RECAP: Rough Times. Dogs Lose 4-1.

FINAL: Shawinigan 4, Saint John 1

SAINT JOHN – If there is one positive to come out of this game, it’s that the power play really has nowhere to go but up.

The Saint John Sea Dogs’ power play went 0-for-6 on Thursday night at Harbour Station as the Memorial Cup champions fell 4-1 to the Memorial Cup hosting Shawinigan Cataractes. It was Shawinigan’s final visit to Saint John this regular season.

Saint John’s lineup, featuring three National Hockey League first-round drafted forwards, really couldn’t get anything going on their six power play opportunities. Shawinigan’s defense, headlined by Brandon Gormley and Morgan Ellis, shut things down. Gabriel Girard was solid in net.

Shawinigan’s defense was good. Their goaltending was good. And their offense took advantage of their opportunities. Saint John’s defense wasn’t great. Mathieu Corbeil was average. And their offense had chances but just couldn’t connect.

This game had a lot of hype heading into it. There was supposed to be a big crowd, but that didn’t happen because of weather. This was supposed to a playoff like game but, frankly, it was kind of boring at times. It definitely won’t be remembered as a classic game.

Peter Sakaris had two goals for the Cataractes while Michael Chaput and Michael Bournival had the others. Bournival and Anton Zlobin each added two assists. Girard made 29 saves for the win in net.

Saint John’s lone goal came from Charlie Coyle who was making his QMJHL debut. Corbeil allowed four goals on 26 shots in the loss.

Shawinigan and Saint John are now tied for first-place in the QMJHL with 64 points. With two more head-to-head meetings to be played between these two before the playoffs, it’s going to be interesting to see how the remainder of the season plays out.

LIVE BLOG: Sea Dogs vs Cataractes

SAINT JOHN – Sea Dogs. Cataractes. Tonight at 7pm. Follow along for updates.

GAMEDAY 46: vs Shawinigan

GAMEDAY

Shawinigan Cataractes vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Tonight at 7pm

Radio: News 88.9 | Webcast: Telus | TV: None | Live Blog: SN

Harbour Station – Saint John, NB

PREVIEW

SAINT JOHN – One of the most anticipated home games of the year goes down tonight at Harbour Station as the Memorial Cup champion Saint John Sea Dogs take on the Memorial Cup hosting Shawinigan Cataractes at 7pm.

Although Saint John is still missing a few key players due to injury, both teams will have plenty of stars in the lineup with the trade deadline and world juniors over.

Saint John enters tonight’s contest with a record of 31-12-0-2, good for 64 points. They sit first overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, just one-point up on the Remparts. Quebec has, however, played three fewer games. The Sea Dogs are 6-3-0-1 in their last 10 games and have won three straight.

The Sea Dogs have been solid this season at Harbour Station. They have a record of 18-3-0-1 and have outscored opponents 104-57.

Shawinigan has a record of 29-10-2-2 for 62 points. They sit second in the Telus East Division and fourth overall in the league. They are one-point back of the Remparts for the division lead and two points back of Saint John for the top spot in the league. The Cataractes have been hot of late, having won three straight and nine of their last 10.

The Cataractes are 13-4-2-1 on the road and have outscored opponents 74-55.

NUMBERS

	Shawinigan	Saint John
Record	29-10-2-2 (2nd East)	31-12-0-2 (1st Maritimes)
Home Record	- - -	18-3-0-1
Road Record	13-4-2-1	- - -
Streak	3-0-0-0	3-0-0-0
Last 10	9-1-0-0	6-3-0-1
Goals For	167	188
Goals Against	116	134
Overall PP	20.9% (10th)	22.1% (9th)
Home PP	- - -	24.5% (6th)
Road PP	19.1% (12th)	- - -
Overall PK	83.3% (4th)	77% (9th)
Home PK	- - -	84.7% (4th)
Road PK	84.8% (2nd)	- - -
PIM/GAME	16.6 (5th)	16.0 (6th)

About Tonight's Game

SAINT JOHN – For a Thursday night in January, this is as big as it gets in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Tonight at Harbour Station, two of the QMJHL’s elite teams battle it out as the Saint John Sea Dogs host the Shawinigan Cataractes at 7pm. This is the Cataractes’ final visit to Saint John in the regular season.

Yesterday on Chris Cuthbert’s blog, former Sportsnet junior hockey play-by-play man Peter Loubardias said this.

By the way. Shawinigan plays Saint John tomorrow.  Maybe a precursor of a game to be played on the 27th of May.

May 27^th is Jeff Bagwell’s birthday. It’s also the date of the Memorial Cup final.

This game has more storylines than an episode of Modern Family. There’s the whole Memorial Cup hosting thing. The world junior players are all back thing. The Brandon Gormley trade thing. The arrival of Charlie Coyle thing.

Here are several things you need to watch for/follow heading into this evening’s tilt. This is going to be quite a show.

Sea Dogs Notebook

BIG GAME

There’s a fairly huge game being played tomorrow at Harbour Station. We recommend you attend.

Patrick King of Sportsnet has named Thursday’s contest between Saint John and Shawinigan the QMJHL “game of the week.”

“This game means so much more to both teams than the two points could ever mean in the standings,” writes King. “The hosting rights for this year's MasterCard Memorial Cup came down to these two teams and many in Saint John still feel slighted by the hosting committee's decision. Only two points separate both teams heading into the week for first place in league standings. Expect a heated, playoff-like game and atmosphere at Harbour Station.”

This is the last time the Cataractes will travel to Saint John in the regular season. The Sea Dogs play in Shawinigan twice over the remainder of the season.

MORE ON THE GAME

Steve Turcotte of Le Nouvellsite has more Cataractes/SeaDogs stuff en francais. He still has the Sea Dogs as the team to beat in the league.

Sportsnet also has an article on tomorrow’s game with some quotes from Martin Mondou. According to Patrick King, Mondou denies assembling his team specifically to challenge Saint John.

"The Sea Dogs are really a team that was built from their offence and now our team was really built from our defence and our goalie, so we're really two different teams," he said.

It’s going to be a wild stretch run with these two playing each other three more times.

SCHOLASTIC AWARD

Mathieu Corbeil has been named the Sea Dogs’ scholastic player of the month for December.

This initiative’s goal, which was developed by the QMJHL and its member clubs, is to recognize student athletes’ performances both on the ice and at school. The players are selected for their school results, their implication, the school-hockey conciliation, their team spirit and their on-ice performances.

The full list of winners can be found here.

GOAL SCORING LEAD

Zach O’Brien is starting to peel away from the pack in the league’s goal-scoring lead. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan sniper now has a league high 37 goals in 44 games. Saint John’s Danick Gauthier sits second with 33. He is in a tie with Bathurst’s Matthew Bissonnette for second but has played two fewer games.

Sea Dogs Ranked 5th Again

SAINT JOHN – The Saint John Sea Dogs are ranked fifth in the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings again this week. The latest edition of the rankings were released this afternoon.

The Sea Dogs had a quiet week, playing just two games. They defeated the Gatineau Olympiques 3-2 last Wednesday and then downed the Halifax Mooseheads 6-3 on Saturday. The Sea Dogs are finally starting to look like the Sea Dogs again with the returns of Jonathan Huberdeau, Nathan Beaulieu and Oliver Cooper this past week. More reinforcements will be in the lineup tomorrow night. 

Other Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams to crack this week’s rankings were the Quebec Remparts at No. 4 and the Shawinigan Cataractes at No. 6.

The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10 teams are selected by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.

Here are the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings for week 16.

1. Tri-City Americans (32-7-0-0)
2. London Knights (30-8-0-1)
3. Plymouth Whalers (28-9-2-1)
4. Quebec Remparts (29-8-3-2)
5. Saint John Sea Dogs (31-12-0-2)
6. Shawinigan Cataractes (29-10-2-2)
7. Kamloops Blazers (28-10-1-2)
8. Edmonton Oil Kings (27-10-1-4)
9. Kitchener Rangers (26-11-1-0)
10. Ottawa 67's (25-10-4-1) 

Honourable Mention:
Moose Jaw Warriors (25-12-4-1)
Brampton Battalion (23-10-2-5)
Portland Winterhawks (26-12-2-1)

In Buzzing the Net’s Dynamic Dozen this week, the Sea Dogs were ranked third behind the Americans and Remparts.

Saint John plays two games this week. They host the sixth ranked Cataractes tomorrow night and the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Saturday. Both games will be played at 7pm at Harbour Station.