Exhibition Game 5: Saint John @ Acadie Bathurst

[Judas In My Mind]

I am. I'll only hit him once though. Welcome to the bus type deal. He'd best sit far from the guy with the Leask jersey carrying two coolers full of beer. ;D

[Steeler1]

I just got home from a very good game. The Seadogs came on strong and tied the game and it looked like they were about to take the lead. Desnoyers had a good open ice hit on a Seadog and Pisano decided to settle the score. I don't know why. It wasn't a dirty hit. Anyway, Desnoyers didn't want to fight so Pisano ended up with an extra five for instigator and 10 for an untied sweater/jersey. What's the deal with Mayer? He's wearing a Euro patch on his helmet which looks like the ones worn in Euro tournaments. He's only 17. Is he from Europe?

[bjindaho]

Yeah, we took him 3rd overall in the past import draft.

[dogcatcher]

TITAN DEFEAT SEA DOGS 4-2
Rookie Defenseman Simon Despres Registers Two Assists in Road Loss

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, September 7, 2007

BATHURST, NB --- The Saint John Sea Dogs suffered their first regulation loss of the pre-season on Friday night, dropping a 4-2 decision to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre in northern New Brunswick.

In an extremely physical contest that saw a grand total of 35 penalty minutes being assessed by officials, special teams wound up playing a huge factor in the outcome of the match; Acadie-Bathurst converted on two of their three power play chances on the night while Saint John capitalized just once on six opportunities.

“We had our chances out there tonight but just couldn’t get a goal when we needed one,” said Assistant Coach Jim Midgely following the loss. “Full marks to the Titan, they played well tonight. We’ve got one more exhibition game before the regular season starts, and we’ll definitely be looking to rebound from this loss with a strong effort against these guys back at Harbour Station on Sunday.”

Simon Despres, the Sea Dogs’ top pick at June’s QMJHL Entry Draft continued his strong pre-season play on Friday night, assisting on both of Saint John’s goals while registering a rating of +1 and logging substantial playing time in a variety of situations. Francis Charland and Nicolas Pard each registered one goal apiece in Friday’s loss while Francois Gauthier led all Sea Dogs forwards with 3 SOG on the night.

The Titan scored the game’s first goal on Friday, with Tomas Svoboda netting a power play tally at the 13:07 mark of the opening period. Eric Faille doubled the Bathurst lead 3:55 later, beating starting Sea Dogs goaltender Robert Mayer with a well-placed shot to earn his second goal of the pre-season. Titan net minder Tommy Legault played exceptionally well in the first period, turning aside all eight Sea Dogs shots he faced to give his team a two-goal advantage entering the first intermission despite some quality chances for the visitors throughout the opening twenty minutes.

Saint John’s offence continued to apply heavy pressure in Acadie-Bathurst’s zone early in the second period, registering six shots on goal in the opening six minutes, all of which were turned aside by Legault. Francis Charland finally got the Sea Dogs on the scoreboard at the 7:12 mark of the middle frame, scoring on the power play to earn his fourth goal of the past three matches and pull his team to within one of the Titan lead.

Nicolas Pard tied the match for Saint John with a goal at the 15:07 mark of the second, but the home team re-acquired the lead shortly thereafter, as Faille’s second goal of the night gave Acadie-Bathurst a 3-2 lead as the second period came to an end.

An unassisted tally off the stick of Tomas Svoboda 2:32 into the third period gave the Titan an insurance marker early in regulation’s final frame. The Titan were able to hold on from there, as the Sea Dogs were unable to get anything past Legault in the third period. The 19-year old stopped all six shots he faced in the final frame to earn the victory in front of 1,431 fans at the Titan’s home arena.

Robert Mayer played all sixty minutes in net for Saint John on Friday night, marking the first time the import goaltender has played a full game during the exhibition schedule. The 17-year old made 28 saves in the match, 14 of which came in the third period as he kept his team in the game with a series of impressive saves late in the match.

The Sea Dogs wrap up their exhibition schedule on Sunday when they host the Titan in an afternoon affair at Harbour Station.

[Porkchop]

Your best players tonight were Simon Despres and Robert Mayer.....your 16 year old is very solid in his own end and works the point well on the pp......Mayer made some very good saves throughout the whole game and really held them in it in the 3rd, when the Titan turned it up a notch......

[seahawk]

I was really impressed by the play of Despres, by far your best player last night. He is gonna be scary as an 18 after a few years but IMO will NOT be a liability out there until he is ready to dominate.

[seahawk]

Another thing I noticed is that Mayer is very active in regards to playing the puck...almost got him into trouble on a few plays but his athleticism enabled him to get back to his net in time.

On the goals against him..
1- Svoboda was passing to front of net from corner and the puck hit Mayers skate and went in. He moved off the post a little quick and it cost him.

2- Faille picked up the puck behind Seadogs goal, skated to corner untouched into the slot then put a pretty good snapshot about a foot off the ice blocker side just off the post. There was a deleayed penalty being called and one of our defensemen were pinching in for a pass. Look like Mayer anticipated the pass and cheated a bit to his left.

3- Faille picked up a loose puck at the corner of the net and scored into a pretty much open cage. We had an extra attacker on ice again on a delayed penalty call.

4- prettiest goal as Svoboda undresses a dman behind net and comes out around 4-5 feet from cage and puts a backhand that catches the opposite post (if it didn't hit post was as close to a post as could be without hitting it) and goes in.

[habh8er]

Sounds as if the dogs played a respectable road game last night....looks like the titan may have gotten the early lead on us ...same as LEWI. did on Wed. night...but the SEA DOGS were able to fight back, and get back into it.. says something in its self,as this team seems to be ready to play till the final buzzer and doesn't look like a roll over when it gets tough kind of group(seen enough of that the 1st year and1/2)...as far as Pisano goes he's gotta play tough..but that doesn't mean to be stupid...the opportunities will come to prove himself...but not if he is a liability, giving odd man advantages doesn't go over too well with the coaches.

[canucklehead]

habh8er said:

Sounds as if the dogs played a respectable road game last night....looks like the titan may have gotten the early lead on us ...same as LEWI. did on Wed. night...but the SEA DOGS were able to fight back, and get back into it.. says something in its self,as this team seems to be ready to play till the final buzzer and doesn't look like a roll over when it gets tough kind of group(seen enough of that the 1st year and1/2)...as far as Pisano goes he's gotta play tough..but that doesn't mean to be stupid...the opportunities will come to prove himself...but not if he is a liability, giving odd man advantages doesn't go over too well with the coaches.

Pisano has to be smarter the guys had the mojo goin after coming back from 2 goals down then he takes a 5 minute major you simply can't take bad penalties like that. I know he felt he was sticking up for a team mate but he obviously crossed the line and it ended up costing a goal and all the momentum the team had built up. No doubt he felt he was doing the right thing but you can't attack a guy if he doesn't wanna fight ya.

This is where they could use a guy like Gallant he knows a thing or 2 about fighting and what to do in different types of enforcer situations. Sounds like Pisano could use a tutor

[Jason]

The hit that Desnoyer had was a very good open ice hit but i can understand Pisano trying to be the enforcer in suck a situation, but when Desnoyer didnt want to fight, he should of just given him a shove instread of trying to continue the fight. Oh well, it worked out well for my team . overall I think that both teams did well. I noticed that the fore-check was really good for the Sea dogs.

[killer]

canucklehead said:

habh8er said:

Sounds as if the dogs played a respectable road game last night....looks like the titan may have gotten the early lead on us ...same as LEWI. did on Wed. night...but the SEA DOGS were able to fight back, and get back into it.. says something in its self,as this team seems to be ready to play till the final buzzer and doesn't look like a roll over when it gets tough kind of group(seen enough of that the 1st year and1/2)...as far as Pisano goes he's gotta play tough..but that doesn't mean to be stupid...the opportunities will come to prove himself...but not if he is a liability, giving odd man advantages doesn't go over too well with the coaches.

Pisano has to be smarter the guys had the mojo goin after coming back from 2 goals down then he takes a 5 minute major you simply can't take bad penalties like that. I know he felt he was sticking up for a team mate but he obviously crossed the line and it ended up costing a goal and all the momentum the team had built up. No doubt he felt he was doing the right thing but you can't attack a guy if he doesn't wanna fight ya.

This is where they could use a guy like Gallant he knows a thing or 2 about fighting and what to do in different types of enforcer situations. Sounds like Pisano could use a tutor

Give me a fricken break, this was the perfect time for Pisano to step up and send a message to his team that he will be there to stick up for them. Sea Dog fans seem to forget this was a MEANINGLESS exhibition game and are over reacting. You can tell Pisano lacks experience and will learn from this but to call down the play ridiculous, if anything it makes for an interesting game tomorrow.

[Y Ddraig Goch]

bjindaho said:

Pisano had better not get suspended cuz I was thinking of going Sunday and I want to see him play. plus we'd only have 5 dmen

An aggressor major is an automatic one-game suspension. No right of appeal.

[bjindaho]

DAMMMIT! The one game I could go to

[spanz]

Don't know what the reffing is like in Canada Jr A, but in the USA Jr A you can pretty much maul anyone you want and get away with it half the time. In the Q, you get away with it more like 15% of the time! In the US, they do not call interference plays, like a pick. They do not call incidental hooking at all, like they are calling in the Q 100% of the time. Pisano will need a month or two to get that "old time hockey" out of his system! After that, watch out.

[Porkchop]

killer said:

canucklehead said:

Pisano has to be smarter the guys had the mojo goin after coming back from 2 goals down then he takes a 5 minute major you simply can't take bad penalties like that. I know he felt he was sticking up for a team mate but he obviously crossed the line and it ended up costing a goal and all the momentum the team had built up. No doubt he felt he was doing the right thing but you can't attack a guy if he doesn't wanna fight ya.

This is where they could use a guy like Gallant he knows a thing or 2 about fighting and what to do in different types of enforcer situations. Sounds like Pisano could use a tutor

Give me a fricken break, this was the perfect time for Pisano to step up and send a message to his team that he will be there to stick up for them. Sea Dog fans seem to forget this was a MEANINGLESS exhibition game and are over reacting. You can tell Pisano lacks experience and will learn from this but to call down the play ridiculous, if anything it makes for an interesting game tomorrow.

He needs to do it a little better though.....Desnoyers was just coasting to the bench for a line change and Pisano jumped on his back and started wailing on him from behind......he will probably be a solid guy in the toughness category, but will probably need to learn to pick his spots.