (1st)
Power Play: 24.3% (5th)
Penalty Kill: 78.8% (10th)

Reg. Season Leading Scorer: Mike Hoffman (56GP-46G-39A-85P)

NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).

HEAD-TO-HEAD THIS SEASON
Saint John won the season series 3-0.

December 5, 2009: Gatineau Olympiques 0 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 2
January 24, 2010: Saint John Sea Dogs 8 @ Gatineau Olympiques 0
February 24, 2010: Saint John Sea Dogs 7 @ Gatineau Olympiques 5

Olympiques leading scorer vs Saint John: Christian Ouellet (3GP-1G-2A-3Pts)
Sea Dogs leading scoring against Gatineau: Tomas Jurco (3GP-3G-2A-5Pts), Zach Phillips (3GP-2G-3A-5Pts) and Michael Kirkpatrick (3GP-1G-4A-5Pts)

SERIES RESULTS
Saint John leads the series 3-0.

April 2, 2010: Game One – Gatineau Olympiques 4 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 7
April 3, 2010: Game Two – Gatineau Olympiques 2 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 7
April 6, 2010: Game Three – Saint John Sea Dogs 6 @ Gatineau Olympiques 0

TALE OF THE TAPE
No fights between the two during the regular season.

CRAZY FACT
Saint John has now played six games against Gatineau this year. The Sea Dogs are 6-0 and have recorded three shutouts. Two of those shutouts came at the Robert Guertin Arena.

SAINT JOHN LINEUP NOTES
Kevin Gagne will not play due to a knee injury and did not travel with the club to Gatineau. Tyrone Sock and Aiden Kelly, both healthy, did not make the trip either.

Will Johnston is eligible to play tonight after serving his MJAHL suspension.

Mike Hoffman could possibly be suspended after he was given a game misconduct and five-minute major for charging in the first period last night. At the time of this publication, nothing has been released.

THE HIT
Mike Hoffman’s game misconduct described by the Ottawa Citzen:

Olympiques defenceman Adam Janosik was caught with an elbow to the face during the play, and Hoffman was ejected just 15 seconds into the game. Janosik played a shift and then was gone for the evening as well.

COACHES CORNER
Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant in the Ottawa Citizen:

"We had a lot of opportunity to score goals and there were a lot of specialty teams and that probably helps our team a lot more because of our skill level and our talent level.”

Gatineau head coach John Chabot in the Ottawa Citizen:

"I said it before, after the first game, that it would be nice if the teams could dictate how the games went.”

WHO TO WATCH
Gatineau – Josh Domingues
The Olympiques' only overager should be fired with his junior career about to end.

Saint John – Jonathan Huberdeau
Following a goal last night, the rookie is averaging a goal per game in the playoffs.

AROUND THE TOWN
WIKIPEDIA
Gatineau (population 242,124) is a city in western Quebec, Canada, the fourth largest by population in the province (after Montréal, Québec City and Laval).It is paired with Ottawa, the capital of Canada. It is situated on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and is located within Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census Metropolitan Area. Gatineau is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality and census division of the same name, whose geographical code is 81.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Marco Cousineau now has two shutouts in the playoffs.
• Saint John has outscored Gatineau 20-6 in the three games of this series.
• Simon Despres is coming off a four assist night. “He’s not a Dog. He’s a horse,” said Tim Roszell of the “Big Horse” after the game.
• 22 penalties ere called last night but don’t expect to see the same officiating crew tonight.
• Watch for the rough stuff tonight. Not only is Gatineau’s season on the line, but the game was chippy last night with a lot of stick work among players. Will Johnston returning to the lineup is not out of the question.
• The Dogs are 1-0 all-time in round two, game two games.
• Saint John has yet to lose a road game in the post-season so far. They are 3-0 with two shutouts.

THE RINK
Venue: Robert Guertin Arena
Capacity: 3,196
Playoff Average Attendance: 2,104
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 2,626

MEDIA RELATIONS
Newspapers: Saint John- Telegraph-Journal, L’Acadie Nouvelle; Gatineau- Le Droit, Ottawa Citizen
Radio: Saint John- News 88.9; Gatineau- Tag Radio X
Video: Telus Webcast

TWITTER
Follow Station Nation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for in game updates from tonight’s game.

AFTER THE BUZZER
Game five – if necessary – goes Friday at 8:30 in Gatineau.

GATINEAU PUSHED TO THE BRINK

STATION NATION POST-GAME
FINAL: Sea Dogs 6, Olympiques 0

GATINEAU – Marco Cousineau knows how to win in the playoffs.

And as it turns out, the 20-year goaltender knows how to win at the Robert Guertin Arena. Cousineau picked up his second shutout of the season at “The Bob” thanks to a dominating 6-0 by the Saint John Sea Dogs in game three of their quarter-final playoff series.

The Sea Dogs dominated all aspects of the game - except for penalties taken. 22 calls were handed out on the night with the Gatineau Olympiques getting 13 of those.

Cousineau stopped all 18 shots he faced. Gatineau goaltender Maxime Clermont stopped 33 shots before giving way to Derek Tait in the third period.

Michael Kirkpatrick and Nathan Beaulieu both scored a pair of goals while singles came from Nicholas Petersen and Jonathan Huberdeau.

Just 17 seconds into the game, Mike Hoffman was tossed from the game after he laid a huge hit on Adam Janosik behind the net. The league’s MVP was given a charging major and game misconduct following his actions. On the penalty kill, Mike Thomas had a good chance as he picked up a loose puck in front but was stopped by Clermont. Then Cousineau came up big in the Saint John net, stopping a ‘Piques with the leather. Then Benjamin Lalberte was stoned on a one timer in close.

Denis Kindl headed to the box at 3:15 after he took down Steven Anthony. That was quickly cancelled out with Yann Sauve taking a cross checking call at 4:34. On the four-on-three opportunity, Tye McGinn broke through the defence but sent his shot wide.

After Alex Noel took a penalty at 6:12, the Sea Dogs power play went to work. Nicholas Petersen sent a long cross ice pass to Michel Kirkpatrick who made a nice move to get into the high slot area. Kirkpatrick wired a shot over the shoulder of Clermont to make it a 1-0 Saint John lead.

Saint John native Ben Miller went to the box for a knee at 7:10. Saint John had some good pressure but could not score on the man advantage. Shortly after at 9:26, Hubert Labrie was sentenced to the box. Nathan Beaulieu had the best chance when he accepted a pass and was left all alone at the hash mark. Beaulieu wound and unleashed a shot that nearly killed Clermont, but the Gatineau goaltender made the lucky and unconventional pad save.

Saint John made it 2-0 at 14:40. Simon Despres centered to Kirkpatrick from behind the net. The 19-year old Sea Dogs center batted the puck in in the crease to double Saint John’s lead.

After killing off a Jonathan Huberdeau penalty, Beaulieu went to the box at 17:39. On the power play, the Olympiques had some good pressure but could not get any good shots off. To end the period, (everyone’s favourite) Hugo Laporte unleashed a hack saw in the form of a hockey stick and nailed Huberdeau in the leg.

Shots after one were 12-4 Saint John.

Tomas Jurco had a good chance early in the second but ripped his shot in close wide. Petersen made a great play moments later, walking around a Gatineau defenseman while cutting through the crease. Clermont kept focus though, and made the blocker save.

With Kirkpatrick in the box for slashing at 2:22, Christian Morin leveled Alex Noel at the blue line. Gatineau had an okay power play, a man advantage that clearly improved from the first period.

Philippe Halley had a good chance for ‘Piques after the power play expired, pouncing on a loose puck in close but wristed a shot off the pad of Cousineau. Zach Phillips almost scored at the other end, making some nice moves to get in close to the Gatineau goal but was stopped.

Gabriel Bourret got called for cross checking at 10:41. When that expired, Nicholas Petersen headed to the box at 14:41. On the Petersen power play, Noel was left alone at the side of the net but Cousineau made the huge stop to keep the momentum going in Saint John’s favour.

With Alexander Beaton in the box for goaltender interference to even play up, Kirkpatrick fed Huberdeau who skated in by an injured Hubert Labrie and went high blocker on Clermont to make it 3-0 at 15:14.

Saint John was given a long five-on-three following the goal with McGinn and Laporte taking penalties eight seconds apart. The Sea Dogs could not get anything going on the extended man advantage though, and blew a good chance to open up the game.

Beaton took a penalty late in the third at 19:44, giving Saint John a power play to open the third.
Shots in the middle stanza were 16-8 for the visitors.

With Labrie joining Beaton in the box, Saint John headed to a long five-on-three power play. On the extra man attack, Beaulieu ripped a point shot that went through traffic and Clermont to make it 4-0 Saint John.

The Sea Dogs made it 5-0 at 5:07. Despres sent a long pass to a waiting Petersen at the blue line. The overager went in on a breakaway and beat Clermont five hole on his backhand. That goal forced Clermont out of the goal in exchange for backup Derek Tait.

Beaulieu scored his second of the period at 7:26. The play started after the Saint John defenseman was hit from behind in the Sea Dogs zone. He quickly got up, with Petersen ready to get in a scrap - but the whistle never blew. With every player on the ice backing off from the play, Huberdeau fed Beaulieu who went alone and beat Tait just inside the post.

Petersen had a break later in the game on a four-on-four chance but he ran out of room to make the deke.

Gatineau finally showed some life late with McGinn firing a shot wide at the side of the goal. Then Beaulieu played an Olympiques two-on-one beautifully, breaking it up with his stick.

At 14:05 Olivier Croteau took a penalty. At 16:28 McGinn took a penalty. At 18:58 Laporte went to the box. Then at 19:53, Croteau headed back to the box. It was just that kind of night for the Olympiques.

Shots in the third period were 14-6 Saint John.

NEWS 88.9 TOP DOG: Simon Despres

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES: Kevin Gagne did not travel with the team to Gatineau because of a bad knee. Tyrone Sock and Aiden Kelly, both healthy, also did not make the trip. Will Johnston served the last game of his suspension.

NOTES: News 88.9’s Tim Roszell said that there was a large contingent of Sea Dogs fans in the crowd… Gatineau mascot Hully was pumped before the game… Stanislav Galiev’s mother was in attendance… after being ejected from the game, Mike Hoffman sat with his family for the rest of the tilt. There was no doubt several Ottawa Senators scouts at the game hoping to get a glimpse of their prospect… Adam Janosik, the victim of the Hoffman hit, returned to the game but quickly left again… 22 penalties were called in the game… 49 penalty minutes were handed out… Simon Despres had four assists… Hugo Laporte had four penalty minutes... five of Saint John's nine penalties were cross checks... Gatineau had six slashing calls.

NEXT GAME: Game four goes tomorrow at 8:30 at Robert Guertin Arena.

PRE-GAME NOTES: Sea Dogs vs Olympiques

GAME DAY
What: Presidents Cup Playoffs: Round Two – Game Three
Who: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Gatineau Olympiques
When: 8:30 pm AST
Where: Robert Guertin Arena, Gatineau, Quebec

ANTHONY COULD RETURN TONIGHT
From today’s Telegraph-Journal:

Sea Dogs forward Steven Anthony practised with the club Monday afternoon in Gatineau and is expected to suit up for tonight's tilt. The 18-year-old Vancouver Canucks prospect has been out with a groin injury since March 20 and has appeared in just one playoff game, Saint John's 8-3 win over Prince Edward Island in the first-round opener on March 19.

In two games against Gatineau in the regular season, Anthony had no points.

Kevin Gagne will not play because of a knee injury.

- Correction: As stated above, Anthony has played in one playoff game this year. The incorrect info has been placed in the Station Nation Pre-Game for about seven years now.

ODD PREDICTIONS
The United Kingdom based hockey blog penaltykill.net had some odd predictions for the second round of the QMJHL playoffs.

Click HERE to view the article.

SCOUTS IN THE HOUSE
We asked on Twitter how many scouts from the Ottawa Senators you thought would be at the game tonight to watch Mike Hoffman. We got this response from rick1042:

@station_nation Last time St-John was in Gatineau, Brian Murray, Tim Murray and Pierre Dorion were present.

PICTURES
From a Gatineau Olympiques Facebook page:

Game One Pictures.

Game Two Pictures.

CRITICAL LINKS
Jean-Francois Plante, Le Droit: Hoffman returns to Gatineau (French)

Jean-Francois Plante, Le Droit: Olympiques are not quitting (French)

Scott Briggs, Telegraph-Journal: Simply indispensable

Darren Desaulniers, Ottawa Citizen: Gatineau no stranger to adversity

Saintjohnseadogs.com: GAME 3 OF SEA DOGS – OLYMPIQUES SERIES GOES TONIGHT IN GATINEAU

Vincent Gauthier, L'Acadie Nouvelle: Dogs ready for Gatineau (French)

MEDIA
Radio: News 88.9 FM (8:25 pm pre-game)
Twitter: Station Nation, Vincent Gauthier

PRE-GAME: Game Three - Saint John Sea Dogs vs Gatineau Olympiques

GAME DAY
2010 Presidents Cup Playoffs – Round Two
Game Three: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Gatineau Olympiques
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Robert Guertin Arena

SERIES STATUS
Saint John leads the best-of-seven quarter-final series 2-0.

PRE-GAME PREVIEW
The Saint John Sea Dogs look to put the Gatineau Olympiques on life support with a win tonight in game three.

Already up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, Saint John has been dominant at the Robert Guertin Arena this season. The Sea Dogs are 2-0 and have outscored the ‘Piques 15-5 this year. So far in the series, Gatineau has been outscored 14-6.

Also in Saint John’s favour is their league best regular season road record and have yet to lose a road playoff game this year.

Gatineau, who showed little life on Saturday at Harbour Station, will need a win in order to have any chance of a series comeback.

PREDICTIONS
Most predictions have Saint John winning the series in four or five games.

GET TO KNOW THE OLYMPIQUES
Visiting Team: Gatineau Olympiques

Playoff Record: 4-5
Record at Home: 1-2
Record on Road: 3-3
Power Play: 31.9%
Penalty Kill: 72.9%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Alex Noel (9GP-0G-8A-8Pts) and Denis Kindl (8GP-3G-5A-8Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 214-162

Reg. Season Record: 30-33-1-4 (3rd Telus East, 12th QMJHL)
Record vs Saint John: 0-3-0-0
Record at Home: 18-12-1-3 (10th)
Record on the Road: 12-21-0-1 (13th)
Power Play: 18.2%
Penalty Kill: 82.1%

Reg. Season Leading Scorer: Tye McGinn (50GP-27G-35A-62P)

NHL Draft Picks: Hubert Labrie (Dallas)

GET TO KNOW THE SEA DOGS
Home Team: Saint John Sea Dogs

Playoff Record: 6-1
Record at Home: 4-1
Record on Road: 2-0
Power Play: 34.2%
Penalty Kill: 78.6%
Playoff Leading Scorer: Michael Kirkpatrick (7GP-3G-9A-12Pts)
All-Time Playoff Record: 14-11-0

Reg. Season Record: 53-12-1-2 (1st Atlantic, 1st QMJHL)
Record vs Gatineau: 3-0-0-0
Record at Home: 26-7-0-1 (3rd)
Record on Road: 27-5-1-1 (1st)
Power Play: 24.3% (5th)
Penalty Kill: 78.8% (10th)

Reg. Season Leading Scorer: Mike Hoffman (56GP-46G-39A-85P)

NHL Draft Picks: Yann Sauve (Vancouver), Marco Cousineau (Anaheim), Simon Despres (Pittsburgh), Steven Anthony (Vancouver), Mike Hoffman (Ottawa), and Nicholas Petersen (Pittsburgh).

HEAD-TO-HEAD THIS SEASON
Saint John won the season series 3-0.

December 5, 2009: Gatineau Olympiques 0 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 2
January 24, 2010: Saint John Sea Dogs 8 @ Gatineau Olympiques 0
February 24, 2010: Saint John Sea Dogs 7 @ Gatineau Olympiques 5

Olympiques leading scorer vs Saint John: Christian Ouellet (3GP-1G-2A-3Pts)
Sea Dogs leading scoring against Gatineau: Tomas Jurco (3GP-3G-2A-5Pts), Zach Phillips (3GP-2G-3A-5Pts) and Michael Kirkpatrick (3GP-1G-4A-5Pts)

SERIES RESULTS
Saint John leads the series 2-0.

April 2, 2010: Game One – Gatineau Olympiques 4 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 7
April 3, 2010: Game Two – Gatineau Olympiques 2 @ Saint John Sea Dogs 7

TALE OF THE TAPE
No fights between the two during the regular season.

CRAZY FACT
When combining the regular season and playoffs, seven of Gatineau’s 11 goals against Saint John have come in the third period.

SAINT JOHN LINEUP NOTES
According to Vincent Gauthier, Kevin Gagne did not travel with the team to Gatineau because of his knee injury. Steven Anthony is questionable with a groin injury and has not played so for in the playoffs.

Saint John is believed to still have call-ups Chuckie Schembri, Tyrone Sock, and Will Johnston on their roster. They have all been scratched so far in the playoffs.

Johnston is not eligible to play due to a MJAHL suspension which ends tonight.

COACHES CORNER
Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant in the Telegraph-Journal:

"I thought our play in our defensive zone was a lot better. They didn't have as much sustained (pressure) on their attacks and we got pucks out over the blue-line instead of playing in our defensive zone a lot.''

Gatineau head coach John Chabot in the Telegraph-Journal:

"Sometimes it feels like kids against men,'' said Chabot. "Their high-end guys are older and there are more of them. The difference for us is that their older guys are wearing us down, and they're a bigger team.''

SAINT JOHN LEADERS
Rookie Jonathan Huberdeau leads the team in goals with seven, meaning he is averaging a goal per game.

Michael Kirkpatrick is tied with Nicholas Petersen for the team lead in assists with nine.

Yann Sauve leads the team in penalty minutes with 17 while Mike Thomas’ five minute kneeing major that took place on Friday is the only penalty he has taken so far in the playoffs.

THE GAME THAT WAS NEVER SEEN
Earlier this season on February 24, it was the game that nobody saw from the Robert Guertin Arena. In fact, even those at the game no doubt had their minds elsewhere.

As Team Canada battled Russia at the Olympics, Saint John beat the Olympiques 7-5 in Gatineau. Not even Tim Roszell and News 88.9 could overtake the Team Canada broadcast.

Le Droit reported the next day that only about half of the announced crowd of 2,331 showed up.

WHO TO WATCH
Gatineau: Jacob Conrad
No doubt had an emotional boost when his fan club made the trek to Harbour Station on the weekend.

Saint John: Zach Phillips
Tied for the team lead in regular season points against Gatineau. All five of those points (two goals and three assists) were scored in one game earlier this season at the Bob.

AROUND THE TOWN
WIKIPEDIA
Gatineau (census population 242,124) is a city in western Quebec, Canada, the fourth largest by population in the province (after Montréal, Québec City and Laval).It is paired with Ottawa, the capital of Canada. It is situated on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and is located within Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census Metropolitan Area. Gatineau is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality and census division of the same name, whose geographical code is 81.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The Olympiques’ Adam Janosik leads the Olympiques with two goals in the series, but has a team worst rating of -5.
• Mathieu Gagnon is the only Gatineau player with a plus rating in the series. He is +1.
• Gatineau has five players from Atlantic Canada, three from Ottawa, and two from the Czech Republic.
• Saint John has scored seven or more goals in four of the five games played against Gatineau this season.
• The Sea Dogs are on a five game winning streak and have not lost since game two of the first round.
• Stanislav Galiev is on a five game point scoring streak. During that time, he has four goals and six assists. Michael Kirkpatrick and Nicholas Petersen are on four game streaks, and Jonathan Huberdeau is a three game consecutive point getting streak.
• Saint John has the best power play in the post-season so far with a rating of 34.2%.

THE RINK
Venue: Robert Guertin Arena
Capacity: 3,196
Playoff Average Attendance: 2,137
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 2,626

MEDIA RELATIONS
Newspapers: Saint John- Telegraph-Journal, L'Acadie Nouvelle; Gatineau- Le Droit, Ottawa Citizen
Radio: Saint John- News 88.9; Gatineau- Tag Radio X
Video: Telus Webcast

TWITTER
Follow Station Nation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/station_nation for in game updates from tonight’s game.

AFTER THE BUZZER
Game four is tomorrow – same time, same place.

SEA DOGS NOTEBOOK

ANOTHER HUGO PHOTO
Here is another classic Hugo Laporte photo courtesy of KJ McLean.

We are officially done with our Laporte coverage… for now.

WE HAVE A PROBLEM
Call us cautiously optimistic or whatever you want, but we are already looking ahead to round three. When we worked out the schedule, we found there to be a possible conflict.

Harbour Station hosts The Exploratorium Interactive Kids Fair on Saturday, April 17 from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm. The 17th would normally be the date for game two of the semi-finals.

We say a “possible” conflict because we have no idea how long the setup/take down would be. But when an inflatable planetarium is at your venue, you know there is going to be trouble.

That begs the question of whether game one will stay on Friday night with game two on Sunday or will game one be Thursday and game two on Friday.

CHL.ca POLL
A poll on the Canadian Hockey League’s website saw that many believe Saint John will be heading to the MasterCard Memorial cup in May.

The results have since changed in favour of Barrie.

GALIEV TO THE CAPS?
The Washington Capitals blog “The Russian Machine Never Breaks” profiled three potential Russians the Caps may draft in the upcoming NHL entry draft.

Sea Dogs forward Stanislav Galiev was one of them, with the blog having some interesting quotes from the Russian, like:

“I never wished to eat something from Subway or McDonald’s.”

To read the full article click HERE.

The post also provided this handy chart:

THE HOFFMAN FILE
The Ottawa Citizen had an article toady about the career of Mike Hoffman and the future possibilities of him playing with the Senators. Hoffman also speaks about his time with the Gatineau Olympiques franchise.

"Things didn't work out in Gatineau,'' Hoffman said of his 19-game stint with the Olympiques. "Everything happens for a reason.''

"Hoffman was a good player for us, but he didn't work as hard as he works today,'' Olympiques general manager Charlie Henry said. "He has really changed, and he's much more mature.''

This past week, Olympiques reporter Jean-Francois Plante had a French post on his blog about Hoffman’s time with the ‘Piques.

Plante goes on to explain that it is ironic Hoffman would win the sportsman of the year trophy. According to Le Droit blogger, Hoffman was released because several players stepped forward and said he was affecting team chemistry.

Gatineau would go on to win the Presidents Cup that year.

OH NO
After going a year without mentioning “the slogan,” this was in today’s Telegraph-Journal:

She said the team's slogan - Our team. Our time. - sums everything up.

"It really describes their season this year."

The Plymouth Whalers are using the slogan for their playoff run and are currently down 2-0 in their series against the Windsor Spitfires.

UP NEXT
Leading the best-of-seven series 2-0, Saint John hits the road for game three on Tuesday night at 8:30 pm at the Robert Guertin Arena.

Saint John has yet to lose a playoff road game in this year’s post-season. The Sea Dogs also had the best road record in the league during the regular season.

The Olympiques are 1-2 at home in this post-season, and had a record of 18-12-1-3 during their 34 game regular season schedule.

Game four is Wednesday at the same time and same venue.

THE LEADERS
Through seven playoff games, Michael Kirkpatrick leads the Sea Dogs in scoring with 12 points. Kirkpatrick is also tied with Nicholas Petersen for the team lead in assists with nine.

Rookie Jonathan Huberdeau leads the team in goals with seven, meaning he is averaging a goal per game.

Three of Saint John’s top five scorers are rookies (Stanislav Galiev, Tomas Jurco, and Huberdeau). Regular season leading scoring Mike Hoffman is sixth (tied for fifth but has fewer goals) in points on the team with nine.

Kirkpatrick sits 12th in league playoff scoring while Galiev is second among rookies with 11 points.

Yann Sauve leads the team in penalty minutes with 17 while Mike Thomas’ five minute kneeing major that took place on Friday is the only penalty he has taken so far in the playoffs.

SEA DOGS POST-GAME NOTEBOOK

SEA DOGS – OLYMPIQUES GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Gatineau 2, Saint John 7
Saint John Goals: Tomas Jurco (4), Stanislav Galiev (5),Jonathan Huberdeau (6, 7),Stephen MacAulay (1), Zach Phillips (2), and Mike Hoffman (5)
Gatineau Goals: Adam Janosik (5) and Alexander Beaton (2)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Marco Cousineau (6-1-0)
Losing Goaltender: GAT – Maxime Clermont (4-4-0)
News 88.9 Top Dog: Nicholas Petersen

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Olympiques: 2/7, Sea Dogs: 3/5
Shots on Goal: Olympiques: 8+11+13=32, Sea Dogs: 17+9+15=41
Attendance: 4,016

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Steven Anthony missed the game because of a groin injury and Kevin Gagne missed the tilt with a bad knee. Chuckie Schembri, Will Johnston, and Tyrone Sock were also scratched.

DOGS THROW DOWN THE HAMMER
The Gatineau Olympiques fell down 3-0 again on Saturday night. But unlike Friday, they didn’t have enough gas to pull off the comeback.

With the 7-2 loss, Gatineau is down 2-0 in the best-of-seven quarter-final playoff series against the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Saint John played a solid playoff game, doing just about everything right. They played an uncharacteristically physical game (even though the QMJHL website says hits were 11-3 Gatineau) that is needed to win in the post-season. But unlike many teams, the Sea Dogs played very smart with their very hard hitting style.

"Once we were up, we held the lead and we were more disciplined than we were (Friday),'' said Mike Hoffman to the Telegraph-Journal’s Scott Briggs in the Ottawa Citizen. "We just have to keep working hard and stay out of the box.''

Although there were not as many man advantages as there was on Friday, both of Gatineau’s goals came on the power play. Saint John also had their extra man chances, cashing in on three of five opportunities.

"We got rid of the rust,'' Saint John coach Gerard Gallant said. "We played a lot better game (than Friday's 7-4 win) and I just thought our overall (effort) was good."

YOU JUST GOT OWNED
The Olympiques were simply outplayed on this night.

"Sometimes it feels like kids against men,'' Olympiques coach John Chabot said. "Their high-end guys are older and there are more of them. “

Gatineau was outshot 41-32 in the game and had period deficits of 2-0 and 3-0.

“The difference for us is that their older guys are wearing us down, and they're a bigger team,'' said Chabot.

#BooLaporte
Following his acting performance on Friday night that led to Mike Thomas’ ejection, Hugo Laporte was once again booed every time he touched the puck.

Laporte finished the game with an assist and two penalty minutes. He and Thomas had some words throughout the night but it never led to anything.

When the Gatineau defender headed to the box in the second period (pictured), Harbour Station once again stood and gave a loud cheer. Laporte held back from pushing the official this time, however.

Fans really enjoyed booing the young lad though, even though most had no clue why they were doing so. We even got our label “#BooLaporte” trending a bit on Twitter.

-Our thanks to KJ McLean for the photo.

INTERESTING…
This was pointed out in today’s Canadian Press recap:

Despite their high-powered offence, the Sea Dogs have only one player in the top 10 playoff scorers. Stanislav Galiev has five goals and six assists to sneak into the 10th spot on the scoring table.

In seven playoff games against PEI and Gatineau, the Sea Dogs have outscored their opponents 37-18.

THIRD PERIOD CRAZINESS
Through two periods, Saint John led 3-0 and only six penalties had been handed out. Then came the third period where six goals took place, 12 penalties were called, and six misconducts were handed out.

COUSY = SOLID
Marco Cousineau played a solid game in the Sea Dogs net to pick up his sixth win of the post-season. On the night, he stopped 30 of 32 shots with eight being listed as "dangerous."

The 20-year old made some nice saves when called upon, kicking away pucks like they were going out of style.

Backup Karel St. Laurent was kept busy on the bench as well, ducking out of the way in the third period when the disc was deflected in his direction.

THE HUB IS LEGIT
What a post-season it has been for rookie Jonathan Huberdeau. The 16-year had two goals last night, giving him seven goals and nine points through seven playoff games.

In 61 regular season games, he had 15 goals and 20 assists.

After playing much of the regular season on the third and fourth line, Huberdeau has been playing on an electric line with Nicholas Petersen and Michael Kirkpatrick.

ALUMNI
Former Sea Dog Frank Marchand (who we believe was referred to as Francis Marchand during his playing days) was at the game. In 26 games with Saint John in 2005-06, Marchand had three goals and five assists.

Looking at his stats, Marchand’s career high for consecutive games played was 12.

DOUBLE TAKE
We thought this was odd. Have a look at the picture by Peter Walsh of the Telegraph-Journal on the right. Then have a look at the picture by David Connell on the left.

SEADOGSTV HIGHLIGHTS
Happy birthday shout-out to the man who made this video – Matt Buckley.


CHSJ NEWS HIGHLIGHTS


OUT OF TOWN
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Elsewhere in the QMJHL it was: Drummondville 3 Rimouski 0; Victoriaville 4 Quebec 2; and Moncton 4 Rouyn-Noranda 3 (OT).

QUICK HITS
There was a car accident at the main entrance of Harbour Station just prior to 6:00 pm… a pre-game ceremony took place to honor the Sea Dogs’ adopt-a-program sponsors… Mike Hoffman’s third period goal went under review to see if it had been touched with a high stick. According to the News 88.9 post-game show, the off-ice statisticians were still checking after the game to see if Nicholas Petersen got wood on the shot… we have seen some strange fan clubs at Harbour Station this year, and the Jacob Conrad group is one of the oddest… Saint John native Ben Miller, who was scratched on Friday night, was given a 10-minute misconduct in the third period after getting in a tussle with Christian Morin. The penalty given to him was for unsportsmanlike… the crowd of 4,013 is the third smallest attended playoff game in franchise history… there was a group of men wearing beer hats at the game.

NEXT GAME
Game three goes Tuesday night in Gatineau at 8:30 pm.

SAINT JOHN IN CONTROL

STATION NATION RECAP
FINAL: Olympiques 2, Sea Dogs 7

SAINT JOHN – It’s so far, so good for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs were all over the Gatineau Olympiques and won 7-2 in rather convincing fashion. Saint John now has a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-seven quarter-final playoff bout.

The Sea Dogs used a strong offensive attack to de-flame the Olympiques on Saturday night. Rookie Jonathan Huberdeau scored a pair while singles came from Stanislav Galiev, Tomas Jurco, Zack Phillips, Mike Hoffman, and Stephen MacAulay.

Gatineau got their goals from Adam Janosik and Alexander Beaton.

Marco Cousineau was exceptional in the Saint John goal, stopping 30 shots on his way to a third star honor. Maxime Clermont had a strong game for the Olympiques, but fell victim to the wicked Sea Dogs offence.

Saint John had control early and took a 1-0 lead at 10:46. Stanislav Galiev finished off a beautifully executed two-on-one with Mike Hoffman to make it a 1-0 Sea Dogs lead.

Gatineau gained some momentum following the goal as Christian Ouellet sent a pass through the crease and hit something in front before the puck trickled just wide. Then Tye McGinn was stopped in close by Cousineau with the pad.

With Philippe Halley in the box for the Olympiques, Hoffman sent a cross crease pass to an invading Tomas Jurco who scored over the glove of Clermont to double the home teams lead.

Jonathan Huberdeau then fed Nicholas Petersen down low in front of the goal but had his tipped shot stopped by a tremendous glove save.

Shots in the first period were 17-8 Saint John.

Just 5:30 into the second period, Huberdeau made a nice move around a falling Gatineau defenseman. He let go a deadly wrist shot that beat a snoozing Clermont low blocker to make it 3-0 for the Port City.

On the following rush, Hubert Labrie was robbed by Cousineau’s pad. A few minutes later, Michael Kirkpatrick found himself with an open cage but sent a shot off the outside of the post. Mike Thomas then flew in trying to corral a loose puck but was forced to show off his ballet skills and jump over the Gatineau goaltender.

Everyone’s favourite player, Hugo Laporte, went to the box at 14:38 and got a standing ovation from the Harbour Station crowd. Clermont came up huge during the kill, making a cross crease glove save on Hoffman.

After Huberdeau served his sentence in the box, he and Hoffman formed a two-on-one but the pass was broken up nicely by Vincent Barnard.

Shots in the middle stanza were 11-9 Gatineau but they still trailed 3-0.

Saint John opened up a 4-0 lead when Huberdeau was sprung on a breakaway. The rookie went backhand-to-forehand like he has done so many times this season to pick up his fifth of the post-season.

Nathan Beaulieu headed off for two minutes in the box at 4:40. On the man advantage, Cousineau made a nice save on a shot from the slot. The puck sat in the crease before Alexander Beaton scored to make it a 4-1 affair. Laporte got an assist.

Beaton had another chance following the goal, but Cousineau stood taller than the Easter Bunny to make the huge save with the trapper. As the Gatineau defense packed their bags and boarded the bus, Petersen was stopped on a breakaway with the glove. Moments later, Kirkpatrick was in alone but was denied with the pad.

At 11:28 Hoffman wired a shot from just inside the point that beat Clermont over the blocker to make it a 5-1 game. The goal went under a short review to see if Nicholas Petersen got a high stick on it but it was ruled a goal.

Saint John native Ben Miller grabbed onto the sweater of Christian Morin at 12:04 looking for a fight. Miller swung Morin around and threw him to the ice before receiving a 10-minute misconduct. On the power play, Beaulieu sent a pass from the point across the ice to Stephen MacAulay. The Nova Scotian went low glove side to make it a 6-1 game at 13:03.

A massive pile up was created at 16:31 following a whistle behind the Saint John goal. Everybody grabbed a dance partner and began throwing punches as well as Happy Easter pleasantries. That took about 10 minutes to play out.

Gatineau was given a power play after the scrum, with Adam Janosik beating Cousineau high over the glove from the faceoff dot at 18:28. The Sea Dogs net minder sat in his crease for a few moments wishing to have that shot back.

After Beaulieu was thrown out of the game for no obvious reason, there was a big collision as a Saint John player tried to enter the Gatineau zone. With the Olympiques’ defense down like bowling pins, Nicholas Pard was in a small break. He gave a short pass to a waiting Zach Phillips who beat Clermont on a nice deke to make it a 7-2 final.

Shots in the third period were 15-13 Saint John.

NEXT GAME: Game three goes Tuesday in Gatineau.

SEA DOGS POST-GAME NOTEBOOK

SEA DOGS – OLYMPIQUES GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score: Gatineau 4, Saint John 7
Saint John Goals: Tomas Jurco (3), Stanislav Galiev (3, 4), Michael Kirkpatrick (2, 3), Nicholas Pard (2), and Mike Hoffman (4)
Gatineau Goals: Adam Janosik (4), Mitchell Porowski (2), Benjamin Laliberte (1), and Hubert Labrie (3)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Marco Cousineau (5-1-0)
Losing Goaltender: GAT – Maxime Clermont (4-3-0)
News 88.9 Top Dog: Sea Dogs Fans (Honorable Mention to Nicholas Pard and Christian Morin)

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Olympiques: 2/7, Sea Dogs: 3/9
Shots on Goal: Olympiques: 3+10+6=19, Sea Dogs: 9+9+15=33
Attendance: 4,628

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Steven Anthony missed the game because of a groin injury and Kevin Gagne missed the tilt with a bad knee. Chuckie Schembri, Will Johnston, and Tyrone Sock were also scratched.

IT WAS OKAY
Just like in many games prior, penalties took the Saint John Sea Dogs off their game plan.

After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, penalties hurt the Sea Dogs in the second. The Olympiques scored two straight power play goals and one at even strength to tie the game. But Saint John battled back with Stanislav Galiev giving the Dogs back their lead.

"We played a good first period and we took a lot of penalties in the second period,'' said Galiev to the Telegraph-Journal, who tallied two goals and three assists. "In the third period, we played (well) again.''

Saint John, who have destroyed the ‘Piques this season, are now 4-0 against them and have outscored them 25-9. But the perfect record may have lead to overconfidence.

"We were too confident in the dressing room (after the first period), said center Michael Kirkpatrick. “They came out in the second and showed us they're not going to be pushed around.”

Saint John took back control in the third period, outshooting Gatineau 15-6.

With the victory, Saint John leads the series 1-0.

GAINING CONFIDENCE
Even if the second period events were due to penalties, the Olympiques finally showed that they can play against Saint John.

The ‘Piques were 0-3 against the Dogs entering the game and were shutout twice. But that was before the John Chabot coaching era.

"I think both teams would like to be able to dictate the game a little bit more and not have someone else take it out of our hands,'' Chabot said. "I'm looking forward to a better second game.

But Chabot’s defense made some fancy plays that almost proved costly. There were far too many passes between the defenseman under pressure around the goal. Chabot said that his team just can’t give an offensive driven horse like Saint John any more room to work with.

BIG NIGHT FOR THE BIG RUSSIAN
Stanislav Galiev did just as the fan made sign says: “Staz, just do it. Make it happen.”

Galiev scored twice and added three assists, setting a Sea Dogs team record for points in a playoff game by one player. In addition to the five point night, he took no penalties and was a +2.
LOVE THE LAPORTE
At 19:00 of the first period, Mike Thomas was thrown out after he received a five minute major penalty and game misconduct for kneeing. The play happened as Gatineau defenseman Hugo Laporte entered the Saint John zone, where he collided with the Sea Dogs captain.

Most fans were in disbelief as the play looked like an accident. Whether it was intentional or not, the New Maryland native took to his familiar possession has a pedestrian on the concourse.

Laporte sat on the ice for several minutes while clutching his knee before being helped off. He returned in the second period.

LAPORTE > ESPO
When Hugo Laporte returned he was booed every time he touched the puck, making many Sea Dogs fans have a flashback to another player who wore number seven.

The hated Angelo Esposito was booed every time he came to the Port City over his four years of QMJHL hockey. But it never really seemed to bother the Atlanta Thrashers prospect, unlike Laporte.

The Olympiques’ alternate captain was given a 10-minue misconduct after shoving an official. Harbour Station gave a standing ovation to the confused and stunned defenseman.

TIME FOR ACTION
We were just joking about the possibility of an Economic Action Plan sign going up at Harbour Station. But just beside Tim Horton’s on the concourse, what do we see other than an overly huge sign.

The sign is up because the Plan is paying for part of the score clock renovations. The same kind of sign was put up outside of a police station after they got new door knobs.

JURCO SCORES. WAIT, NO…
At 8:24 of the third period, Tomas Jurco should have had a goal but the officials got excited and blew the whistle way too quickly.

Jurco was furious over the call, and looked like he was going to pull a Jim Playfair on the ice.

SAME NEW LINE COMBO’S
Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant kept his line combinations the same as he did in game five of the first round. Nicholas Petersen stayed down on the second line while Tomas Jurco played wing on the top line with Stanislav Galiev and Mike Hoffman.

WELCOME BACK
Aiden Kelly returned from his concussion to play in his first career playoff game. Nicholas Pard also returned from his shoulder injury.

Kelly had a stat line of zero, while Pard a goal and was a +1.

POST-GAME HIGHLIGHTS


QUICK HITS
Bell Aliant FibreOp Playoff wrist bands were given out at the door again. One young fan was so upset over the Olympiques’ fourth goal he chucked his into the lower bowl… Saint John native Ben Miller was scratched for Gatineau… Christian Morin was paired up with Simon Despres on the backend… the French public address announcer (whose name we always forget) was pumped… former Sea Dog Philip Richer was in the house. “Who,” screamed one fan… the wave has been popular at Harbour Station this post-season, and fans had it going good again last night… Saint John finally broke the 4,300 attendance barrier. According to the Telegraph-Journal Friday, 3,400 tickets were sold as of Thursday, meaning over 1,200 tickets were sold on game day... Scott Briggs' game story appeared in today's Ottawa Citizen newspaper.