GDT: Sea Dogs at MAINEiacs - February 1, 2008

[robkennedy]

tostitos said:

Rob: Tell us exactly what you saw from your vantage point.

You may have heard me on the broadcast....if you had Tim on (he's great, by the way), check out the archive tomorrow and you can hear exactly what I said. I looked up from the Bernier/Fullerton challenge to see a large number of fans at the awning where the Dogs leave the ice. I called it disgraceful on the air, and stated that fans needed to get out of there--which is true. Regardless of anything else, fans need to be kept clear of player entryways / exits.

Now what started the whole mess, I have no idea. On my way out of the rink, I heard lots of things from people, but you know as well as I do how truth is distorted as a story spreads. I have no clue what's true and what's not. I'll let some folks who saw it up close and personal tell you what they saw, as opposed to speculating about things I didn't.

[sportsmaniac]

I was above the zamboni entrance and taking down my computer so I didn't see what I happen, plus my vantage point I wouldn't of been able to see what happen. I thought the Sea Dogs were displeased with the officials and wouldn't leave the ice as a protest. I walked to the scene, police was talking to coaches and trainers. I couldn't hear what happened as I walked by.

[canucklehead]

Hey Rob thanks for the input and ya called a great game I do enjoy hearing you call games and at least put a decent amount of effort into not being extremely biased and I have no problem with saying your the best in the league at what you do! ;D

It does sound like the arena there has the potential to be very dangerous not just to the players either but what if some young fans are walking by when all this is happening and they get hurt? In assume they are serving alcohol and after a friday night of consuming a fair amount of the ale one sometimes feels superhuman!

I don't blame all Lewiston fans but this needs to be reviewed by the league and the team will need to be held accountable.

[tostitos]

Ultimately, I think nobody will know for certain what caused all of this. We will hear many different stories, but who knows which one will be the truth? No one will know.

Kinda funny when the lights went out, ala the Russia/Canada game in 87 .

[Jason]

Sounds like a wild one.

[dogcatcher]

Maineiacs outscrap Dogs

By Justin Pelletier , Assistant Sports Editor, Online
Saturday, February 2, 2008

LEWISTON - Goals? Check. Hard hits? Plenty of those. Great goaltending? Yep. Penalty shot? Uh huh, had that too.

How about a goalie fight?

Well, almost.

In one of their more complete and entertaining games of the year, Jonathan Bernier made 30 saves and came within 10 seconds of a shutout and captain Marc-Andre Daneau had a goal and an assist to lead the Lewiston Maineiacs to a 3-1 win over division rival Saint John in front of 2,845 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Friday night.

"Our team spirit is up really high right now," forward Stefano Giliati said. "Our team is at an all-time high right now. Everyone is contributing, we stick up for each other and it looks like we have a good rivalry going now."

Bernier's biggest test came in the third period, when he stopped two breakaways by league-leading scorer Chris DiDomenico, including one on a penalty shot with 1:28 to play in the game.

"If we had to pick anyone on our team to have two breakaways, it would be him," Saint John coach Jacques Beaulieu said. "He's going up against a world-class goaltender, and Jonathan Bernier is a great goalie.

Following the game, tensions boiled over between the two teams after they combined for four fights in the final 22 minutes of the game. Brett Gallant went after Giliati, which drew a crowd and resulted in two fights, and then Lewiston's Marc Bourgeois went after DiDomenico, which added to the fire.

"I thought that was pretty cheap of (Maineiacs coach) Ed (Harding), honestly," Beaulieu said. "Sending Bourgeois after DiDomenico was pretty cheap."

Jonathan Bernier and Travis Fullerton, a former Maineiac who made 42 saves Friday in the loss, even circled at center ice after time expired, but thought better of it after being reminded by officals that any fight after time expires results in an automatic suspension.

"I didn't think he really wanted to go," Fullerton said. "It looked like (Danick) Paquette jumped (Matthew) Stoddard, so I said (expletive) it, let's go."


"I asked him all game long and he didn't want to," Bernier said. "All of a sudden I looked and he was there in the middle. I went, but there was no time left."

As Saint John exited its bench after the game was over, some fans started yelling at the players. According to police on the scene, things escalated into a shouting match, and, briefly, a shoving match.

"It didn't look like there was enough security there, and everybody was getting involved with the players," Bealieu said. "The police officers were there also. It was just getting out of control. we got there and got everybody into the room and settled things down."

At least 10 police officers responded to the scene, which kept fans waiting to use the hallway for several minutes. Officers met with the team's coaching staff afterward to iron things out.

Back in the first period, Lewiston pounded Fullerton with 13 shots in the first 7:09, and got on the board with that 13th shot to take a 1-0 lead. Danick Paquette scored his fourth goal in two games after chasing down what was nearly an iced puck in the Saint John end. He absorbed a hit and bounced back to the front. The puck squirted free to the right post, where Paquette lifted it over Fullerton's shoulder to put the Maineiacs ahead, 1-0.

"We could have had two, maybe three goals in the first," Guay said. (Fullerton) played well for them."

Saint John recovered a bit later in the period, getting a total of eight shots on Bernier, including a breakaway by the league's leading scorer, Chris DiDomenico, but despite the lack of action, Bernier remained sharp.

"It was tough, but I knew it was a big game and I tried to make the saves when I had the chance to keep my team in the game. They scored at the end, but at least we still got the two points."

Thanks to a late first-period penalty to Saint John, Lewiston started the second with a power play. It took just 28 seconds for captain Marc-Andre Daneau to capitalize, getting his ninth of the season when his cross-ice feed hit Fullerton in the pad and bounced into the net.

Stefan Chaput scored a highlight-reel goal later in the period to push the Maineiacs' lead to 3-0. Daneau made a great play to keep the puck in off his shoulder on the left halfboards and got the puck to Chaput via air mail at the right post. Chaput put the puck down and tried to stuff it short-side, but Fullerton was there. He then spun around the back of the net and, off-balance, tucked the puck inside the left post on his backhand.

[canucklehead]

mvn.com/qmjhl-maineiacs/

According to this there was a fight between a Sea Dog player not sure who and a supposed fan not sure fan is the word I would choose for this clown maybe ..... Complete Moron!

I have no idea how they could ever allow fans to be that close to the players anyway. That is absolutely insane that people can get that close they really need to figure out to fix that problem right away!

I'd love to see this match up at some point in the playoffs I think the Dogs would be able to tame these MAINEiacs it was pretty clear with the icetime from guys like Grant that something was up for sure.

My highlight was Dido's fight although Fullerton kickin Bernier's ass would have been pretty funny too

[hockeyrules]

The players room is about 15 feet from the bench, the players stopped in the runway to confront the fans in the stands their seats no one was blocking their access to the locker room so give it a rest.

[superhal]

Whoa. Just watched the archive... crazy stuff. There were a lot of flashes going off... it would be interesting some still shots of the post-game melee with the fans.

[lewytown]

Hi Guys,
I will give you my recap as I was right in the hallway when everything went down. Nobody blocked the entrance to the Sea Dogs locker room. There is two security people at both ends of the hallway and also one police officer that stop people from going into the hallway. What happened were fans were teasing the players as the exited from the bench. Mostly Sparling was the only player that kind of lost it and wanted to confront some of the fans that were doing the instigating. A teenager got involved on the backside closer to the locker room and a pushing match started. One of the cops stepped in and a player...not sure who, pushed the cop, At that point the cop grabbed the player and one of the coaches...smaller guy..dark hair...not sure if he was the head coach or not, but started telling the officer he was a disgrace to the city of Lewiston for attacking the player. Iagree the officer went a bit overboard. I did not see anyone get put in cuffs at all. Sparling went nuts and his teammates kept him from going after the fans. There was a total of 8 police officers that blocked the entire hallway off until the incident became under control. I think mostly it was a frustration part on the players and it didn't help the fans were teasing them after they left the ice, but nobody hit the players or blocked their dressing room. One of the coaches was calling for Gallant to get out there, but I never saw him come out of the dressing room. Most of the fans in Lewiston have class, just a few bad apples just like in any arena. There was one lady who really got to them as they were leaving the bench..and they all wanted a peice of her. At one point Sparling was trying to hit her with is helmet. I think Stich grabbed him and tried to calm him down. It was interesting to say the least.

[tostitos]

Thanks for the recap lewytown.

It must have been "Sea Dogs get roughed around by the authority night". Linesman Dean Gilbert manhandled Alex Grant and now the police. lol.

[canucklehead]

hockeyrules said:

The players room is about 15 feet from the bench, the players stopped in the runway to confront the fans in the stands their seats no one was blocking their access to the locker room so give it a rest.

We were try'n to get some info from people and that's all we heard up to Lewytown giving us an actual rundown of the events and thanks for that

Now you can give it a rest!

[tostitos]

I'm glad a bus trip wasn't scheduled for this game, I'm sure quite a few people would end up in jail. (Frank, major, just to name a few )

[playoffbound]

Can't believe the 3 STARS!!!!!! Fully stood on his head last night, could have been 10-2. Didn't even get a star? WTF? He was by far the best player on the ice for both teams.

[tostitos]

The 3 stars are a joke wiht every single team in this league. They don't mean squat.