GDT: Sea Dogs vs MAINEiacs - February 24, 2008

[dogcatcher]

SEA DOGS HOST MAINEIACS - THIS AFTERNOON AT HARBOUR STATION - 4:00 PM

The Saint John Sea Dogs and Lewiston MAINEiacs meet for the seventh time this season this afternoon at Harbour Station. Following today’s match, Saint John will not play again at Harbour Station until March 12 - a stretch of 17 days.

Chris DiDomenico leads all Saint John players with 2G-7A-9P versus Lewiston this year, while Alex Grant has posted a rating of +6 in six games played against the defending President’s Cup Champions.

Each team has won thrice over the course of their preceding six contests, with the Sea Dogs leading on the cumulative scoreboard by a sum of 18-15 on the season.

In the last meeting between these two teams, on February 1 at Lewiston’s Androscoggin Bank Coliseum, the MAINEiacs defeated the Sea Dogs by a score of 3-1 in an intense game in which no fewer than 66 penalty minutes were handed out by officials.

Saint John sits in first place (36-18-3-3) with 78 points, while Lewiston is in 5th place with 70 points (32-21-4-2).

Fans can catch the action live by logging onto News 88.9 FM at www.news889.com/ or the official QMJHL webcast at qmjhl.mytelus.com/. Tickets are available by calling the Harbour Station Box Office at [phone].

[tostitos]

MAINEiacs are without Danik Paquette and Head Coach Ed Harding.

MAINEiacs played the Wildcats tough...if the Dogs want to stay close they are going to have to come out firing on all cylinders or they'll be finding themselves down quickly.

[hockey1981]

3-2 SJ

[CatsFan]

5-2 SeaDogs.

[juliansteed]

I hope you Cats fans are right. I really don't know what to expect. This is a huge game for the Dogs. We need to end this losing skid and beating a good team like Lewiston would give the boys some much needed confidence. Hopefully this will be the game that turns things around.

[bifocal]

Your young talent, is running out of gas, not sure, but I'm guessing it's all down hill from here, for the dogs. You've gotten more than most people expected but I think you guys will be "barn burners" next year. Keep both eyes on Titan, form here on in, they will dominate.

[elementz]

Hopefully we can break out of our funk before we hit that brutal 3 game trip in Quebec against the top teams.

[juliansteed]

bifocal said:

Your young talent, is running out of gas, not sure, but I'm guessing it's all down hill from here, for the dogs. You've gotten more than most people expected but I think you guys will be "barn burners" next year. Keep both eyes on Titan, form here on in, they will dominate.

Halifax 6 Bathurst 2

[juliansteed]

Huge win today. We needed this one bad! Points are going to be tough to get for the next little while. Nice to see the PK doing well.

My 3 stars would have been:

1. Fullerton
2. Bernier
3. Sparling

[dogcatcher]

SEA DOGS TAKE DOWN MAINEIACS 2-1

Travis Fullerton Makes 33 Saves in Leading Saint John to Victory Over Lewiston in Front of 4,482 Fans at Harbour Station

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Sunday, February 24, 2008

SAINT JOHN, NB --- The Saint John Sea Dogs earned two big points on Sunday afternoon, defeating the Lewiston MAINEiacs by a score of 2-1 at Harbour Station to remain atop the QMJHL East Division standings.

Saint John now has 80 points on the season, one more than second-place Halifax, who defeated Acadie-Bathurst by a score of 6-2 earlier in the day.

After a hard-fought opening forty minutes of play produced a 1-1 deadlock, Saint John secured a one-goal advantage in the opening minute of the third period and was able to hold on to victory from there, improving their league-best home record to 24-5-2-2 in doing so.

Ryan Sparling and Michael Kirkpatrick both scored goals for the Sea Dogs on Sunday, while Jakub Bundil tallied the lone marker for the MAINEiacs.

Both goaltenders played well throughout the highly-competitive contest, with Travis Fullerton earning his 21st victory of the year for Saint John after turning in an impressive 33-save performance versus his former team mates. Meanwhile, star Lewiston net minder Jonathan Bernier fell to 13-13 on the season after being credited with the loss despite making 28 saves on 30 shots.

The MAINEiacs registered the game’s first ten shots on goal on Sunday, as Fullerton looked sharp early in making a series of acrobatic saves during a busy opening half of the first period.

Saint John was awarded the first power play of the afternoon midway through the opening frame when Patrick Cusack was assessed a two-minute minor for roughing. Pascal Amyot very nearly broke the scoreless tie during the five-on-four session, wiring a howitzer of a slap shot from the point that Bernier was somehow able to snag with a quick glove. A moment later, Chris DiDimenico also registered a near-goal, deflecting a backhand shot off of the left post of Lewiston’s net.

The visiting squad from the Pine Tree State then went on their first power play of the day at the 11:53 mark of the first, but some impressive work by Fullerton, particularly in making a diving cross-crease stop on a Stefano Gilati rebound shot, kept things tied 0-0 as the makings of an epic goaltending duel began to emerge at Harbour Station.

After a pair of late-frame man-up opportunities for the home squad failed to result in the go-ahead goal, Sunday’s intra-divisional showdown entered the first intermission with the score knotted at zeroes.

Lewiston registered the first goal of the match at the 9:08 mark of the second period, as Jakub Bundil batted a rebound out of mid-air to the back of the Sea Dogs’ net to earn his 8th goal of the season

At the other end of the ice, a streaking Alex Grant nearly tied the game up five minutes later when he fired a rocket of a slap shot at Lewiston’s net during a Saint John power play; Bernier was able to get block the puck with his left pad however, preserving his team’s one-goal advantage in the process.

With 2:17 remaining in the second, Michael Kirkpatrick was able to produce the equalizer for the Sea Dogs, picking up a loose puck in the slot and beating Bernier with a hard, high shot to register his 13th tally of the year with Francois Gauthier and Ryan Sparling picking up assists on the play.

The Sea Dogs continued to apply heavy pressure upon Bernier and the MAINEiacs’ defenders in the closing minutes of the middle frame, accruing a substantial amount of momentum as Sunday’s match reached the forty minute mark with the score tied 1-1.

With Denis Reul sitting in the penalty box, Saint John opened the third period with 1:01 worth of power play time remaining and capitalized on their one man-advantage forty seconds into regulation’s final frame, as Ryan Sparling knocked in a rebound produced by a Scott Howes shot to give the Sea Dogs their first lead of the night in tallying his 27th goal of 2007-08.

At the 8:26 mark of the third, Fullerton came up with a huge glove save on a high wrist shot off the stick of Chris Tutalo, both earning his 24th save of the game and keeping the Sea Dogs ahead on the scoreboard.

The MAINEiacs went on their fifth power play of the game with two minutes remaining in regulation, but the Sea Dogs’ PK unit was able to thwart the visitors’ best scoring attempts yet again, as Fullerton twice stoned Alexander Beaton from point blank range in the final minute of play to hand the defending league champs a 2-1 loss and improve Saint John’s head-to-head record versus Lewiston to 4-3 on the season.

The Sea Dogs will now embark upon a lengthy road trip which will begin on Thursday night in Gatineau, QC. Saint John’s next home game will take place on Wednesday, March 12 at 7:00pm and will see Port City’s major junior squad play host to the PEI Rocket.

[dogcatcher]

Dogs snap four-game skid with solid home victory
Hockey Saint John downs Lewiston 2-1 before heading out on the road for six straight games

Andrew McGilligan
Telegraph-Journal
Published Monday February 25th, 2008
Appeared on page B5

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs won't see Harbour Station ice for nearly three weeks, but picked up a key victory Sunday on home ice with a 2-1 win over the Lewiston Maineiacs.

The Sea Dogs next six games are on the road and goaltender Travis Fullerton said it was important to end the recent losing skid before hitting the road.

"We lost four in a row and everyone on this team hates losing, so it was important to get this win, especially against a team like that," said Fullerton who made 33 saves in the win. "This gives us a boost heading out on the road."

Ryan Sparling scored the game winner for Saint John in front of 4,482 fans at Harbour Station. Michael Kirkpatrick had the first Saint John goal while Jakub Bundil had the lone Lewiston marker.

The Sea Dogs looked sluggish in the first period and didn't register a shot on Lewiston starter Jonathan Bernier until the 9:53 mark. Fullerton faced 10 shots in that time span.

Despite being outshot, the Sea Dogs nearly took the lead when Yann Sauve's point shot hit the post and came to rest in the crease, but was cleared to safety.

Fullerton was strong for Saint John in the first stanza making 13 saves, including a cross-crease head first diving stop to rob Stefano Giliati.

Saint John managed just five shots in the period, despite three power-play opportunities.

The Sea Dogs have been outshot in their last four contests.

The Maineiacs opened the scoring at 9:08 of the second period. Bundil batted the puck out of mid-air and behind Fullerton for a 1-0 Lewiston lead.

Saint John tied the game 1-1 at 17:43 of the middle frame. Kirkpatrick picked up the puck in the slot, fired a wrist shot that was blocked before getting the puck back and wiring a slap shot past Bernier.

The teams entered the third tied 1-1.

The Sea Dogs came out strong to start the third and took the lead 40 seconds into the period. Sparling found the puck on a scramble in front of Bernier and tucked in his 26th goal of the year on the power play for a 2-1 lead.

"It felt pretty good. "¦"‰I was pretty happy with the way we played," Sparling said. "We came out a little flat in the first period, got more shots in the second and came out on fire in the third."

Lewiston thought it had the tying goal when a shot squeezed through Fullerton and danced on the goal line. The play was review and ruled no goal.

Saint John got a two-man advantage with less than five minutes to go in the game. The Sea Dogs didn't capitalize and gave up a power play with less than three minutes to play on a Sparling slashing call.

The Sea Dogs killed the penalty off and held on for the win. In fact, Saint John's penalty kill was the best it's looked in a while killing off all five Maineiacs chances.

The victory keeps the Sea Dogs one point up on the Halifax Mooseheads for top spot in the Eastern division with a record of 37-18-3-3.

SCRATCHES: Saint John forwards Brett Gallant and Steven Anthony were scratched from Sunday's game. Both suffered injuries in the Sea Dogs' 7-1 loss to the Acadie Bathurst Titan on Friday. Gallant hurt his shoulder while Anthony was injured when he was kneed by Saint John native Brad Tesink.

[springer]

Good timing for the Dogs a struggling Lewiston team that only had 10 forwards. I would have liked to have seen a more dominate effort but we will take the win. Too bad we could not have gotten some playing time for the bench as we are going to need them come 7 games in two weeks time. In any case we'll take the W.

[habh8er]

Christina R really belted out the Star Spangled Banner...good job, I'm sure the Lewy fans in the house enjoyed it.

Good game against the MAINEiacs, not amazing but still good. Nice to see the lines clicking on some nice designed plays again.

Sure was a slow starting game, I was half cheering for the penalty on Cusac, and half for the first shot on goal ...they happened on the same play, at 9:53 of the 1st. I don't know whats up with the slow starts but 13-5 in shots in the first ...were lucky it wasn't 4-0 after one.

Fullerton with another win, he played solid all day and his glove was lightnin' fast in warmup and it continued into the game....It must feel good for him to beat Bernier head to head....being that they played together before, and after the faceoff at center ice the last game they played.(Fullerton would have kicked his butt. IMO), but we'll never know.

Great game by David Stich(might be the haircut) he was the "Animal" out there in this one, blocking shots all day and taking and delivering some big hits ....he must be a sore kid today .....good job "Stichy". You gotta get that one timer away during the game, we wanna goal!

Is there any word in the condition of Steve Anthony or Gallant...I heard on the radio during the game a week to 10 days for Gallants shoulder/(hand), but havn't heard a word on Anthony...or anything about the knee by Tesink that put him out.(damn video feed).

Out hit again, out shot again, beat in the faceoff circle again, beat at dangerous shots....but the penalty kill went 5/5 and we got a power play goal and the win. So not that everything is perfect but they got the two points from a tough team from Lewiston, who are always a hard hitting team and always tough to play against. Our guys played good too though.

Going to be a while before they will hit the ice at the station again... 17 days actually, sure will be interesting to see where they are when they return....good road trip and still at or near the top........... or still at 80. This is a tough trip through the telus and into Lewy before finishing up with the Eagles twice b to b.

Good luck boys ...gotta keep good work habits and play smart on the road for any chance to have a shot at first...Go Dogs Go!!