QMJHL Saint John Sea Dogs

Nicholas Pard Nets Two Goals in Highly-Impressive Road Win

Published on April 23, 2010 under Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Saint John Sea Dogs News Release


VICTORIAVILLE, QC --- The Saint John Sea Dogs moved to within a single win of earning their first-ever berth in the QMJHL Finals on Friday night, registering a 6-1 road victory over the Victoriaville Tigres to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the elite major junior teams' best-of-seven third round playoff series.

Nicholas Pard (2), Mike Hoffman, Michael Kirkpatrick, Stanislav Galiev, and Chuckie Schembri all scored for Saint John in Game 4, with overage winger Nick Petersen dishing out three assists on the evening. Emmanuel Boudreau, meanwhile, tallied the lone marker of the match for Victoriaville.

Reigning CHL Goaltender of the Week Marco Cousineau turned in yet another stellar performance between the pipes for the Sea Dogs. The Anaheim Ducks prospect made 39 saves on 40 shots faced in backstopping his team to their eleventh win of the post-season. At the other end of the ice, Kevin Poulin (27 stops) suffered the loss in net for the Tigres.

Saint John got off to a quick start on Friday as veteran centre Michael Kirkpatrick buried a rebound produced by a Nick Petersen shot 1:51 into the contest to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead. Kirkpatrick's tenth offensive strike of the post-season set a new team record for the fastest goal to start a playoff game.

Nicholas Pard doubled Saint John's advantage four minutes later, ripping a wrist shot between Poulin's legs from the fringes of the slot to improve his post-season goals total to four. Marco Cousineau played exceptionally well throughout the opening frame, stopping all 16 shots sent his way by the Tigres to send Game 4 into intermission number one with his team ahead 2-0 on the scoreboard.

Cousineau continued his strong play into the second period, robbing star forward Joël Champagne with a sensational glove save midway through the stanza after the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect unleashed a hard, high backhander from inside the slot at the tail end of a seemingly-broken transition play.

Superstar sniper Mike Hoffman put the Sea Dogs up by three 14:03 into the middle frame, wiring a long-range wrist shot to the back of Victoriaville's net to match his current uniform number in netting the 27th goal of his playoff career. Nick Petersen and Michael Kirkpatrick both picked up assists on Hoffman's man-up marker, the league-best 24th power play goal of the post-season for Saint John.

The Sea Dogs then went up 4-0 courtesy of a streaking Stanislav Galiev; the import winger slid his own rebound past Poulin after momentarily stunning the all-star goalie on a subsonic cruise missile of a slap shot. Tomas Jurco and Pierre Durepos each drew helpers on Galiev's seventh of the playoffs, which came in the 38th minute of play.

Saint John's offensive onslaught continued unabated into the opening minutes of regulation's final frame, as Nicholas Pard banged home his second goal of the night past a badly-out-of-position Kevin Poulin at the 1:54 mark of the third period. The home team ended Cousineau's shutout bid ninety seconds later when 20-year old blue-liner Emmanuel Boudreau managed to get the puck across the Sea Dogs' goal line to make the first marker of his post-season of the power play variety.

A breakaway tally off the stick of Chuckie Schembri (his first in a Sea Dogs uniform) restored the visitors' five-goal advantage late in the third period, as the 19-year old winger beat Poulin on a nifty backhand deke to give Saint John the victory by a final score of 6-1.

Game 5 of this semi-final series goes Saturday afternoon/evening (puck drop: 5pm Atlantic) in Victoriaville. If necessary, a sixth game will be staged on Monday night at Harbour Station (puck drop: 7pm).

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Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from April 23, 2010


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