GDT: Sea Dogs vs Mooseheads - November 8, 2007

[dogcatcher]

SEA DOGS FALL TO MOOSEHEADS 6-5 IN OVERTIME

Scott Howes Registers Four Points In a Losing Effort for Saint John

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Thursday, November 8, 2007

SAINT JOHN, NB --- The Saint John Sea Dogs and Halifax Mooseheads squared off in an old-fashioned barn burner on Thursday night, combining for eleven goals in a back-and-forth affair that saw a tremendous amount of action taking place all over the ice.

After falling behind 2-0 early in the match, Saint John fought back to take a 5-3 lead early on in the third period; the Mooseheads refused to roll over however, tallying the game’s next three goals to take the match 6-5 in overtime.

Scott Howes (2), Chris DiDomencio, Keven Charland, and Alex Grant all scored for the Sea Dogs on Thursday, while Jacub Voracek, Tomas Knotek, Bryce Swan, Ryan Hillier, and Justin Pender all registered goals for Halifax.

The Mooseheads struck first on Thursday, with Justin Pender beating starting Saint John goaltender Robert Mayer 1:05 into the first period to give the visitors an early 1-0 advantage. Halifax doubled their lead 1:49 later when Bryce Swan redirected a Logan MacMillan pass to the back of the Sea Dogs net, earning his 11th tally of the season in the process.

Scott Howes then put Saint John on the scoreboard at the 7:34 mark of the game, undressing a Halifax defender prior to putting on a clinic in stick handling as he impressively out-manoeuvred Mooseheads goalie Pier-Olivier Pelletier, finishing the play off with a high shot to the blocker side to earn his sixth goal of the season.

Keven Charland nearly tied things up a moment later, coming up just short on a breakaway attempt as the Sea Dogs continued to apply heavy offensive pressure upon the Mooseheads.

Near the thirteen minute mark of the first, Mayer stoned Halifax winger Shawn O’Donnell with a huge pad save, keeping his team within immediate striking distance of the visitors in doing so.

With 12.4 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Howes scored for a second time, taking a pass from Alexander Leduc next to the Halifax goal crease and firing a one-timer to the back of the net to send the game into the first intermission with the score knotted at two apiece.

Saint John took their first lead of the night 1:22 into the second period, as, on the power play, Alex Grant fired a high wrist shot from just inside the blue line that eluded Pelletier and earned the Sea Dogs Captain his fourth goal of 2007-08.

Four minutes later, Keven Charland put the home team up by two, beating Pelletier with a nifty backhand shot to improve his goal total to six on the year.

Justin Pender then scored for a second time on Thursday, unleashing a rocket of a snap shot from ten feet out that beat Mayer high and pulled the Mooseheads to within one of the Sea Dogs’ lead.

Pender’s tally proved to be the final goal of the middle frame, and Thursday’s match reached the forty minute mark with Saint John leading by a score of 4-3.

The Sea Dogs registered an insurance tally 1:25 into the third period, as Ryan Sparling netted his seventh goal of the season with Matthew Stoddard and Chris DiDomenico earning assists on the successful scoring play.

Halifax then tied the match at five on the strength of two quick goals in the middle of the period, with Jacub Voracek and Ryan Hiller scoring 0:14 apart to make the score 5-5 and send the game into overtime.

The Mooseheads wasted little time in prducing the winner in the extra period, as Tomas Knotek beat Mayer at the 60:23 mark of the game, handing the Sea Dogs a disappointing loss in front of their home fans.

The Sea Dogs next hit the ice on Saturday night when they play host to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens at Harbour Station. Game time is set for 7:00pm.

[habh8er]

Well that was a real entertaining game to watch, even though we lost in the end it was a real high paced game and both teams came to play. After we went down early on those two weak goals I thought we were done, but as has been the case all year the boys turned it around and made a game out of it. What the hell is the deal with Mayer one game he's the wall the next he's the cheese..OK maybe thats a little harsh but come on Robert the first one was bad and the second was worse, two goals on three shots in less than three mins. but he did make up for it in the end, not a bad game from him ...just a real shaky start.

It was nice to see the twenty's have a good night, six points between them, and two goals for Howes...I had my hat ready to go over the glass, but it was not meant to be....any howe great game from Scotty. Right from the opening faceoff you could tell he was ready to go...threw a couple of good hits and was really flying out there.

Not to take anything from the Mooseheads....but that goal that was reviewed should not have counted. I was standing right even with the goal line and had a real good look at that one. It was a real solid effort from Voracek he drove to the net and kept battling, but the net was clearly off when the puck went in under the post...the net was at least 4 inches off the ice after it was bumped and the puck went in when it was up off the ice....why they have reviews when they don't have the camera angles to make the call is beyond me....you're not going to be able to make that call with the overhead view, which is all they have to go on from what I was told. Then they come right down the ice and score another one to tie it up 17 seconds later.... uggggh, that took the wind right outa me, I can only imagine how the players felt.

Congrats to Dido on keeping the point streak alive....you da man Dido.

Oh well we'll have to be happy with the point, and take it out on Sebastian Rioux and the Sags. on Saturday night....really good game to watch tonight....but we should have beat them!!

[habh8er]

I forgot to mention the special teams play.....the power play clicks for one and the penalty kill puts another goose egg on the board...that pk is something to talk about......the pp not so much, but good to get one more pp goal to add to the collection tonight.

Anybody hear about Liske's status, or what the problem is...hopefully He and Amyot will be back soon.

[elementz]

Mayer had no chance on the 1st goal, Mayer had it read all the way and Sauve redirected it at the last second. I had a perfect view of that goal. Either way Mayer didn't play bad, but he didn't play great.

[habh8er]

elementz said:

Mayer had no chance on the 1st goal, Mayer had it read all the way and Sauve redirected it at the last second. I had a perfect view of that goal. Either way Mayer didn't play bad, but he didn't play great.

I'll take your word on the first one, I didn't catch the deflection.....like I said he made up for it in the end.... How many shots did he take off the head seemed like 4 or 5 in the second...can't mistake that sound of puck hitting face mask...damn goalies have to have a screw loose to let people shoot pucks at their heads and continue to play the position...I'd have my eyes closed after the first one ....kinda' like I do playing defence in the good ol' beer league .

[dogcatcher]

Mooseheads turn tide on Sea Dogs

QMJHL Third-period comeback helps Halifax defeat Saint John in OT

Andrew McGilligan
Telegraph-Journal
Published Friday November 9th, 2007
Appeared on page B10

SAINT JOHN - A night after making a three-goal comeback to win in Moncton, the Saint John Sea Dogs had the script flipped Thursday.

The Halifax Mooseheads came from two-down in the third period to post a 6-5 overtime win over Saint John in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

Tomas Knotek had the OT-winner for Halifax. Justin Pender notched two goals for the Mooseheads while Bryce Swan, Jakub Voracek and Ryan Hillier had one apiece.

Scott Howes had a pair of goals for the Sea Dogs while Alex Grant, Keven Charland and Ryan Sparling had one goal each.

Pender, the game's first star, said the coaches lit a fire under the Mooseheads during the second intermission.

"The coaches came in, told us to wake up, start playing and forget about that period," he said.

As for scoring his first two goals of the season, Pender said he wasn't expecting it.

"It feels pretty good to contribute tonight, I really wasn't expecting to score two, but I'll take it."

The Mooseheads struck first just over a minute into the first period. A shot from the point by Pender beat Sea Dogs starter Robert Mayer on the blocker side.

Halifax wasted no time adding to the lead. At 2:54, Swan squeaked a shot through the pads of Mayer for a 2-0 Mooseheads lead. The goal was a short-handed marker.

Unlike Wednesday's comeback in Moncton, the Sea Dogs didn't wait for two periods to respond. Alexandre Picard, from his knees, fed a pass to Howes who eluded a defender and made a great deke before firing the puck over the blocker of Mooseheads starter Pier-Olivier Pelletier.

The goalies were under siege in the first as both teams racked up quality scoring chances.

Saint John would tie the game 2-2 with 12 seconds left in the first. Howes took a pass at the side of the goal from Alexandre Leduc and wasted no time roofing it over Pelletier for his second of the contest.

The Sea Dogs took the lead just over a minute into the second on the power play. Alex Grant fired a wrist shot that had eyes and eluded the glove of Pelletier for a 3-2 Sea Dogs lead.

The lead increased to 4-2 when Charland broke down the wing, held off a defender and slid a backhand past Pelletier at 5:55 of the second. The tally chased Pelletier from the game as Mark Yetman took over the goaltending duties.

Howes picked up an assist on the goal for his fourth point of the night tying a club record.

Halifax cut the lead to 4-3 at the midway mark of the second.

Pender blocked a clearing attempt, moved in on goal and ripped a shot over the glove of Mayer for his second of the game.

The trend of scoring early in a period continued in the third. Sparling finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Matthew Stoddard and Chris Di Domenico at 1:25 for a 5-3 Saint John lead. The assist extended Di Domenico's point streak to 10 games.

Saint John's lead was reduced to 5-4 at 11:07 of the final frame. Voracek jammed a puck past Mayer on a scramble at the side of the goal.

Halifax would tie the game 17 seconds later when Hillier tipped in a point shot from Pender.

That goal would force the game in overtime.

Just 35 seconds into the extra period, Knotek found himself all alone in front of the Sea Dogs goal.

The rookie wasted no time firing a shot into the top corner and over the glove of Mayer.

"You play with fire you get burned," said Sea Dogs head coach and general manager Jacques Beaulieu about giving up the lead.

"It was a pretty quick hockey game, fast paced. We did a lot of good things out there, but unfortunately they came up with the two points."

With the win Halifax improves to 13-3-0-4 while the Sea Dogs fall to 12-5-1-2.

INJURIES: Sea Dogs forward Payton Liske missed his second straight game with an ankle injury while defenceman Pascal Amyot missed his fourth game in a row with a sore shoulder.

HONOURS: Saint John captain Alex Grant was named the Sea Dogs player of the month while Payton Liske was named the scholastic player of the month. Yann Sauve, Simon Despres, Chris Di Domenico and Grant were honoured before Thursday's game for being selected to the QMJHL roster for the upcoming Canada/Russia Challenge. The games will be played Nov. 19 in Chicoutimi and Nov. 21 in Gatineau.

[reddogbluedog]

Halifax are a more physical team and they really picked it up in the third. Hard to feel sorry for the Dogs though when they had fresh legs sitting on the bench that can play that type of game. You could see the boys starting to lose their legs when Halifax made it 4 - 3. Just my opinion but there were guys that saw little ice that could have helped us a lot. I think we only had 3 shots in the third and that should have told JB something. Saturday should not have the intensity that this one did but I hope the boys keep the pedal down. Good one point but we let that one get away.

[joey]

reddogbluedog said:

Halifax are a more physical team and they really picked it up in the third. Hard to feel sorry for the Dogs though when they had fresh legs sitting on the bench that can play that type of game. You could see the boys starting to lose their legs when Halifax made it 4 - 3. Just my opinion but there were guys that saw little ice that could have helped us a lot. I think we only had 3 shots in the third and that should have told JB something. Saturday should not have the intensity that this one did but I hope the boys keep the pedal down. Good one point but we let that one get away.

Have to agree with you dog. Got the 5-3 lead rolling the 4 lines and stoped in the third we looked tired. When you think of it Halifax jumped into the 2-0 before the 3rd and 4th line hit the ice.You would think we would be thinking defense with a 2 goal lead late in the third period. Good job getting the 1 point from a very good Halifax team and hopfully we learn from it .