Sea Dogs Defeated By Tigres 7-2
Published on February 8, 2008 under Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Saint John Sea Dogs News Release
VICTORIAVILLE, QC --- The Saint John Sea Dogs lost just their fourth interdivisional game of the season on Friday night, falling to the Victoriaville Tigres by a score of 7-2 at Dejardins Coliseum.
The team chasing the Sea Dogs in the standings, the Halifax Mooseheads, also lost on Friday, by a score of 5-3 at home to the Rimouski Oceanic. As a result, Saint John remains alone in first place in the QMJHL East with 72 points despite losing the opening game on their three-date tour of Quebec
The Tigres scored twice on the power play and twice more at even strength during what proved to be a dominant first period for the home team as a 4-0 lead was established over the course of the opening twenty minutes of play. Victoriaville cruised to victory from there, ultimately winning by a score of 7-2 as the Sea Dogs' offence was unable to find any discernable rhythm all night long.
Toby Lafrance (4), Alexandre Labonte (2), and Steven Cacciotti all scored for the home team on Friday, while Scott Howes and Victoriaville native Keven Charland responded for the visitors.
First-year goaltender Robert Mayer suffered the loss in net for Saint John, making 10 saves on 13 shots in just over ten minutes of action before being pulled in favour of overage goalie Travis Fulleron. Meanwhile, Kevin Poulin earned his 14th victory of the year between the pipes for the Tigres, turning aside 27 of the 29 shots sent his way by Saint John shooters.
The home team struck early on Friday, with Toby Lafrance beating Mayer with a high shot to the glove side from a dozen feet out to earn his 30th goal of the season at the 2:42 mark of the first period.
A second goal by Lafrance, who shovelled home a rebound during a Victoriaville power play, gave the Tigres a two-goal advantage five-and-a-half minutes into the game.
Victoriaville's third goal of the first period, off the stick of Alexandre Labonte, brought an end to Mayer's evening, as the 18-year old European was replaced by Travis Fullerton between the pipes for Saint John midway through the opening frame.
Fullerton made nine saves in his first 7:58 of action in the first, a sum which included a huge stop on Lafrance, who elected to shoot on his late-frame breakaway opportunity and was denied by the Sea Dogs' veteran net minder in spectacular fashion.
At the 18:54 mark of the match however, the Tigres power play struck again, with Steven Cacciotti beating Fullerton to earn his 14th tally of 2007-08 as the host squad entered the first intermission with a sizeable lead on both the scoreboard (4-0) and the shot clock (23-8).
The Sea Dogs nearly scored their first goal of the game early in the second period when Chris DiDomenico stripped a Tigres defenseman of the puck and stormed into Victoriaville's zone on a two-on-rush with Ryan Sparling. DiDomenico hit Sparling with a picture-perfect pass on the play, but the 19-year old winger's backhand attempt was denied by Poulin as the home team's four-goal advantage remained intact.
Another huge save by Poulin, this time off of an Alexandre Picard-Hooper shot, took place a moment later, as the visitors continued to apply heavy offensive pressure at the Tigres' end of the ice.
Saint John's hard work paid off at the 13:23 mark of the middle frame, as Keven Charland deflected an Alex Grant slap shot past Poulin to pull the Sea Dogs to within three of the Tigres' lead with a power play goal. Grant's assist, his 23rd of the 07-08 campaign, gave the Sea Dogs Captain 36 points on the year, establishing a new team record for points by a defenseman in a single season.
With just 3.3 seconds remaining in the second period, Alexandre Labonte finished off a three-on-one rush with his second goal of the game to put Victoriaville back up by four as Friday's match reached the forty minute mark.
Toby Lafrance's hat-trick-clinching tally put the Tigres up 6-1 twenty-seven seconds into the third period, with Jason Demers and Alexandre Monahan picking up assists on the play. The Sea Dogs responded a minute later however, with Scott Howes registering his 32nd goal of the season on a wrist shot from close range that eluded a down-and-out Poulin, who was forced out of position in stopping a booming point shot off the stick of Jeff McNeil.
The lethal Tigres power play then struck once again, with Jonathan Bonneau feeding Lafrance with a cross-ice pass down low; the 20-year old centre quickly deposited the puck to the back of the net with a tap-in one-timer, earning his fourth goal of the game in the process.
Lafrance's second goal in regulation's final frame, the seventh of the night for Victoriaville, proved to be the final tally of the match, as the Tigres handed Saint John a 7-2 loss on the first night of a Telus Division trek.
The Sea Dogs will next face the Shawinigan Cataractes on Saturday afternoon prior to making their national television debut versus the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Sunday night in a game that will be broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet beginning at 9:00pm.
Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from February 8, 2008
- Sea Dogs Defeated By Tigres 7-2 - Saint John Sea Dogs
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