Sports stats



QMJHL Cape Breton Eagles

Eagles Fall 7-3 in Saint John to Open Weekend

March 5, 2022 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Cape Breton Eagles News Release


SAINT JOHN - A strong first period was the difference as the Saint John Sea Dogs skated to a 7-3 victory at home against the Cape Breton Eagles on Saturday night.

The Dogs raced to a 4-0 lead before the first siren, starting with a Philippe Daoust shot from the left faceoff circle. Less than four minutes later, Daoust made a pass off of the right sideboards to Ryan Francis who finished the one timer to make it 2-0.

The Eagles had an opportunity to get back into the game as Ivan Ivan was awarded a penalty shot after being hooked by Vincent Sévigny. Nikolas Hurtubise was able to deny the Czech forward with his pad to keep the Eagles off the board.

Saint John would do their rest of the work in the period from near the blue paint- first Riley Bezeau at the left side of the goal beating Nicolas Ruccia, and then a tap in on a cross-crease pass finished by Josh Lawrence.

Aside from the penalty shot, there was no special teams play in the opening period. Saint John went to their first power play early in the middle stanza, but the Eagles were able to kill it off. The Eagles were then able to convert on their first man advantage with Sevigny in the box thanks to sustained pressure. Both teams still had their top units out 90 seconds into the power play when Ivan roofed it over Hurtubise.

Saint John countered before period's end, first when Olivier Picard completed a cross-crease pass from Peter Reynolds. Then Philippe Daoust completed a pass from Ryan Francis to make it 6-1.

The Eagle power play gave the team some hope just 16 seconds into the final frame as Cam Squires deked around Hurtubise to make it a 6-2 score. However before period's end the Sea Dogs had their own power play marker to counter, a powerful shot from William Dufour.

The evening's scoring would on an unusual broken sequence as Ivan was denied on a short handed breakway, seemingly covered by Hurtubise. But the Saint John goaltender than elected to play the puck forward, giving it away to Nicholas Girouard. Ivan received a pass from Girouard, failed to settle the puck fully down but got enough on it to get it over the goal line for a short handed marker to make it 7-3.

Hurtubise picked up the win, stopping 38 of 41 shots. Ruccia stopped seven of 41 shots in the loss.

Defenseman Preston Pattengale travelled with the Eagles to New Brunswick for the two games but was the last scratch following warmup.

The Eagles will finish their two game New Brunswick swing tomorrow afternoon in Moncton against the Wildcats. Puck drop is at 4 PM. The game is available for purchase online at https://watch.chl.ca. You can also hear all the action beginning with the pre-game show with Patrick McNeil at 3:30 PM on 1270 AM CJCB or online at www.cjcbradio.com

THREE STARS OF THE GAME

1. Philippe Daoust (Saint John) 2 goals, 1 assist, 3 shots

2. Ryan Francis (Saint John) 1 goal, 1 assist, +2

3. William Dufour (Saint John) 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 shots

Scratches For Cape Breton: Jack Campbell, Matis Ouellet (Covid-19 protocol), Jacob Squires (Covid-19 protocol)

Scratches For Saint John: Noah Patenaude (lower body injury), Vincent Despont, Nicholas Blagden (suspension), Marshall Lessard (lower body injury)

Final Shots On Goal: 41-40

Cape Breton Power Play: 2/4

Saint John Power Play: 1/4

Check out the Cape Breton Eagles Statistics



Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from March 5, 2022


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central