Saint John wins 6-5 Shootout Victory over Moncton
Published on November 22, 2008 under Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Saint John Sea Dogs News Release
SAINT JOHN, NB --- One of the most thrilling games in Saint John Sea Dogs history was played on Saturday night, with the Port City's major junior squad earning an incredible 6-5 come-from-behind win at the expense of their archrivals - the Moncton Wildcats - in front of over four thousand fans at Harbour Station.
The opening forty minutes of play saw the Wildcats constructing a seemingly insurmountable 5-2 advantage, but a furious third period comeback by the Sea Dogs saw Moncton's once sizeable lead collapse like a Popsicle stick skyscraper on a windy day. Saint John tallied three unanswered goals in regulation's final frame to force overtime in the ultra-intense intra-provincial contest.
After the extra frame failed to determine a winner, the regional rivals entered a shootout, where the home team emerged victorious after five rounds of alternating breakaways saw a single goal being scored - by veteran Sea Dogs winger Keven Charland.
The amazing win improves Saint John's record to 16-9-1-1 and inches them ever-closer to the division-leading Wildcats. The Sea Dogs have now won five straight games, and continue to make headway in the QMJHL Atlantic.
Second-year centre Michael Kirkpatrick turned in one of the greatest performances of his career on Saturday, scoring three goals and assisting on another to finish the night with four points to go along with a First Star of the Game nod.
Payton Liske and Chris DiDomenico also notched markers for the Sea Dogs in the dramatic home victory, while Robert Mayer picked up the win in net after making 28 saves on 33 shots faced. The 19-year old import goalie also went 5-for-5 in the shootout to earn the extra point for Saint John.
At the other end of the ice, Nicola Riopel tasted defeat for just the third time this year between the pipes for Moncton, surrendering a quintet of goals on 37 shots faced prior to being beaten by Charland in the fifth and final round of the post-OT breakaway contest.
Meanwhile, Daniel Pettersson and Pierre-Marc Lessard both scored goals for the Wildcats on Saturday, as did Matt Brown, Matt Eagles, and Matt Lahey. Amazingly, Matt Boyle was kept off the scoresheet in the road loss.
The Dogs and Cats exchanged goals early on Saturday. After Matt Brown gave Moncton a 1-0 lead in the second minute of play, Michael Kirkpatrick evened things up at one apiece three minutes later, banging home a rebound produced by a Keven Charland shot to record his team-leading 13th goal of the season on the power play. Pascal Amyot picked the second assist on the successful scoring play, registering his 26th career point in the process.
A spectacular pad right pad save by Robert Mayer on a Randy Cameron snap shot a moment later kept the scoreboard deadlock in place, as furious back-and-forth action continued to flourish at Harbour Station in the opening frame.
The Sea Dogs took a 2-1 lead midway through the second period, with Kirkpatrick intercepting a wayward Wildcats pass and breaking in all alone on Riopel prior to undressing the Moncton goalie and firing a high backhand shot to the back of the visitors' net, earning his second goal of the game during a Saint John penalty kill.
Saint John's one-goal advantage was short-lived however, as one-and-a-half minutes after Kirkpatricks' short-handed tally Matt Eagles produced the second goal of the game for Moncton. The overage forward pounced on a loose puck in Sea Dogs territory and beat Mayer on a well-placed shot to make the score 2-2.
Shortly after Riopel's made a huge glove save on a streaking Kirkpatrick, Matt Lahey scored on a low, hard shot to make the score 3-2 in favour of the visiting squad from the Hub City. Moncton then took a two-goal lead 57 seconds later when Daniel Pettersson and Pier-Marc Lessard worked a two-on-one rush to perfection. Petterrsson finished the play off by deflecting a high pass across the Saint John goal line to improve is 2008-09 goals total to four.
Lessard then put the Wildcats up by a field goal late in the middle frame, beating Mayer through the five-hole to give the visitors a 5-2 lead as Saturday's game entered the second intermission.
The home team pulled to within two of the visitors early in period number three, as soon-to-be-20-year old forward Payton Liske stormed through Moncton's zone with unbridled tenacity in order to knock a juicy rebound past a sprawling Riopel, simultaneously tallying his ninth marker of the 08-09 campaign and appropriating some much-needed momentum for the Sea Dogs.
Exactly seven minutes later, a mad scramble in front of Riopel resulted in Michael Kirkpatrick being credited with his third goal of the game, as Moncton's advantage was reduced to one as Saint John continued to battle hard in their match against the number one team in the league.
The remarkable Sea Dogs comeback was completed when, with Mayer on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, superstar centre Chris DiDomenico sniped his eighth goal of the year in the final minute of regulation, sending the Harbour Station faithful into a joyous frenzy as Saint John had produced an improbable three-goal run versus the league's stingiest goaltender to force an abbreviated extra period.
After overtime solved nothing, both teams readied to partake in the ever-decisive shootout - an appropriately dramatic ending looming for a match bursting with theatricality.
Neither team was able to score in the opening four rounds of the breakaway competition, with both Mayer and Riopel confounding their opposing shooters by way of some impressive reflexology and sound positions.
In the fifth round, Keven Charland managed to score, firing a shot that Riopel carried with him across Moncton's goal line as he was propelled backwards at the behest of a close-range blast off the stick of the fourth-year forward out of Victoriaville, QC.
Robert Mayer then denied Detroit Red Wings prospect in the bottom of the fifth, resultantly putting the finishing touches on a character-building win of epic proportions and moving Saint John one point closer to the top spot in their division.
Up next for the Sea Dogs is a Sunday afternoon tilt with the Halifax Mooseheads at Harbour Station. The puck drops at 4:00pm as Saint John looks to capture their sixth consecutive win at the expense of the QMJHL Atlantic's sixth-place squad. Tickets to this game can be obtained by calling (506) 657-1234.
Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from November 22, 2008
- Saint John wins 6-5 Shootout Victory over Moncton - Saint John Sea Dogs
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