LIVE BLOG: Sea Dogs vs Oceanic

RIMOUSKI - Saint John takes on Rimouski tonight at 8:30pm AST. Join us for live coverage beginning at 8:15pm.
 

GAMEDAY 20 - at Rimouski

GAMEDAY

Saint John Sea Dogs vs Rimouski Oceanic

Tonight, November 2, 2011 at 8:30pm

Colisee de Rimouski

PREVIEW

RIMOUSKI, Que. – The Saint John Sea Dogs will look to extend their winning streak tonight when they take on the Rimouski Oceanic at 8:30pm AST.

The Sea Dogs have won seven consecutive contests entering action this evening. That streak includes a solid 6-0 win over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Saturday that saw Zack Phillips score twice and Jonathan Huberdeau, Ryan Tesink, Tomas Jurco, and Grant West add singles. Mathieu Corbeil stopped all 14 shots he faced to pick up the win.

Saint John has been dominant over the seven-game span. They have outscored opponents 46-11 and have recorded three shutouts.

Despite their hot play of late and a 14-5-0-0 record, they have been just okay on the road this season. In nine games away from Harbour Station they are 5-4-0-0 and have been outscored 36-32. They Dogs will look to reverse that trend as they open up a three-game trip tonight in Rimouski.

The Oceanic enter play this evening with a 11-8-0-0 record and sit ninth overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League standings. They have a respectable 22 points in 19 games but sit last in the ridiculously tough Telus East Division.

Rimouski and Saint John battled each other on October 8 at Harbour Station with the Sea Dogs coming out on top by score of 8-2. Stephen MacAulay and Danick Gauthier each had a pair of goals while Zack Phillips, Tomas Jurco, Scott Oke and Charles Olivier-Roussel each had solo markers. Mathieu Corbeil made 19 saves in the win.

The Oceanic’s goals came courtesy of Alex Belzile and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc. Jacob Gervais-Chouinard allowed eight goals on 39 shots. Carl Hozjan stopped all five shots he faced in relief.

Saint John Moves Up To No. 2

The Saint John Sea Dogs are getting closer and closer to that No. 1 spot in the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings. The latest edition of the rankings were released this afternoon.

The Sea Dogs moved up to No. 2 from No. 3 after another strong week of play. Saint John played two games, defeating the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 6-3 on Friday night and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens 6-0 on Saturday.

Entering action tonight, the Sea Dogs sit second overall in the league with a 14-5-0-0 record for 28 points. They sit one-point back of the Victoriaville Tigres who have played two more games. Saint John has won seven straight and are 9-1-0-0 in their last 10 games.

Other Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams to crack this week’s top 10 were the Tigres at No. 4, Shawinigan Cataractes at No. 8 and the Quebec Remparts at No. 10. The Halifax Mooseheads were an honourable mention.

Jacques Beaulieu and the Sarnia Sting were ranked sixth.

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 seven.

1. London Knights (13-2-0-1)
2. Saint John Sea Dogs (14-5-0-0)
3. Tri-City Americans (11-5-0-0)
4. Victoriaville Tigres (14-6-0-1)
5. Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors (10-3-0-2)
6. Sarnia Sting (11-2-0-3)
7. Kamloops Blazers (11-3-0-0)
8. Shawinigan Cataractes (13-5-1-2)
9. Kootenay Ice (11-3-0-2)
10. Quebec Remparts (11-4-2-1) 

Honourable Mention: 

Ottawa 67′s (10-3-1-0)
Spokane Chiefs (8-3-0-1)
Halifax Mooseheads (12-5-0-0)

 In Buzzing The Net’s ‘Dynamic Dozen’ this week, the Sea Dogs were ranked tenth in the nation.

Saint John plays three road games this week. They face the Oceanic tonight in Rimouski and back-to-back games in Baie-Comeau on Friday and Saturday. 

Night Of Champions Videos

SeaDogsTV continues to post some unreal videos.

Today, they posted a few vids from Saturday’s ‘Night of Champions’ events. Here is the President’s Cup and Memorial Cup montage.

Sea Dogs Notebook

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

One month in and Jonathan Huberdeau has won just about everything.

After being named the QMJHL first star of the week on Monday and third star of the month earlier today, the Canadian Hockey League named the Sea Dogs captain the player of week.

From the CHL release:

Huberdeau helped extend the Sea Dogs’ winning streak to seven games with a pair of victories beginning Friday night with a two-goal performance as second star of a 6-3 win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.  He then picked up four points including a goal and three assists on Saturday in a 6-0 win over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens on a night when the Sea Dogs celebrated their 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup title by raising their Championship Banners to the rafters of Harbour Station.

Huberdeau is the first QMJHL player to win the award this season.

UP NEXT

The Sea Dogs begin yet another three-game road trip through Quebec tomorrow night when they take on the Rimouski Oceanic. Game time is 8:30pm.

After playing in Rimouski, Saint John well travel to Baie-Comeau for back-to-back games against the revamped Drakkar on Friday and Saturday.

This is the third Quebec road trip for the Sea Dogs this season. They don’t return to the province for a three game trek until February.

ROUSSEL ON THE TWITTER

Sea Dogs defenseman Charles-Olivier Roussel joined Twitter today. Follow him @coroussel.

He had a solid opening tweet.

Huberdeau Named October's 3rd Star

Jonathan Huberdeau has had quite a start to his season.

In his first 10 games back with the Saint John Sea Dogs, the third overall pick in June’s National Hockey League Entry Draft recorded seven goals and 15 assists for 22 points. He sits third in team scoring behind Danick Gauthier (23 points in 17 games) and Zack Phillips (25 points in 14 games).

Today, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League named Huberdeau the third star for the month of October. Rimouski defenseman Jerome Gauthier Leduc and Gatineau forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau were named the first and second stars, respectively.

Along with averaging just over two points per game in October, the Sea Dogs captain was an impressive +18. He went pointless in just two of the 10 games and recorded multiple points in seven contests.

Saint John is 9-1 since Huberdeau’s return and have won seven straight games since he was named captain on October 13.

The Florida Panthers prospect was named the QMJHL’s first star of the week yesterday.

Gauthier-Leduc recorded nine goals and 12 assists in 12 October games and recorded a +12 rating. The defenseman enjoyed a record-breaking stretch in which he registered at least one goal in eight consecutive games, eclipsing a 32 year-old record held by Gaston Therrien. The record was established against his former club, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, on October 21. 

Pageau had 14 goals and six assists in 10 games with the Olympiques in October. 


Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation