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Post by berner on Jan 24, 2008 23:36:40 GMT -4
Good thing JB went with Fullerton tonight and not Passingham like some posters were wishing/predicting. Would have been a loss.
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Post by canucklehead on Jan 25, 2008 0:00:01 GMT -4
Good thing JB went with Fullerton tonight and not Passingham like some posters were wishing/predicting. Would have been a loss. I'm thinking maybe it was mostly because Amyot was less then 100% and Sauve wasn't ready to thin on D to bail him out |
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Post by ontariohockeyfan on Jan 25, 2008 0:26:37 GMT -4
Congrats on another Seadog win ugly or not a win is a win.Noticed the attendence tonight was only 2937 was the weather bad there or do the fans of this team do not realise what they have. Here is a team tied for 3rd overall and have 4 games in hand with leader Baie-Comeau and only 5 points behind them and a good chance of finishing first overall.To bad here is a good team that plays their guts out for your fans .If the weather was the problem for the small attendence I appolgise but if not well then you must have a problem down there . If your fans are serious about this team get them out and support them they would love to play to a full house as they should especially at this time of year.
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Post by Judas In My Mind on Jan 25, 2008 1:05:31 GMT -4
OntarioHockeyFan:
We never draw good during the week. Tonight was terrible though. I think some regulars just figured it would be a blow out and never showed up. I'm pissed at how bad the attendance was though as it was terrible even for a weekday, but I'm more curious about what the number will be showing up for Saturday's game versus the Foggies.
You may think there is a good chance of finishing first overall, but I disagree. I love our team. I think they play great hockey, but there is a big difference between playing at home and playing on the road, especially for this year's team. We are nowhere near as good on the road and February/March is loaded with road games. Our winning percentage is going to drop somewhat. To stay up there with Halifax, Baie Comeau and Rouyn Noranda, we'd have to keep winning at a steady clip. I don't see that happening.
In summary, I don't agree with your statement that we have a good chance of finishing first overall, given our schedule. Our attendance is always down during the week, but I do agree that tonight's showing was terrible. Let's see how Saturday goes.
Edit: By the way the weather was fine. Very cold out but no snow or anything.
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Post by ontariohockeyfan on Jan 25, 2008 7:03:06 GMT -4
Leaskismyhero thanks for the reply.Hopefully Saturdays crowd is better would like to see your attendence shown as 5000 plus.GO Seahawks GO
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Post by tostitos on Jan 25, 2008 7:08:03 GMT -4
Leaskismyhero thanks for the reply.Hopefully Saturdays crowd is better would like to see your attendence shown as 5000 plus.GO Seahawks GO Since when are we a Senior 'A' team playing out of St. Stephen?  |
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Post by dogcatcher on Jan 25, 2008 7:14:47 GMT -4
Sea Dogs just squeak past last-place Drummondville
Hockey: 'We were probably lucky coming out in the win column in this one,' captain says
Andrew McGilligan
Telegraph-Journal
Published Friday January 25th, 2008
Appeared on page B7
SAINT JOHN - On paper it shouldn't have been close.
The Saint John Sea Dogs ranked as one of the 10 best junior teams in Canada narrowly defeated the Drummondville Voltigeurs - the last place team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League - 5-4 on Thursday in front 2,937 fans at Harbour Station.
Ryan Sparling, Michael Kirkpatrick, Alexandre Leduc, Scott Howes and Francois Gauthier scored for Saint John. Michael Dupont had two goals for the Voltigeurs, while Mike Hoffman and Remy Lamoreux added singles.
Sea Dogs captain Alex Grant said the team wasn't mentally prepared for the Voltigeurs.
"We came into this one not expecting as hard a game as we got into and took it a little lightly," said Grant. "You can't do that because they're a hard-working team and just aren't getting the breaks this year, same as us last year."
"We were probably lucky coming out in the win column in this one."
The teams played a wide-open style of hockey from the opening faceoff. The first minute of the game saw Voltigeur forward Philippe Lefebvre break in on Sea Dogs starter Travis Fullerton. The veteran netminder did the splits across the crease to get a pad on the rookie's chance.
At the other end, Whitney native Nathan Dunnett was peppered with shots by Saint John. The Voltigeurs goalie was traded by the Sea Dogs to Drummondville earlier this season to complete the deal for forward Scott Howes.
If not for Dunnett, Drummondville would've been lost in the first. The rookie goalie was great throughout the period turning aside all 12 Saint John shots.
Fullerton made 10 saves in the opening period to keep the game scoreless.
The Sea Dogs solved Dunnett at 6:54 of the second on a milestone goal for Sparling. The 19-year-old forward came out from the half boards on the power play and wristed a shot from the slot past Dunnett. The goal was the 19th of the season for Sparling, a new career high.
Drummondville tied the game just past the midway mark of the second. Off a defensive zone faceoff, Dupont raced out of the zone and in alone before snapping a shot over the glove of Fullerton to square the game 1-1.
The Voltigeurs took a 2-1 lead at 13:51 when Dupont pounced on a rebound and fired in his second of the game.
The lead lasted for 45 seconds.
Keven Charland circled the Drummondville goal before throwing the puck out front where Kirkpatrick knocked it in to tie the contest 2-2.
The back-and-forth second period continued when Grant's point shot was tipped in by Leduc at 18:45. The marker gave the Sea Dogs a 3-2 lead through 40 minutes of play and set another milestone.
Alexandre Picard drew an assist on the Leduc marker for his 300th career point in the QMJHL.
Saint John made it a 4-2 game at 4:57 of the third period. Howes corralled a rebound at the side of the goal and jammed it behind Dunnett.
The Sea Dogs increased the lead to three less than a minute later. A David Stich point shot squeezed through the pads and settled in the crease where Gauthier dove to knock it into the open cage for a 5-2 lead.
"I saw Sparling put it back to the point and I know Stich has a good shot, so I went to the net and I saw it sit there so I just dove to push it in," Gauthier said of the eventual game winner.
Drummondville got one back at 12: 34 of the final frame on a backhand by Lamoreux to cut the lead to two.
The Sea Dogs didn't take a penalty until the final six minutes of the game when Gauthier and Stich took minors 20 seconds apart.
The penalties cost Saint John as Hoffman blasted a slapshot past Fullerton on the two-man advantage to make it 5-4.
The late parade to the box continued in the final two minutes of the game as the Sea Dogs took a bench minor for too many men on the ice.
Despite some close calls, Saint John held on for the win and reclaimed first place in the Eastern division with 66 points, one better than the Halifax Mooseheads.
The Sea Dogs next game is Saturday when they host the St. John's Fog Devils in a 7 p.m. start at Harbour Station.
SCRATCHED: Saint John defenceman Yann Sauve and goaltender Robert Mayer were scratched from the lineup Thursday against Drummondville. The duo were returning from Edmonton where they played in the Canadian Hockey League's Top Prospects game.
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Post by J4M13 on Jan 25, 2008 8:22:29 GMT -4
Dunnett played well. He made a couple brilliant saves.
The too many men call was cheap. Charland clearly avoided playing the puck, looked up, and saw Gauthier through the gate before he played it. But it was close to him, so I guess the linesman is within his rights to call it. Not a bad call, just a questionable one.
Sea Dogs won this game by playing 6 or 7 minutes of good hockey, and coasting through the rest. Definitely not a good way to go, but the bottom line is the same, whether you win 5-4 or 12-6.
Can't wait till the D is all back and healthy. Dogs played the majority of the game with 4 D.
What's with Despres's skates? He has some sick moves, and I can't wait to see him as an 18 or 19 year old in this league, but right now he seems to fall down a lot when he's trying to turn or stop quickly.
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Post by batterydude on Jan 25, 2008 8:43:53 GMT -4
That was the worst display I have ever seen at Harbour Station; and I sure don't mean the Seadogs; I mean the FANS. First of all; under 3000, for a first place team, unbelievable! Can people not cheer when Fully makes a great save; or Grant a great rush. There were 4 women in my section that were Dunnett's fans (from Miramichi) that made more noise than my whole section. Then Picard Hooper gets his 300 point and 16 people in the rink cheer; WTF is with that; it's not like you can play 10 years in the Q. These old F'ers that sit behind me just sit there and crap on Grant and any other of our players every nite.
They say that the fans can be like having another player on the ice. For the Seadogs; playing at HS must be like having a man in the box!!
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Post by J4M13 on Jan 25, 2008 9:06:36 GMT -4
That was the worst display I have ever seen at Harbour Station; and I sure don't mean the Seadogs; I mean the FANS. First of all; under 3000, for a first place team, unbelievable! Can people not cheer when Fully makes a great save; or Grant a great rush. There were 4 women in my section that were Dunnett's fans (from Miramichi) that made more noise than my whole section. Then Picard Hooper gets his 300 point and 16 people in the rink cheer; WTF is with that; it's not like you can play 10 years in the Q. These old F'ers that sit behind me just sit there and crap on Grant and any other of our players every nite. They say that the fans can be like having another player on the ice. For the Seadogs; playing at HS must be like having a man in the box!! I agree, it was dead as dead can be last night. As soon as they announced the changes to the scoring and that Picard-Hoooper got #300, my friends and I stood and cheered. I looked around, and it's like no one even knew what was going on. |
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Post by Judas In My Mind on Jan 25, 2008 9:08:46 GMT -4
What's with Despres's skates? He has some sick moves, and I can't wait to see him as an 18 or 19 year old in this league, but right now he seems to fall down a lot when he's trying to turn or stop quickly. Just noticing that now? It applies to a lot of our players, not just Despres. Watch for the next few games how many times our guys fall down just from...skating, turning, stopping, etc. Compare it to how many times the visitors have the same happen. We hit the ice a lot more often than that visitor's, and thats on our home ice, so I doubt we can blame ice conditions as we'd be use to our own ice more than the road team, and thus should be falling less, if it was just bad ice. I think it's the skates personally. A few of us even have a running semi-serious joke going about Sea Dogs skate sharpening. Maybe they let Belliveau sharpen a few sets every so often or something. ;D |
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Post by Judas In My Mind on Jan 25, 2008 9:12:44 GMT -4
That was the worst display I have ever seen at Harbour Station; and I sure don't mean the Seadogs; I mean the FANS. First of all; under 3000, for a first place team, unbelievable! Can people not cheer when Fully makes a great save; or Grant a great rush. There were 4 women in my section that were Dunnett's fans (from Miramichi) that made more noise than my whole section. Then Picard Hooper gets his 300 point and 16 people in the rink cheer; WTF is with that; it's not like you can play 10 years in the Q. These old F'ers that sit behind me just sit there and crap on Grant and any other of our players every nite. They say that the fans can be like having another player on the ice. For the Seadogs; playing at HS must be like having a man in the box!! I agree, it was dead as dead can be last night. As soon as they announced the changes to the scoring and that Picard-Hoooper got #300, my friends and I stood and cheered. I looked around, and it's like no one even knew what was going on. I know I clapped for Hooper's 300th point. Littlewolf too. a couple other people in our section did as well, but yeah most people just carried on like nothing happened. Congrats to Alexandre Picard-Hooper. Now get to 350 before the end of year. ;D |
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Post by reddogbluedog on Jan 25, 2008 9:26:56 GMT -4
We can look back now and say a good thing Passingham did not start but there is no way that if this kid is being taken seriously that he should not have played against the worst team in the league. Even if we lost the game it really would not have meant a heck of a lot. Then the Drummondville coach has the balls enough to put Dunnett in net against potentially the highest scoring team in the league once games equal out. Would have been nice to see JB show the same confidence in our kid but winning has taken the place of development. Dunnett actually looked pretty good and he had the fans around me more excited than our team's play last night did. Too bad he did not stick with the Thomas, Anthony and Stoddard line a bit more as I think that could be a line for the future.
For attendance the biggest determining factor could have been exams in the high schools. From my family alone including relatives there were 8 regular attendees not there because they had to write on Friday. Any kid writing exams all week would maybe have other plans besides a Sea Dogs game as well. Plus with the turnaround days in the schools I know a bunch of people headed to the US skiing that usually show up as well. I hate to tell people this but there is more to life than a game against Drummondville.
In any case a lucky win over a poor team but we'll take it. First place must be on JB's mind that is all I can say.
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Post by ontariohockeyfan on Jan 25, 2008 11:45:15 GMT -4
sorry Frank for the wrong wording should have read Seadogs not
Seahawks sorry for the mistake.
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