The Moncton Wildcats continue the hunt for a playoff spot with three games remaining in regular season play. The Sunday March 9th game against Acadie-Bathurst was rescheduled due to bad weather. The Wildcats now travel to Bathurst Monday night. The last weekend of the regular season will have Moncton traveling to Saint John and PEI.
The Wildcats play the Titan Monday night at 7:30 p.m., the Sea Dogs Friday night at 7 p.m. and the Rocket Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. The Wildcats are 4-3 against Acadie-Bathurst, 2-5 against Saint John and 2-3 against PEI. Matt Eagles, Mark Barberio and Randy Cameron lead the Wildcats in scoring with 57, 43 and 37 points respectively so far this year.
LAST WEEK
Wednesday March 5th vs St. John's Moncton Coliseum 7:00PM GAME NOTES:
Fog Devils edge Wildcats 3-2
The St. John's Fog Devils made their final appearance at the Moncton Coliseum Wednesday night.
A pair of first period goals by Samuel Grenache paved the way for the Fog Devils victory. Grenache scored his first from Luke Adam at 11:34, with his second coming at 13:30 from Mathieu Labrie and T.J. Brennan on the power play.
The Wildcats owned the second period and got to within a goal at 9:09 on Adam Bezak's 7th of the season from Matt Brown and Pierre-Marc Lessard.
With goaltender Nicola Riopel on the bench, Grenache completed his hat trick at 19:23 on a pass from Wes Welcher. But the Wildcats gave it one last effort and scored at 19:34, it was Bezak's second of the night from Brown and Zach Sill. Moncton lifted Riopel again for the final seconds but failed to get the equalizer.
The Wildcats out shot the Fog Devils 30-23. On the power play, St. John's was 1 for 3 while Moncton went 0 for 5.
Fog Devils goalie Jake Allen was awarded the first star, Bezak's two goals got him second star honors while Granache got the nod for the third star on the strength of his three goal performance.
Thursday March 6th vs Cape Breton Moncton Coliseum 7:00PM GAME NOTES:
Cats gain a point in 5-4 shoot out loss
The Moncton Wildcats stormed out of the gate and built a 3-0 lead over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in the first 15 minutes of Thursday night's game, only to end up dropping a 5-4 shoot out loss.
Pierre-Marc Lessard with his 13th gave the Cats the lead at 1:31, with Zach Sill setting up the play. Matthew Breton upped the count to 2-0 at 6:21, Ted Stephens and Kelan Herr got the helpers. Jesse Biduke scored his 15th of the year on a power play at 14:11, Matt Eagles and Andrew Eastman assisting. Jordon Clendenning got the Eagles on the scoreboard at 19:04 with his 30th of the year, a power play goal, from Alex Lamontagne and Chris Culligan. But Chris Morehouse got that one back for the Wildcats 32 seconds later at 19:36, Sill and Scott Brannon getting assists.
In the second period, the Eagles kept coming making it 4-2 at 10:38 on Jeremy Gouchie's goal from Philippe Fontaine and Joey Haddad, then at 11:40, Clendenning got his second of the night on the power play from Lamontagne and Dean Ouellet.
Cape Breton tied the game at 4:02 of the third on a strange goal by Jan Piskacek with Haddad getting the assist.
Regulation time ended 4-4 and the 5 minute overtime failed to get a winner. In the shootout, the first four shooters from each team failed to score. The game was settled when Chris Culligan beat Riopel and Ted Stephens failed to get the puck past Marek Benda on the Wildcats turn.
Shots on goal were 40-31 in favor of Cape Breton, the Eagles were 2 for 5 on the power play, the Wildcats 1 for 7.
Saturday March 8th vs Halifax Moncton Coliseum 4:00PM GAME NOTES:
Two period draw results in 5-2 loss for Wildcats
The Moncton Wildcats held the Eastern Division leading Halifax Mooseheads to a draw for forty minutes but a short handed and two empty net goals spelled the end of the Wildcats drive as they lost 5-2.
Moncton scored at 1:39 of the opening period on Adam Bezak's 9th of the season from Andrew Eastman and Pierre-Marc Lessard. Chris Morehouse got his 15th of the year on the power play at 10:04 from Alexi Pianosi and Lessard.
The Mooseheads got their first goal of the game at 1:39 of the second, Andrew White from Brad Marchand. Then at 3:57, Ryan Hillier from Guillaume Monast and Marchand on the power play evened the contest.
Halifax went ahead to stay on Hillier's 2nd of the game and 32nd of the year at 9:58 of the final stanza, Peter-James Corsi assisted on the short handed marker. At 19:28, Tomas Knotek found the empty net for the Mooseheads, Monast assisted. Hillier completed his hat-trick with another empty netter from Corsi and Marchand at 19:57.
The Mooseheads out shot the Wildcats 49-27 over the game, in power-plays, Halifax went 2 for 5 while Moncton was 1 for 7.
Marchand was given the game's third star, Hillier the second and Wildcats captain Chris Morehouse playing in his final regular season game at the Coliseum was selected as star number one.
THIS WEEK
Monday March 10th vs Acadie-Bathurst Centre Régional K.C. Irving 7:30PM GAME NOTES:
The Moncton Wildcats will face the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The Titan is currently 4th in the Eastern division. Mathieu Perreault leads the Titan with 32 goals, 69 assists and 101 points in 59 games so far this season.
Friday March 14th vs Saint John Harbour Station 7:00PM GAME NOTES:
The Moncton Wildcats will face the Saint John Sea Dogs. The Sea Dogs are currently 2nd in the Eastern division. Christopher DiDomenico leads the Sea Dogs with 38 goals, 52 assists and 90 points in 67 games so far this season.
Sunday March 16th vs PEI Charlottetown Civic Centre 4:00PM GAME NOTES:
The Moncton Wildcats will face the PEI Rocket. The Rocket is currently 7th in the Eastern division. Geoff Walker leads the Rocket with 37 goals, 51 assists and 88 points in 65 games so far this season.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Quick Stats
Overall Record: 21-32-4-10
Home Record: 14-13-1-7
Road Record: 7-19-3-3
Overtime Record: 5-4-10
Shootout Record: 3-10
Penalty Kill: 268/346 77.5% (7)
Power Play: 64/386 16.6% (12)
Most goals: Matt Eagles (25)
Most assists: Mark Barberio (33)
Most power play goals: Matt Eagles (11)
Most shorthanded goals: Pierre-Marc Lessard (2), Zach Sill (2)
Most Game winners: Zach Sill (3)
Most Wins: Nicola Riopel (15)
Most PIMs: Chris Morehouse (143)
Leading Scorers
Matt Eagles 25-32-57
Mark Barberio 10-33-43
Randy Cameron 12-25-37
Leading Goaltenders
Charles Lavigne (6-19-0) 3.13 .902
Nicola Riopel (15-27-0) 2.99 .910
Plus/Minus Leaders
Devon MacAusland (+6)
TICKETS AND INFORMATION
Moncton Coliseum Box Office Hours: Monday to Friday 10am-6pm - Saturday: 10m - 2pm
377 Killam Drive, Unit 1,
Moncton, NB, E1C 3T1
Phone: 506-857-4100 Fax: 506-859-2678
Save up to $104 by becoming a Wildcats Season Ticket Holder for the 2008-2009 season. Place your $25 per seat deposit today to secure your seat for all of the Wildcats action next season.
To book a group to a Wildcats game call 506-382-5555.
The 12th annual awards for the Moncton Wildcats will be given out March 17, 2008 at the Capitol Theatre. The Wildcats Fans' Choice Awards Night presented by the Times and Transcript will be an exciting, fun-filled evening with the team, coaching staff, and entire organization beginning with a 6:30 p.m. reception followed by the awards ceremony at 7:00 p.m.
The Times and Transcript, along with all Wildcats' fans, will play a major role in the balloting process. Beginning Friday February 22nd, Fans' Choice Awards ballots will appear in the Times and Transcript and online at www.moncton-wildcats.com. Fans will have until March 13, 2008 to cast their votes.
Tickets for the evening can be purchased at regular season Wildcat games, Wildcats Head Office, the Capitol Theatre, U de M campus, Frank's Music and online at www.capitol.nb.ca. Adult admission is $25 and tickets for children 12 & under are $10
CATCH THE WILDCATS ACTION
All Moncton Wildcats games, home and away, are broadcast on Radio 91.9 and on the Wildcats website at www.moncton-wildcats.com. Join the voice of the Wildcats, Gerry Green for all the play-by-play action.
All Wildcats games will also be webcast on www.moncton-wildcats.com and qmjhl.mytelus.com. Les Stoodley will be doing the play-by-play for all the Telus webcast home games.
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